Tue., October 24, 2023 | The Associated Press Share Share

星期二。，2023年10月24日|关联新闻分享

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, is expanding nationwide its health care coverage next month for employees who want to enlist the services of a doula, a person trained to assist women during pregnancies. The coverage was first offered to Walmart employees in Georgia in 2021, and then last year the Bentonville, Arkansas-based discounter offered the same benefit to employees in Louisiana, Indiana and Illinois.

纽约（AP）-沃尔玛是该国最大的私营雇主，下个月将在全国范围内扩大其医疗保健覆盖范围，为希望征募doula服务的员工提供服务，doula是一名在怀孕期间接受过培训的女性。2021年首次向佐治亚州的沃尔玛员工提供保险，去年，基于阿肯色州Bentonville的折扣中心为路易斯安那州，印第安纳州和伊利诺伊州的员工提供了同样的福利。

The exception is Hawaii, which has its own set of health benefits, Walmart said.Walmart said the program, which kicks off nationwide on Nov. 1, is meant to address racial inequities in health care and improve the maternal and infant health of its workers and their babies, especially in areas where access to care may be limited.

沃尔玛说，夏威夷是个例外，它有自己的一套健康益处。沃尔玛表示，该计划于11月1日在全国范围内启动，旨在解决医疗保健中的种族不平等问题，改善工人及其婴儿的母婴健康，特别是在获得护理可能有限的地区。

Doulas are trained experts that must receive credentials from either the National Black Doulas Association or DONA International.“As things evolve and we’ve come out of COVID, we continue to see the gaps where maternal care is not always available or there needs to be additional support,” said Lisa Woods, Walmart's vice president, physical and emotional well-being.

Doulas是经过培训的专家，必须获得全国黑人Doulas协会或DONA International的证书。沃尔玛的身心健康副总裁丽莎·伍兹（Lisa Woods）说：“随着事情的发展，我们已经脱离了新型冠状病毒肺炎，我们继续看到孕产妇保健并不总是可用或需要额外支持的差距。

Woods declined to specify the number of Walmart employees who have taken part in the program so far, noting that the biggest challenge was educating employees on what doulas actually do. It plans to better publicize the offering and include the expanded coverage in this year's annual health insurance enrollment materials.The expansion of the doula benefits comes as a new collection of reports from the March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization committed to ending preventable maternal health risks and death, shows that more than 5.6 million women live in counties with limited or no access to maternity care services, pushing families to find new ways to g.

伍兹拒绝具体说明迄今为止参与该计划的沃尔玛员工人数，并指出最大的挑战是教育员工doulas实际做什么。它计划更好地宣传该产品，并将扩大的覆盖范围纳入今年的年度健康保险入学材料。doula福利的扩大来自March of Dimes（一家致力于消除可预防的孕产妇健康风险和死亡的非营利组织）的新报告集，该报告显示，超过560万妇女生活在孕产妇保健服务有限或无法获得的县，推动家庭寻找新的方法去g。