I work in a small rural hospital in northern california and we have many indigent patients with very little education. A lot of our mothers to be and their families know little if anything about delivery of a baby or even how to care for themselves. It would really help if we could have doulas to help with the laboring process and if would help with the nursing shortage also. We do have some women that have taken a doula class but because of the poor county we live in they are unable to work very many hours helping because of having to support their own families. Are there any grants out there for small rural communities to help defray the cost of hiring a doula to help our patients?

-- nancy helldorfer (nbhelldorfer@yahoo.com), September 24, 2001