getting paid

[sacredma]

i am interested to know how some of you get paid if you work for a hospital doula program. is it a flat fee or hourly? do you meet with the mom first or just at the hospital for the first time?

[DoulaYvonne]

Good questions!

Anyone???

[DoulaMegz]

This varies depending on the program. The program I work for is funded through the state health insurance, and they actually don't pay for the doula at the birth...they do pay for the prenatal and post-partum visits (this comes up short). The rest is funded through private donation, fundraising and grants. We have a fee schedule that lays out how much we are paid depending on our total number of visits (max of 6 visits). Make sense?

In our program we meet with the moms 4 to 5 times before the birth, and 1 to 2 times after.

[EricaDoula]

I worked at Danbury Hospital in CT. The families would pay 100$ to have doula service and the Doulas made 275$ per birth. The hospital subsidized the payment. I wouldn't get to meet my clients until they were in labor. It was such a great program, I miss it alot!

[doulajamie]

I work at a residential treatment facility and we are grant funded. Our doulas are salaried. Of course, that is a plus for the budget and the benefits, the downside is there are lots of "other duties as assigned" or necessary paperwork tasks. There is always plenty to do!!! We visit our first
time moms bi-weekly and send a card or make a phone call in between and of course, often see lthem in the halls or in groups. We send a doula for labor and delivery and make a weekly visit for the first six weeks postpartum. We connect them with Nurses for Newborns and Parents as Teachers for continuing services and assistance. The multips receive the group education, monthly prenatal visits, labor support, and six weekly postpartum visits. We provide additional visits when there is a clear mental health issue or there are breastfeeding difficulties.

Hope that provides an idea of another way programs work!

[doula-mom25]

i work for a hospital we are concidered a community service program and we work on call for 12 hour call shifts, we make $2 for on call hours and start at minum wage when we clock in when called. and i do hate it but we do not get to meet the moms before they are in labor, i want to see if i can change that some how but we will see.

[NurturedBellyDoula]

I wished we had a doula program at a hospital in the los angeles area. I would do it.