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News / The Ask Me 5 Ambassador Program — Impacting the Heart of Maternal Mortality in Missouri

The Ask Me 5 Ambassador Program — Impacting the Heart of Maternal Mortality in Missouri

Published Aug 20, 2026

What Is Ask Me 5 and the Ambassador Program?

Since the launch of the Ask Me 5 campaign in 2025, our mission has been to share five essential questions that build trust, open dialogue and address critical health issues with providers and patients across the state of Missouri. Developed in tandem with maternal health professionals and individuals with lived experience, Ask Me 5 is a framework that providers and patients can use to address the five leading causes of maternal death in Missouri. The framework is organized around the acronym H.E.A.R.T., representing five key areas of focus: 

  • High blood pressure/preeclampsia 
  • Emotional and mental health 
  • Access to care 
  • Recognizing substance use 
  • Trauma, abuse and safety 

Recognizing that this important work of sharing Ask Me 5 could not be accomplished by the MO PQC team alone, we created the Ask Me 5 Ambassador program. Through this program, MO PQC trains and empowers trusted partners to serve as ambassadors for the campaign. These individuals are passionate about improving maternal and infant health outcomes and are committed to advancing the Ask Me 5 framework within their professions and communities. As ambassadors, they pledge not only to implement Ask Me 5 in their own daily practice, but also to promote the initiative by educating colleagues, sharing resources online and in person, and disseminating the Ask Me 5 mission at trainings, presentations and other professional gatherings.   

Who are the Ambassadors?

The Ask Me 5 Ambassadors include respected clinicians and community leaders from around the state. Representing a wide range of professions, including physicians, nurses, behavioral health providers, nonprofit leaders, care coordinators, and community advocates, these champions engage with pregnant and postpartum people in a variety of touchpoints such as perinatal care, psychiatric care, doula services, health policy and community-based resources. Through their different networks and professions, ambassadors share firsthand experience of successfully implementing the Ask Me 5 framework while encouraging others to learn the questions and utilize them in their daily practice.  

  • Teletia Atkins, CHW-C | Southeast Community Liaison, Missouri Foundation for Health; MO PQC Patient Family Partner
  • Rebecca Burger, R.N., BSN, CLC, CHW | System Care Coordinator Lead, Bootheel Perinatal Network/Saint Francis Medical Center
  • Niraj Chavan, M.D., MPH, FACOG, FASAM | Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology/Division Chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Obstetric Services, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix
  • Kimberly Costello, CNL, PCHW | CEO, The Doula Foundation
  • Kelsey Davis-Humes, D.O. | Medical Director, Family Medicine Physician, Scotland County Hospital
  • Karen Florio, D.O., MPH | Vice Chair, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement, MU Health Care
  • Monique Gill, LPC, NCC, CCTP | Associate Director, Staff Therapist, Hermann Center for Child and Family Development, WashU Medicine
  • Jennifer Hawn, DNP, R.N., WHNP-BC, RDMS | APRN Quality Specialist, Women & Infants, Missouri Baptist Medical Center
  • Gaurav Kulkarni, M.D. | Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, Compass Health Network
  • Reggi Rideout | Community Advocate
  • Sydney Thayer, M.D. | Maternal-Fetal Medicine Physician, WashU Medicine
  • Tracey Williams, MSN, FNP-C | Administrative Director of Nursing, Cox Medical Center Branson

Equipped for Success

In addition to the downloadable materials available to anyone on the Ask Me 5 website (posters, brochures, training manual, reference cards, videos), ambassadors are provided with a variety of resources and tools to support their efforts in promoting Ask Me 5. Each resource has been thoughtfully developed to make the Ask Me 5 campaign easy to understand, implement and share with others. Additionally, ambassadors gather regularly to discuss promotion of the campaign, share Ask Me 5 stories and provide feedback on the campaign.  

Ambassadors in Action

After our ambassadors were trained and onboarded, they set out to share Ask Me 5 in different formats and venues. Many of our early champions have engaged by sharing online posts and videos with their followers on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. Our ambassadors also have been filling in their peers and co-workers about Ask Me 5 at work huddles and board meetings. 

At MO PQC’s Maternal and Infant Symposium last year, three ambassadors helped facilitate our first Ask Me 5 workshop. This session provided an opportunity to share the rationale behind Ask Me 5, highlight the collaborative process used to develop the campaign, and engage participants through case studies and example patient-provider scenarios that demonstrated the framework in practice.  

In a more recent example of Ask Me 5 engagement, care coordinator Rebecca Burger recently introduced Ask Me 5 in a weekly huddle attended by physicians, nurses and other hospital staff. To make the session engaging and memorable, Burger and a partner created an interactive game that challenged the team members to identify the top five causes of maternal death in Missouri that Ask Me 5 seeks to address. After revealing the answers, she discussed practical ways the staff could incorporate the five key topics into patient conversations and use care coordination services to connect patients with the resources and support they need.   

What’s Next

As Ask Me 5 and its Ambassador program continue to grow, we hope to see more health care practitioners and organizations embrace the message behind the initiative. Ask Me 5 is about more than asking five questions — it’s about building meaningful connections with patients and clients, hearing their concerns and questions, and taking action to ensure they are connected with the care, services and support they need to thrive during pregnancy, postpartum and beyond.  

If you are interested in learning more about Ask Me 5 or the Ambassador program, please reach out to MO PQC ([email protected]). If your hospital, clinic or organization is interested in receiving training on Ask Me 5, please contact us to arrange an in-person or virtual session. 

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