Sarah Coleman joined the Healthy Birth Day, Inc. team as the State Expansion Director in March 2023. Sarah is a graduate of Illinois State University, the University of Iowa, and holds a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Colorado at Anschutz. During her MPH coursework, she assisted Dr. Stephanie Radke and the IOWA Maternal Quality Care Collaborative in developing materials and completing data analysis for the AIM patient safety bundle: “Safe Reduction of Primary Cesarean Births.”
Sarah is currently writing a Grief Support Toolkit for her Capstone project. This toolkit is focused on providing leadership protocol and resources for birth professionals who have experienced a traumatic event while supporting patients in labor. This work has attracted a national audience, and is being developed with the support of Dr. Radtke and Dr. Stephen Hunter, who serves as a member of the Healthy Birth Day, Inc. Medical Advisory Board.
Sarah has more than 15 years of professional experience in Maternal Child Health. She has been involved in patient care, Health Education, K-12 education, and Secondary education. She has been a doula, childbirth educator, La Leche League Leader, program manager, nursing educator, and classroom teacher along her professional career path. Most recently, she served the Aurora Public Schools community in Aurora, Colorado, as an administrator focusing on Health & Health Sciences for more than 40,000 students.
Committed to lifelong learning and evidence-based programs, Sarah believes that health equity should be at the forefront of individual and population-based health initiatives. She strives to build meaningful relationships with others, and enjoys finding opportunities to collaborate. As the State Expansion Director, she will work to onboard new states, support state partners and support integration of Count The Kicks throughout the United States.
In her free time, Sarah can be found wandering areas of Iowa and National Parks, looking for wildlife to photograph. Other hobbies include reading, family history research, hiking, watching football, playing board games, volunteering with youth at her church, and spending time with her family.
Tune into episode 155 of the Healthy Mom Healthy Baby Tennessee Podcast by TIPQC to hear Sarah discuss how we are working with the Tennessee Department of Health to improve birth outcomes for moms and babies in the Volunteer state.
Published Literature
- Burgess, Adriane PhD, RNC-OB, CCE, C-ONQS, CPHQ, FAWHONN; Aucutt, Megan BA; Coleman, Sarah L. MPH. Standardizing Fetal Movement Monitoring using Count the Kicks. MCN, The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing; July 8, 2024. [Read article]