Guthrie Clinic to use $3 million Mother Cabrini donation for maternity-care initiative

The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation has donated $3 million to the Guthrie Clinic,supporting the health–care organization’s systemwide Maternity Care Oasis initiative.

Sayre, Pennsylvania–based Guthrie Clinic has operations in Binghamton, Ithaca, Cortland, and Corning.

The initiative seeks to “bridge the gap” in maternity care by providing a “lifeline of compassionate, accessible, and expert” maternity services to underserved communities with low to moderate access to maternity care.

Guthrie Clinic says it will use the gift to help secure and support a mobile maternity unit — described as a “key feature” of the new program — which will serve as an “oasis of hope and care” in regions where maternal health care is scarce. It’ll offer prenatal care, childbirth support, postpartum guidance, and education.

Guthrie will additionally deploy care teams comprised of midwives, doulas, and other community workers across its service area in New York to assist with community outreach, education, and essential maternity–care services.

“We are enormously grateful to the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation for this groundbreaking, momentum-generating gift,” Dr. Edmund Sabanegh, Jr., president and CEO of the Guthrie Clinic, said in a news release. “We know that rural communities face significant challenges in accessing comprehensive maternity care services, leading to disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes. We are determined to play a role in addressing these issues, and through their generosity, the Cabrini Health Foundation is partnering with us to make an enduring difference for those who depend on us for this care.”

The New York City–based Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is a nonprofit whose mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of New Yorkers, bolster the health outcomes of vulnerable communities, eliminate barriers to care, and bridge gaps in health services, according to Guthrie.