M Health Fairview has a new tool to help postpartum women keep a close eye on their health. It’s available to patients on their cell phones and can be used right at home.

The Home Observation of Postpartum Elevated Blood Pressure, or HOPE-BP, pilot program was launched in November 2023. It’s an app accessed through MyChart.

“I thought it was a wonderful option after birth,” said Jill Kaiyalethe, who welcomed her daughter Hazel in January.

Kaiyalethe told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS her blood pressure was elevated when she arrived at the hospital in labor before giving birth.

“They were tracking throughout my stay at the hospital but upon discharge it wasn’t high enough to put me on meds,” she said. “They said ‘We’re sending you home, we’ll set you up with MyChart with this app’.”

Kaiyalethe entered her blood pressure numbers twice a day from home. It was monitored by a team of nurses.

“This is a scary period of time for a lot patients with a new diagnosis of a hypertensive disorder right after a new baby,” said Sarah Fladhammer, an RN coordinator for maternal-fetal medicine. “Their focus is on that new baby and not wanting to leave the house right away so this is an opportunity to stay at home in a calm environment to check their blood pressures.”

A team of six nurses checks the blood pressure levels and if they see a spike, they follow up to see if medication management or further treatment is needed.

“New headaches, ongoing headaches, sometimes it’s a sense of them not feeling well, or increased swelling, any chest pain, shortness of breath, we do take that very seriously,” she explained.

According to M Health Fairview, high blood pressure disorders affect one in seven patients during pregnancy or after delivery.

About a week after she had her daughter, Kaiyalethe’s blood pressure spiked and she was instructed to go to the emergency room.

“I went to the ER and didn’t think anything of it, I just thought I was there for some blood pressure medication,” she said. “All of a sudden, I was being admitted to the hospital and was there for three days with pre-eclampsia.”

It was the first time the mother of three experienced a postpartum blood pressure spike.

“High blood pressures can increase the risk of stroke after delivery, as well as damage to things like their heart or their kidneys,” said Dr. Bethany Sabol, an M Health Fairview maternal-fetal medicine physician.

She started the HOPE-BP program at M Health Fairview.

“The postpartum period, after delivery can be one of the highest risk times for patients that have blood pressure complications with pregnancy, or sometimes patients develop blood pressure issues for the first time postpartum,” said Dr. Sabol.

She added, “We actually know that when we look at major morbidity for our patients who have delivered, and mortality, that the vast majority happens in the postpartum period.”

Since it started about a year ago, the program has served 367 patients and led to a 69% reduction in postpartum re-admissions due to hypertension, according to M Health Fairview.

The six-week program is currently only available at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center but Dr. Sabol hopes to expand it to all nine birthing hospitals in the system. She also wants to improve the app so it’s available to non-English speaking patients.

“It will also save lives, I think it saved mine,” said Kaiyalethe. “I don’t think I would’ve realized that a headache seven days after having my baby was due to my blood pressure so I’m thankful for the app tracking. Otherwise, I don’t know that I would’ve gone in [to the hospital].”