On Dec. 8, the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama and the Alabama Power Foundation will host the finale for the latest Alabama Launchpad competition for startup companies. This round of the Launchpad is focused on companies intent on making a positive impact in the community. Ten finalists are competing for a combined $75,000 in funding.

Today’s article highlights two of the Alabama-based finalists: Kaya and Oasis Family Birthing Center.

Kaya

Kaya founder Corey Anand. (Contributed)

Many people in the workplace struggle with mental health issues, from problems including stress and burnout to conditions much more severe. Indeed, founder Corey Anand can point to his own mental health struggles as inspiration for Kaya, a company that provides employers with quick access to care for their employees through virtual mental health groups led by licensed clinicians.

“I was left to my own resources to understand mental health and how it can be managed,” Anand said. “I built Kaya to give people a platform to receive professional and social support in one model. I have studied mental health my whole life and have surrounded myself with professional clinicians to help steer the Kaya ship. Our entire care model is led by clinicians totaling over 65 years of clinical experience on the team.”

Kaya offers three options for employers, which Anand said makes it unique in the market. Clients can choose to connect only their employees, or they can connect employees with peers from different companies. Kaya can also provide company leaders with mental health training.

Kaya supports employee mental health. (Contributed)

Group sessions can be tailored around a range of topics, from trauma and healing, to emotional intelligence, to relationships, parenting or wellness and meditation, among others.

Originally founded in San Francisco, the company moved to Birmingham earlier this year to join the Prosper HealthTech Accelerator’s spring cohort. Anand said Birmingham’s vibrant health care industry and startup community was among the attractions, and the company has begun to hire locally. Kaya is now supporting clients in five states, and recently launched two pilot programs with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

In its “social impact description” for the Launchpad competition, the company described itself this way: “It’s Kaya’s mission and vision to build positive mental health cultures in the workplace through collaborative care that’s affordable and accessible. We put our best foot forward to provide unique mental health experiences to employees worldwide.”

Learn more at joinkaya.com.

Oasis Family Birthing Center

Dr. Heather Skanes (Contributed)

According to a recent report, 70% of all pregnancy-related deaths in Alabama are preventable. One factor in this disturbing statistic is the number of Alabama counties, many of them poor, that don’t have a hospital with obstetrical services. Only 29 of 67 counties have one, a key contributor to Alabama ranking third in the nation in pregnancy-related mortality.

Oasis Women’s Health in Birmingham is working to address the issue by providing professional midwife services to women who don’t have access to hospital-based obstetrical services.

Oasis founder Dr. Heather Skanes, a female obstetrician, gynecologist and Birmingham native, is passionate about meeting the needs of pregnant women while helping revive and expand the historic practice of midwifery, which the state legalized in 2017. Skanes said the use of midwives in the Black community dates to before the country’s founding, when enslaved Africans were being imported to the Americas.

“As a native of Alabama and a woman of color, I am deeply integrated into the fabric of the community I strive to serve,” Skanes said in her Launchpad application. Oasis is among the five finalists vying for $25,000 in seed funding in the “concept stage” section of the competition.

“Who better to lead this revival than a member of the African American community and an OB-GYN who understands both the cultural and medical complexities of birth work?” Skanes added.

Oasis offers an alternative to hospital birth. (Contributed)

According to the application, the Oasis model brings together certified professional midwives and certified nurse midwifes, working with OB-GYNs, doulas and lactation consultants to provide “comprehensive, culturally competent and patient-centered” maternity care. The funding from the Launchpad competition would be used to expand Skanes’ clinic into a full-service birthing center while bolstering the clinic’s online capabilities and outreach in the Birmingham region.

Over the past year, Oasis has served nearly 200 expectant families from a range of backgrounds. About 20% of those families planned for their children to be born outside a hospital. Fewer than 10% of these families gave birth via cesarean section, compared to the Alabama average of 35%, Skanes said.

Oasis’ proposal taps into the slow but steady trend of more women seeking to give birth outside of a hospital. Skanes said the number of stand-alone birthing centers in the United States has expanded from 124 in 1984 to 355 in 2018.

“Due to the spotlight on the maternal health crisis and the recent pandemic, women have increasingly begun to look for alternatives to hospital births,” Skanes said.

“We plan to offer high-value care by using the low-intervention model of obstetrical care,” Skanes said, in which OB-GYNs “partner with midwives, nurses, patients, doulas and others who support women in labor to help them meet their goals of labor and birth …”

Learn more at oasiswh.org.

The finale for the Alabama Launchpad Social Impact Competition takes place at 5 p.m. Dec. 8 in the Pearl River Room at Regions Field, 1401 First Ave. S. in downtown Birmingham. The event is open to the public but attendance is limited. To secure a seat, please register here.

To learn more about Alabama Launchpad, click here. To learn more about the Alabama Power Foundation, visit powerofgood.com.