ICEA Conference 2026 · Salt Lake City
Doulas Down the Bayou
How Community Doula Care is Transforming Birth in Louisiana
Breea Carter, MBA, ICBD/PD
Operations Director
Mary's Hands Network
Madeline LeBlanc, MHA, RN, IBCLC, ICBD/PD, IAT
Founder & Executive Director
Mary's Hands Network
I have no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Before we show you our numbers,
do you know yours?
Everybody stand up. Sit down when we call your grade.
marchofdimes.org/report-card
Louisiana by the numbers.
#1
Highest maternal mortality
rate in the United States
392
Louisiana babies lost before
their first birthday last year
36%
C-section rate
(WHO recommends 10–15%)
F
March of Dimes grade
Baton Rouge · New Orleans · Lafayette
We already have the solution.
When doulas are part of a birth story, every single marker for a positive outcome moves in the right direction.
The data has been telling us this for decades. We knew. We just needed to act.
Built on community. Backed by partners.
Before the first doula graduated, a whole community had to say yes.
Hospital Partner
Baton Rouge
General
Birth worker round table
Birth Center Partner
Birth Center of
Baton Rouge
Community round table
Academic Partner
Vanderbilt
Nashville Volunteer Doulas
Dr. Jessica Willet
Curriculum Partner
ICEA
Connie & Jenna · ICEA-approved training
Community Partner
Local Church
Parish
Location & funding · free to all trainees
"The whole community said yes."
We opened our first training and prayed at least four people would show up.
19
graduated.
My community wasn't just ready. They had been waiting.
So we built the safety net.
Mary's Hands Network: community doula care for the families who need it most.
Always free. ICEA-approved. Community-built.
The gap
No access to doula care.
$1,000–$3,000 per birth.
Community ready to serve but no pathway.
The solution
Always free. ICEA-approved.
Community-built. Grant funded.
She had a newborn in her arms
and was saying goodbye to her mother.
A client Breea received last minute for postpartum support
The client had to travel to another country to be with her dying mother immediately after the birth
New life and goodbye at exactly the same time
Breea stepped in, an extra set of hands through something terrifying and sacred
"That is what this work actually is."
And that is what the data cannot measure.
Turn to the person next to you.
In 60 seconds, share one client or birth you still think about.
"Gigi"
Cohort 1 · Still serving · 15+ families supported
She showed up to that first training not entirely sure what she was walking into. Three years later she is still showing up. Still serving. Still answering the call at two in the morning when a client's baby decides today is the day.
There is no column in our spreadsheet for Gigi.
But she is everything this model is built on.
Look around the room.
Stand if a doula, midwife, or birth worker was part of your own birth story.
Stand if you have supported a sister, daughter, mother, or friend through birth.
Stand if your own birth experience brought you into this work.
Stand if someone you supported came back to you as a colleague or a client.
The cycle of support.
4
clients who came
back as doulas
8
doulas who came
back as clients
5
mother-daughter
teams in our network
The community took hold of this and started pulling it forward on its own.
Doula care is community care.
A teenager in a group home. No washer and dryer.
Our community showed up: delivered, installed, patched the walls, painted the laundry room pale yellow.
Her doulas were there for every visit. Every labor check. Every postpartum moment.
Successful, empowering vaginal birth. A pathway to stability.
Birth is extraordinary. Every kind. Every family. Every story.
And we have been privileged to be present
for more than 550 of them.
5
of 9 health regions across the state
What is the secret ingredient?
A Service Learning Network
Training and service are inseparable. Doulas learn by doing, with real clients, real births, real impact.
A Standardized Care Model
Every client receives the same standard of care every time, documented, measured, and proven.
The Service Learning Network
For our clients
Doula services are not free. They are sponsored by our doula learners and volunteers. Every client receives professional, trained support at no cost to them.
For our doulas
Training is not free. It is a scholarship. In exchange, doulas serve on 2 client teams per year for 2 years, gaining their first 3 birth experiences in a supported network environment.
Upon completion doulas are eligible for certification exams and to join Louisiana's doula reimbursement registry, ready for autonomous or collective doula work.
The MHN Birth Doula Field Guide
Every doula. Every client. The same standard of care, every time.
1
Foundations
Scope of practice, impact, and further reading
2
Professionalism
Expectations, dress code, communication standards, and certification
3
The Client Journey
Onboarding through postpartum: every visit, every step
4
Forms & Documentation
How we collect impact data, submit records, and support doulas in the field
Better than Louisiana.
Better than the nation.
| Metric |
WHO |
National |
Louisiana |
MHN |
Impact |
| C-Section Rate |
10–15% |
32% |
36% |
14% |
62% fewer |
| Preterm Birth |
9.4% |
10.4% |
14% |
4% |
71% fewer |
| NICU Admission |
|
9% |
12% |
~4% |
67% fewer |
| Breastfeeding Initiation |
|
60% |
~55% |
75% |
+25% |
$988,000 in estimated healthcare costs saved
$336.6M statewide potential
132 IRB-tracked births · p<0.05 vs state & national benchmarks · Exceeds Healthy People 2030 targets
We've already proven it travels.
Thriving volunteer doula networks now operating in:
Actively serving 5 of 9 Louisiana healthcare regions and rapidly growing.
Right now there is a person in your community who is pregnant and scared. She does not have a doula. She cannot afford one. And she does not know a community could build one for her.
You can change that.
Here is exactly how.
How it works.
Get started
Location. Food. Funding through grants, MCOs, hospitals, and local partners.
Build your pipeline
Partner with a birthing hospital. Clients move through the field guide from intake to postpartum. Data collects itself.
It sustains itself
Word of mouth fills the client list. One training per quarter keeps up with demand. The community takes over.
The infrastructure is already built. You just have to say yes.
What would it take in your community?
Look at the notecard on your table.
Write down your answers
Where would you train? Who would feed your doulas? Who could fund you? Where would you find your first doulas?
Churches, nurses, pregnancy centers, social media, libraries, word of mouth.
Want to bring MHN to your state?
Empowered women are the answer.
We empower each other. We empower our staff. We empower our doulas, who empower our clients, who empower their families, who empower their communities.
If you want to change the world, start at the very beginning of community. Start with the creation of the family. Start with the birth of new life. And just see how your world changes for the better.
Every birth deserves a doula.
Every birth deserves a doula.
Find us. Let's build this together.
maryshandsnetwork.org
Mary's Hands Network
www.maryshandsnetwork.org
(225) 892-4906
info@mhndoula.com
mleblanc@mhndoula.com
bcarter@mhndoula.com
IRB Protocol #2025-001 · ICEA-Approved Training · 501(c)(3) EIN 92-2430838
