Over a black screen, a woman's voice speaks.
WOMAN: So tell me about this baby. What pregnancy is this? Tell me about the baby, and are you excited?
A woman wearing a red hat and flannel hooded sweater looks to the side as she interviews.
WOMAN: Excited, not yet. I was more excited with her than I am with this one.
Fade to black. Reflective piano music plays.
A flock of birds fly through a blue sky behind a telephone pole strung with tangles of wires. White text appears in the middle of the screen.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Out of 185 nations, the U.S. ranks 131st in premature birth rates.
A line of cars approach on a narrow street, passing a row of tightly spaced houses. A water tower stands in the distance behind a tall tree. An airplane flies across the sky above the roofs. Then a train passes across a cement bridge above a sign reading, "JFK ON-AIRPORT PARKING | Safe · Secure · No Hidden Fees."
ON SCREEN TEXT: Group Prenatal Care can reduce preterm births by 33%.
A crosswalk sign on a tall pole changes from the orange-lighted image of a hand to the white-lighted image of a person walking, and two men waiting at the crosswalk step into the street. A young boy in a hat and jacket, seen through the bars of a metal railing, stares off into the distance.
ON SCREEN TEXT: UnitedHealthcare is partnering with the March of Dimes to scale Group Prenatal Care nationally.
Sue Schick sits in a chair, in a room with bare walls, and interviews.
SUE SCHICK: As a mom, I could tell you there are things I didn't want to ask my doctor, but I would ask a group of girlfriends if the moment came up.
A group of pregnant women sit in a circle, leaned back in padded chairs, with spiral notebooks and pens on their laps.
SUE SCHICK: And in a way, that's what we've created.
A woman holds a baby in her lap as she sits and interviews in a room filled with books and toys.
WOMAN: I was practically alone because all my family members was in my country.
Another woman sits and interviews in the same space.
WOMAN: I had family and I had friends in this area, but nobody was pregnant with me.
A woman bundled in a hat, jacket and scarf crosses a street and boards a city bus.
Another woman with glasses interviews in the room with toys.
WOMAN: I wasn't too sure of myself, if I could take care of a baby.
The baby in the woman's lap from earlier holds a ball in his hands and giggles at the camera as the woman continues speaking.
WOMAN: I was really scared.
White text appears onscreen to Sue Schick's left as she interviews.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Sue Schick, Chief Growth Officer, UnitedHealthcare Community and State
SUE SCHICK: It can be very lonely. It can be very scary. Women look to their families to try to help 'em, but the families don't have that information.
One of the women in the group gathering holds her hand on her stomach and smiles. Another woman wears a name tag that reads "Ivonne."
SUE SCHICK: The families aren't gonna provide the kind of support that this group of other moms and moms-to-be is gonna provide.
Another woman sits in a chair, her hands pressed together in front of her, as she interviews. White text appears onscreen to her left.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Siobhan M. Dolan, MD, MPH, Medical Advisor, March of Dimes
SIOBHAN M. DOLAN: Group Prenatal Care is a type of care where you form groups of women who have a due date in about the same month, and the group experience provides sharing of information.
The women in the group gathering converse.
A woman with shoulder-length black hair sits in a room and interviews. She lounges in her chair in the group gathering, listening to the other women.
WOMAN: At first, I was scared not to say some personal things 'cause these people you don't even know.
Another woman interviews in a living room.
WOMAN: I just wasn't totally sure that that was gonna be the most comfortable setting for something that feels very private.
In a kitchen, a woman dressed in a gray striped sweater and holding a bundle of asparagus approaches a baby standing in a wooden chair at the sink, holding up a colander. The woman takes the colander from the baby and leans over the kitchen sink. In a living room, a man tosses a baby up into the air, then catches and kisses the child.
WOMAN: Everybody in the group came in with different backgrounds, but we all had something in common.
The woman with shoulder-length black hair smiles as she interviews.
WOMAN: When you met everyone, it's like so like you know them for all these years.
The woman in the gray striped sweater sits in a chair in a wood-floored room and interviews. Then in the kitchen, the baby at the sink holds up a stalk of asparagus and the woman makes a funny face, looking at the baby with wide eyes and pursed lips, before smiling.
WOMAN: I'm honestly a very private person, but it felt like a lot of the things we were talking about, we were all going through it.
The woman in the gray striped shirt sits on a couch between two other women, laughing and conversing. The woman with shoulder-length black hair interviews.
