Two medical teams wait patiently in the hallway outside of a hospital room at theMississippi Center for Emergency Servicesat the University of Mississippi Medical Center in mid-February. Its quiet as they slip on blue gloves and consult with their team on tasks. One will help the mother. The other will receive the baby.

Dr. Tara Lewis presents todays patient and students listen carefully as she lays out the scenario, making note of the patients age, symptoms and whats missing from her chart. Then, as the patient Victoria Tubby screams through the door, they ready themselves. Its time to deliver a baby.

But this is no ordinary hospital room, and Victoria is no ordinary patient. For starters, shes not a real person. Shes a high-tech mannequin that simulates a woman in labor. She bleeds, screams and has a removable belly and placenta.

And the delivery of her baby a slippery, 5-pound doll is all part of aSTORK training simulationunderway at MCES.

As hospitals in rural Mississippi continue to cut maternal and neonatal services, residents are strapped to find options in an emergency like going into labor. The STORK programlaunchedin May to prepare paramedics and health care providers for those rising gaps in care.

Lewis, an emergency medicine physician, said the response to STORK has been overwhelmingly positive. At its creation, the plan was to teach 10 classes in a year, but demand turned it into two per month. By the end of the programs first year, more than 400 people will have attended a STORK session, whether at the MCES or at a hospital across the state.

The training had real-world effects almost immediately.

Weve had people reach out to us that we have trained that have delivered babies the next day in their E.R., Lewis said.

Giving birth in an emergency room doesnt seem ideal for most mothers, but across the Gulf States, hospitals have had todownsize, opting to preservecritical careover maternity care and leaving pregnant people to rely heavily on emergency services. Over the past year,as many as four hospitalshave suspended labor and delivery services the most recent being Singing River hospital in Gulfport, Mississippi.

We see people having to drive two to three hours to get obstetric health care in the Delta specifically, Lewis said.

Most of the Mississippi Delta qualifies as amaternity care desert, according to the latest March of Dimes report meaning there are barely any obstetric providers for mothers in the region. Mississippis poor health care system also affects babies. With only one childrens hospital in the entire state, even patients with the least critical care needs can expect to travel hundreds of miles.

Adam Bandy, whos part of the pediatric transport team at MCES, said long ambulance trips are common and his job can take him into some deeply rural areas.

Make sure you pack your lunch because were probably going to be gone for 5 to 6 hours on this trip, Bandy said. Thats a routine trip. Thats not if theres any kind of complications or if we have to provide any kind of next level of care.

Bandy points to hub cities, such as Jackson and Hattiesburg as having adequate facilities for patients, but in places like Greenwood or Gulfport, sometimes the nearest hospital with a pediatric unit isnt in the state.

Well go to Louisiana, Alabama [and] Tennessee on occasion, and we will transfer either from here to there, or we will bring them from there for resources since Jackson has the only childrens hospital in the state of Mississippi, he said.

Those resources can be hard to come by, so STORK provides each participant with a duffle bag packed with supplies to deliver a baby or stabilize a laboring mom. If the paramedic uses anything in the bag, STORK will replace it.

Bandy was present at the February STORK training, but it isnt his first time completing the course. He said its vital to keep those skills sharp. Lewis said STORK gives health care providers the opportunity to practice skills they may not use daily. The class is made up of paramedics, flight medics, and nurses, many of whom have never had to deliver a baby.

Before the simulation, students attend a lecture to learn how to stabilize a patient, stop a hemorrhage and intubate an infant emergency procedures that could mean life or death.

In the hospital room, they pay special attention to Victoria and check her and her babys vitals on a large screen. Victoria is responsive and offers feedback to her providers while they work. She can be affirming and grateful that theyve gotten the baby out, or can be difficult, yelling out dont touch me! She sometimes goes into shock, and its a scramble to then bring her back, but participants can practice as many times as they want.

She can simulate things like seizures, postpartum hemorrhage, pre-eclampsia, abnormal presentation of the baby, Lewis said. She does it all.

Students practice multiple best- and worst-case scenarios, offer fluids and medicine and support Victoria through labor. Everyone keeps a watchful eye to help her safely deliver her baby.

You can actually get your hands on it and catch a baby and do it multiple times because that repetition kind of helps educate people, helps you get that just muscle memory of what to do, Lewis said.

This story was produced by theGulf States Newsroom, a collaboration betweenMississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHMin Alabama,WWNO andWRKFin Louisiana andNPR. Support for reproductive health coverage comes fromThe Commonwealth Fund.

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In rural Mississippi, E.R. staff are being trained to care for moms and deliver babies - WBHM