Postpartum care center opens in Pocatello

POCATELLO — A recently opened facility in Pocatello is focused on supporting women who have recently given birth.

The Idaho Postpartum Haven is a postpartum care center where women can go to receive doula services and round-the-clock care as they recover from labor. The center’s founder, Kristina Fackrell, had been dreaming of opening it for over a decade after she had her first baby.

“I realized there is just not enough care and support for women after they have their babies, and it’s something that I became very passionate about over the years,” said Fackrell, also one of the center’s three doulas.

The center did a soft open in October 2023 to make sure it didn’t overextend the staff. In addition to the doulas, it offers a certified lactation specialist and a foot zone practitioner. One of the doulas is also a registered dietician.

A mother, baby and optional support person who come to the center get their own apartment, meals provided, at least daily in-person support throughout their stay, and their choice of professional services. If people book with higher-level plans, they can get 24/7 on-call support or have their baby in the nursery overnight.

While it can best be described as a postpartum care center, Fackrell also likes to refer to the center as a “home for healing.” The facility is in a home-type setting for the patients to feel comfortable during the recovery process.

Places like this are common in places like China and Korea but rare in the United States. However, more of them are being introduced in parts of the country.

Boram Care, in New York City, was the first postpartum recovery center introduced in the United States. Since then, more have been opened. As it stands now, Fackrell says the Idaho Postpartum Haven is the only postpartum recovery center in the Mountain West.

Some of the services patients can access at the center are lactation consulting and massage therapy. They can also receive “foot-zoning,” which is when a practitioner helps release tension in a person’s body through the feet.

Booking at the center and accessing these services can cost anywhere from $600 to $900 per night.

“I realized that this is potentially a luxury that a lot of people are not going to afford,” Fackrell said.

Medicaid and most insurance companies don’t cover doula services.

“I hope that one day they’ll be able to. That has been a very slow thing, for insurance to pick up any type of non-medical support,” Fackrell said.

She said that some insurance companies cover lactation support, massage therapy and doula services, so some of the offered services can receive insurance support, but, “as of right now, the entire stay altogether is definitely not going to be covered.”

Fackrell said that her center has been working with some insurance companies to try to “help them understand that it will be very beneficial for them to have this covered.”

She said that this is so important because the majority of complications in childbirth come after a baby is born.

“There is very little care given after you leave the hospital, and it affects women’s health for the rest of their lives. If there were more eyes on women … after they have their baby, it could catch countless complications,” Fackrell said.

Those who can’t afford to stay in the center can access its in-home services. For a minimum of four hours, people can pay to have a doula visit them at home. It’s $40 per hour for one of the center’s doulas.

For people who can’t afford an in-home doula visit, the center offers free 30-minute consultations.

“We can direct you to other places that do other doulas and lots of groups that can provide different types of support as well,” Fackrell said.

She hopes that there will be expanded coverage for new mothers to access doula services.

Fackrell said that people who don’t believe the services the center offers are important have probably never had a baby.

“It is hard for everybody. Just because everybody has babies, and billions of people around the world are having babies doesn’t mean that it’s easy. Every single person’s journey is difficult,” Fackrell said.