Tandem plans to open a nonprofit community birth center in Bloomington, IN in 2022. We want to catch babies, help families, and build communities. Indiana's maternal mortality rates consistently rank among the worst in the US. Free-standing Community Birth Centers can provide low-cost, high touch, evidence based care to improve outcomes and reduce costs. Tandem's healthcare model works together with area Hoosiers to address disparities that surround families from the start, to improve their lives long-term. Current options for care in our region are very limited for expectant families, which is even more true for patients on medicaid.

As a midwifery practice, we will provide high quality, individualized care that is patient and family-centered. We are committed to being anti-racist as an organization and are working to hold ourselves accountable to our community, with an emphasis on data transparency. Birth Centers also provide safe places for birth and routine reproductive healthcare during the current pandemic, when many families are seeking options away from hospitals caring for COVID-19 patients.

Across the country, communities of all kinds are building birth centers to provide more options and lower rates of interventions for their families. Tandem would be the first independent birth center and only midwifery healthcare site in our area. Our services would provide healthcare to an area where access to maternal health care is limited.

Tandem will collaborate with area providers, and offering in-home healthcare options for those with limited transportation. Our providers will work closely with area healthcare centers, hospitals, and nonprofits to meet the needs of our community. In Tandem, we move forward together.