transplanted in November and a

“You made it to term – yay!” she told her client.Coles smiled. “My body can do it!”

While programs like Healthy Start focus on individual patient needs, other efforts manage the overall quality of medical care.California has the lowest maternal mortality in the nation — 10.5 per 100,000 live births, less than half the national rate. But that wasn’t the case before it created a “maternal quality care collaborative” in 2006.Founded at Stanford University’s medical school in partnership with the state, it brings together people from every hospital with a maternity unit to share best practices on how to deal with issues that could lead to maternal injury or death, like high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and sepsis.

“When you look at the rate of maternal death in the United States compared to California, they basically ran neck-and-neck until it was established,” said Dr. Amanda Williams, clinical innovation adviser for the collaborative. “At that time they totally separated and California started going down. The rest of the country started going up.”Denise Jones speaks with Dr. Allison Garnett during a prenatal appointment at the Oklahoma State University obstetrics and gynecology clinic. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)

Denise Jones speaks with Dr. Allison Garnett during a prenatal appointment at the Oklahoma State University obstetrics and gynecology clinic. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)

In the collaborative, hospitals get toolkits full of materials such as care guidelines in multiple formats, articles on best practices and slide sets that spell out what to do in medical emergencies, how to set up medical teams and what supplies to keep on the unit. The collaborative also tackles issues such as improving obstetric care by integrating midwives and doulas – whose services are covered by the state’s Medicaid program.“Mr. Faucette’s last wish was for us to make the most of what we have learned from our experience,” Dr. Bartley Griffith, the surgeon who led the transplant at the University of Maryland Medical Center, said in a statement.

Attempts at animal-to-human organ transplants — called xenotransplants — have failed for decades, as people’s immune systems immediately destroyed the foreign tissue. Now scientists are trying again using pigs genetically modified to make their organs more humanlike.Faucette, a Navy veteran and father of two from Frederick, Maryland, had been turned down for a traditional heart transplant because of other health problems when he came to the Maryland hospital, out of options and expressing a wish to spend a little more time with his family.

In mid-October, the hospital said Faucette had been able to stand and released video showing him working hard in physical therapy to regain the strength needed to attempt walking.Cardiac xenotransplant chief Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin said the team will analyze what happened with the heart as they continue studying pig organs.