Rachel’s Story: A Journey from Fear to Confidence with MOMS by Her Side When Rachel found out she was pregnant, just ten days after leaving an abusive relationship, she was alone, scared, and struggling. An immigrant from Syria with no family nearby, she had just lost her job and was unsure how she would raise a child on her own. Then, through a brochure at Hoag Hospital, she found MOMS. Rachel joined the MOMS program in February 2024 and began taking classes online. At seven months pregnant, she was paired with Claudia, a MOMS home visitor, who immediately became more than just a professional, she became a trusted friend. “Claudia gave me calm when I had nothing but fear,” [...]

FULL REPORT HIGHLIGHTS Increasing Access to Maternal Mental Health for Pregnant and New Parents MOMS is pleased to share the results of our agency's efforts to bring quality mental health programming within reach of our families. At least 20% of new and expectant mothers experience perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs); some studies suggest prevalence is as high as 50% in low-income communities. MOMS has always served as a support system for pregnant and new mothers and their families. Yet with the onset of the pandemic followed by new and increasingly challenging stressors in the lives of our community, it became even more urgent for us to build additional programming into our services to [...]

Click to Donate Today You can make a difference for those who are pregnant and facing homelessness What do housing and homelessness have to do with MOMS? More than ever before, MOMS staff of community health workers and nurse case managers are seeing mothers and babies in our program who are homeless or at risk of losing a stable place to live. As you can imagine, housing is fundamental to the health of an expectant mother and her children. It’s a chain reaction. When bills cannot be paid and a family loses their housing, a myriad of problems occur: nutrition suffers, medical or other vital appointments cannot be kept, stress and anxiety increase, and difficult choices are made. When this [...]

Diana's Story “I didn’t think I would be needing the very agency that I was referring mothers to, but I did.” Cooing happily with her mom and big sister, 4-month-old Juliette is the picture of health. Yet, no one would have predicted such a healthy outcome when her mom, Diana, was pregnant. As with her first pregnancy, Diana had developed hyperemesis gravidarum – severe nausea and vomiting – and her body was preserving every ounce of nutrition for her developing baby. Diana’s weight was dropping dangerously low and a pre-existing heart condition complicated her struggle, increasing her heart rate and causing fatigue. At 24 weeks into her pregnancy, Diana weighed a mere 85 lbs. She was immediately hospitalized, placed on IV [...]

You can donate here “I didn’t think I would be needing the very agency that I was referring mothers to, but I did.” Dear Friend of MOMS Orange County, Cooing happily with her mom and big sister, 4-month-old Juliette is the picture of health. Yet, no one would have predicted such a healthy outcome when her mom, Diana, was pregnant. As with her first pregnancy, Diana had developed hyperemesis gravidarum – severe nausea and vomiting – and her body was preserving every ounce of nutrition for her developing baby. Diana’s weight was dropping dangerously low and a pre-existing heart condition complicated her struggle, increasing her heart rate and causing fatigue. At 24 weeks into her pregnancy, Diana weighed a mere 85 [...]

MOMS Orange County proudly announces the appointment of three new board members including Dr. Lisa Cowan, Kathy O’Donnell and Victor Villanueva. Lisa Cowan, DNP is the Executive Director of Women’s and Children’s Services at Providence St. Joseph and formerly served as the Regional Director of Maternal Child Health for a major health system in Northern California. An Advanced Board-Certified Nurse Executive and a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Dr. Cowan is a 20-year leadership executive in acute care and outpatient settings primarily in maternal-child health. A clinically trained women’s health nurse practitioner, Dr. Cowan is focused on ensuring that women receive culturally sensitive, safe, and equitable care during their childbirth experience and postpartum period. Dr. Cowan reflects, [...]

The community gathered on Aug. 18 for the opening of Orange County’s only breast milk collection center at MOMS Orange County, a partnership with Mothers Milk Bank which screens, stores, processes and distributes human milk to hospitals and families for their medically fragile infants. The celebration saw mothers from the community bring donations of surplus breast milk to the new collection point at MOMS. A total of 18 mothers participated in the milk drive (including those who initiated the donation process online), as well as 25 moms and babies who enjoyed being part of MOMS’ annual Breastfeeding Celebration. Special thanks to all the milk warrior mothers and also to the community agencies who participated. Participating agencies included: OC Health Care [...]

U.S. Representative Young Kim (CA-40) visited MOMS Orange County last week and met our moms and babies. "I'm so grateful to the MOMS Orange County team for all the important work they do to support moms, moms-to-be, and babies across Orange County," she said. "As Maternity Care Caucus co-chair, I'm working on policies to reduce barriers to & improve outcomes of care." Thank you for visiting us, Congresswoman Kim.  

Hoag’s Allyson Brooks, MD, FACOG Named Board President of MOMS Orange County MOMS Orange County proudly announces the appointment of its new board president, Allyson Brooks, MD, FACOG. Dr. Brooks is the Executive Medical Director of Hoag’s Women's Health Institute and Senior Physician Executive at Hoag Hospital. “I am both excited and humbled to step into the role as president of MOMS Orange County at a pivotal time in its history as we navigate the aftermath of the pandemic, address the soaring rates of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and intimate partner violence, and strive to provide evidence-based programs that educate, engage and empower mothers and families. With our strong leadership team, dedicated and compassionate staff, and committed board [...]