A North Carolina health insurance company is working to address Black maternal health.

AmeriHealth Caritas will host a community baby shower May 20 at Charlotte Wellness and Opportunity Center from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Walmart parking lot, 3240 Wilkinson Blvd. near Fifth Third Bank with a DJ, games, and a chance to win a car seat.

AmeriHealth Caritas aims to help reduce infant mortality in the area among women of color.

For the event, the organization partnered with Piedmont Black Nurses Association and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to reach teen mothers and advocate for African American mothers. One of the partners through CMS is the Safe Journey program, a case management program for teen parents and their children up to 5 years old.

“We are being intentional in those partners that we seek out to collaborate with and ensuring that they're like-minded and share the same values and outlook on what we're trying to achieve, which is really trying to close that gap,” said Jennifer Frazer, AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina director of quality management.

AmeriHealth Caritas partnered with Mecklenburg County Health Department to provide education initiatives not only for women’s health but also for men's reproductive health too.

“We're excited to address infant mortality birth outcomes in the overall health of children 0 to 5 [years old] and through this partnership we are able to provide better conception health, education, health after pregnancy and this includes women's reproductive health, men's reproductive health, diet and nutrition,” said Jenn Laptewicz, manager of quality management at AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina. “Although we are looking at the mother and the baby, we're also looking at the family unit. We are excited to have the dads involved as well.”

The organization is working diligently to help reduce disparities and better serve communities of need in North Carolina.

“We are restless in aiming to be a leader in advancing health equity closing those disparity gaps that we all know are prevalent and evident within the outcomes of people who live in the state of North Carolina,” Frazer said. “So, we're working really hard, internally and externally with partners, to really get to know what the unique needs are of communities and to develop and deploy innovative initiatives, programming that we think will impact those disparities and improve outcomes for the members that we serve.”

This article has been corrected to reflect AmeriHealth Caritas is a North Carolina-based company and did not receive a grant for education initiatives. The spelling of Jenn Laptewicz's name is also corrected.

Aaliyah Bowden, who covers health at The Post, is a Report For America corps member.

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