When Cynthia Velasquez was pregnant with her first child, her doctor mentioned that her baby’s blood type was negative. She panicked. How could that be? She and her husband were both positive. Confounded by her physician’s explanation, Cynthia turned to someone she knew would keep her from coming undone: Tracey Bradley-Simmons, a nurse at Blue Cross Blue Shield. “I called her the second I got out of the doctor’s office, and she explained it all to me,” says Cynthia, 42, who lives in Florence, SC, and is an associate with Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores.

This was one of many reassuring phone calls Cynthia had with Tracey during her pregnancy. The relationship was facilitated by Wal-Mart’s Life with Baby program, which pairs expecting and adoptive parents with a registered nurse throughout their pregnancy and the child’s first year—at no cost to employees. And if a mom-to-be has worries in the middle of the night, she also has access to a 24-hour hotline that enables her to speak with a medical professional after hours. Introduced last November, the program is available to all associates who are enrolled in Wal-Mart’s healthcare plan—that’s 52 percent of Wal-Mart’s 1.4 million employees—and their spouses. Today, 1,600 Wal-Mart moms participate in Life with Baby. 

One of the program’s main goals, says Lisa Woods, senior director of global benefits design at Bentonville, AR–based Wal-Mart, is to help reduce preterm labor. According to the March of Dimes, one in eight babies born in the United States is premature, and these babies are at higher risk for hospitalization, long-term health problems and death than babies born at full term. “We wanted to focus on areas where we can make a real difference in the lives of our associates,” says Woods. “And the data pointed out that, at any given time, there are thousands of women who are pregnant and working at Wal-Mart.” The proactive nature of the program—nurses check in with the moms-to-be on a regular basis—makes it different from other helpline services that are common among many big companies and insurance providers. “You don’t have to reach out for help; these nurses reach out to you,” Woods notes. The company’s pilot program, which was tested for one year, showed that this kind of additional support for moms did have an impact. 

Mom-to-Nurse Bonding Terry Perry, managing principal of PinkSlip LLC, a human resources consulting firm based in San Jose, CA, agrees that while most major health insurance providers offer some kind of 24-hour hotline, the ongoing relationship that Wal-Mart employees have with individual nurses is unique. Nurse hotline programs, says Perry, are good for everyone because they not only promote employee health but also are extremely cost-effective, since they reduce unnecessary emergency room and doctor’s office visits. “We found that often when people called for what they considered an emergency, they learned it wasn’t a true emergency and that they could go to the doctor’s office the next day. So it eased that tension,” says Perry. 

In addition to hotline-help access, expectant moms are offered counseling on smoking cessation and breastfeeding, two additional periodontal cleanings and gift baskets containing items including a pregnancy planner, a water bottle, a sippy cup, a blanket and a copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. 

Healthy gums and reference books are nice, but having an expert on hand when you’re gripped by new-mommy fear—What if my baby is born with some terrible disease? Why can’t I feel the baby kicking?—well, that’s the difference between a sleepless night and a restful one. “If you’re a first-time parent, it’s a little bit scary,” says Linda Dillman, executive vice president of benefits and risk management for Wal-Mart. “Knowing that you have someone who is going to help you out and answer your questions provides comfort.” 

A Phone Call Away
Here’s how Life with Baby works: Once an employee (or spouse) enrolls in the program, she has an initial phone consultation with a registered nurse, and then the nurse reviews the expectant mom’s health records, including vaccinations and prescriptions. The nurse checks in periodically, based on the needs of the mom-to-be—calling when a mom has a doctor’s appointment scheduled, for instance. And the expectant mother may call the nurse whenever she wants.

Kim Alyanakian, 39, whose husband, John, is a manager at the Bryan, OH, Wal-Mart, was relieved to have Wendy Workman, the nurse assigned to her, on hand during her pregnancy. After a bad fall, Kim was concerned. When her physician summarily dismissed her fears, she called Wendy. While Wendy encouraged her to go to the emergency room if she was bleeding or cramping, she also explained that the amniotic sac is very strong and designed to protect the baby. “Wendy gave me a sense of security that I didn’t get from my physician,” says Kim. “It kept me from running to the emergency room.”

Employee Satisfaction Whether or not the program will help reduce health-care costs for the employer is yet to be seen. “It’s too early to tell,” says Dillman. “As a company we’re working diligently to manage health-care costs. That’s a goal.”

She adds, though, that it’s not at the heart of the program. Wal-Mart spends $6 billion a year on employee benefits, she notes, “and when we see a need and the data supports that need, that’s where we put our money.” The company doesn’t break out the costs of individual programs, however, and therefore couldn’t put a price tag on the cost of Life with Baby. 

While it’s no secret that the company has had its share of employee-relations problems, Dillman notes that Wal-Mart is on the right track with programs such as Life with Baby. In fact, employee satisfaction with the Wal-Mart benefits package has gone up 16 percentage points over the past three years. “The most important way to take care of associates is to look at the things that they tell us are most important to them,” says Dillman. “That’s where we have focused our energy.”