WOMAN: We were talking about things that you never would say to anybody and a stranger, and we had conversations that are coming out about your sex life and your partner, and things just flow from there.
A woman seated in the group gathering arches her head back against the blanket across the seat's headrest while holding her belly and laughing.
WOMAN: And I think we probably shared things that we didn't even share with our partners.
Sue Schick holds out her open palms as she speaks.
SUE SCHICK: A group where anything goes, where you can ask those questions and get the real deal.
A woman seated in front of wall lined with full bookshelves interviews.
WOMAN: Talking about your anxieties and your fears, it helps you prepare yourself for what's coming.
Two women, one of them pushing a pink stroller, pass each other on a sidewalk in front of two closed storefronts. A red car drives by. Another woman stands on the sidewalk talking on the phone while holding a young boy's hand.
The woman with glasses interviews.
WOMAN: Thursday's coming. I have to meet my friends, have to meet the doctor that we can talk to, we can share ideas and have some fun.
The woman with the shoulder-length black hair holds her hands out as she interviews. In the group gathering, she nods her head as she lounges in the circle.
WOMAN: Just being with people like me, we'll just unwind a bit from all the pressure from home and everyday life.
The woman in the gray striped shirt sits and interviews.
WOMAN: There were lots of questions that people would ask that I would've never thought to ask.
The woman with the red hat and flannel sweater interviews. In the group gathering, she holds out her hand as she converses with the other women around her.
WOMAN: All of us are going through the same thing. Whatever we don't know, somebody else know and learn off of each other.
The woman in the room with bookshelves interviews.
WOMAN: It was a very open statement around, like, "Hey, I've got you."
A woman sits on a floor with a young girl surrounded by toys. The woman in the gray striped shirt interviews.
WOMAN: We were so lucky. Everybody had a relatively healthy baby, which is amazing when you think about a group of 10 or 11 of us.
A woman in a red sweater clasps her hands in front of her as she sits and interviews. White text appears onscreen to her right.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Stacey D. Stewart, MBA, President, March of Dimes
STACEY D. STEWART: Group Prenatal Care has proven to be so effective at reducing prematurity and helping to produce better outcomes.
A young child rocks back and forth in a small rocking chair. Then a girl wearing a basket on her head smiles. A man in a suit sits in a room and interviews.
PAUL E. JARRIS: My sister was a pediatric nurse. She had three premature babies. And even though she had cared for them in the past, to have her own premature babies was a whole different thing.
Sue Schick's eyes tear up as she interviews.
SUE SCHICK: He told me that my son was born with these challenges, and we cried together. And then he handed me my son, and I knew everything was gonna be okay. Because once you see that little baby and you know, no matter what the challenges are, we're gonna get through this as a family.
The woman in the red hat and flannel sweater interviews. In the group gathering, she sits and speaks while a young child sleeps in the seat next to her.
WOMAN: I think all of us went in there with a open mind. We created a bond, a friendship, something that you wouldn't do if you just went to a regular doctor's appointment and you just sat in the waiting room.
A baby sits in the lap of the woman with the gray striped shirt on the floor. The baby holds a cutout of a wooden pencil. White text appears to the left of the man in the suit while he interviews.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Paul E. Jarris, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer, March of Dimes
PAUL E. JARRIS: We're really trying to develop this model that is easier to implement for providers, for moms, and is something that they can sustain over time and that we can spread so more moms and babies will benefit from Group Prenatal Care.
A woman standing outdoors holds a baby, bundled in a light blue fleece vest, in her arms. The baby holds up her arms while the woman smiles wide behind her. Then the baby begins tilting to the side.
Sue Schick holds her hands out in front of her, then clasps them into fists as she interviews.
SUE SCHICK: To see your child covered with wires and in an incubator, whenever I see a baby like that so vulnerable, I always think, "What–what could we have done? Could we have prevented this? Is there something that we could've done to help the mom to avoid that situation?"
The woman in the red hat and flannel sweater interviews. The young girl in the group gathering sleeps in one of the chairs.
WOMAN: It feels really good to be able to take care of yourself the right way. If I have another baby, baby number three, I would come back to Group Prenatal.
On a white background, yellow and blue boxes slide across each other in the middle of the screen, then disappear, revealing blue text.
ON SCREEN TEXT: UNITEDHEALTH GROUP®