Pregnancy Prep Classes Move Online During Pandemic

Debbie Young, customer relations manager, InJoy

Not long after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 hit the United States, hospitals began to cancel on-site programs and events, particularly those for at-risk populations.

Expectant mothers are among the group of people considered to be vulnerable to the coronavirus because their immune system is compromised while they’re pregnant. According to the CDC: “Pregnant women experience immunologic and physiologic changes which might make them more susceptible to viral respiratory infections, including COVID-19.”

With on-site childbirth classes (Lamaze) canceled, many hospitals have turned to online alternatives to help moms-to-be prepare for delivery of their new babies.

InJoy Health Education, a Colorado-based maternal-child health education company, is one solution helping healthcare organizations fill the void with its suite of online classes for expectant parents. Serving more than 15,000 institutions around the country, InJoy produces a variety of videos and other educational materials covering the spectrum of maternity care.

“InJoy started as a video content producer over 30 years ago for everything childbirth-related, and now includes videos in a variety of teaching formats,” says Debbie Young, customer relations manager at InJoy. “In the past five years or so, we’ve offered online learning for parents. We offer all of our curriculum titles — pregnancy, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding, newborn care, fatherhood, multiples, and safety — for parents to take online through their hospital.”

Young also teaches expectant parents at a hospital, but her in-person classes were recently suspended due to COVID-19. “I’ve been a childbirth educator for 33 years,” she says. “We had been thinking about purchasing the classes before [COVID-19], but when this happened, we decided to pull the trigger,” she says. The hospital signed up for the online breastfeeding and childbirth class for expectant mothers.

Read the full story now: Preparing During a Pandemic: Online Programs Help Expectant Mothers Get Ready for Childbirth

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