FROM HEARTACHE TO HOPE
FROM HEARTACHE TO HOPE
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Major Amanda Rebhi, Active-Duty Major in the Air Force
Amanda Rebhi is an active duty Major in the U.S. Air Force currently completing a Master’s Degree program at George Mason University as a DAF Strategic Communication fellow. More importantly, she is a mother who has endured the heartache of pregnancy loss. In 2020, Amanda and her husband were expecting their first child, a girl named Liliana Beatrice. After years of infertility, Liliana was their miracle baby. However, Amanda began experiencing pregnancy complications that she believed were not adequately addressed by her base Obstetrician and Emergency Department physicians. Tragically, just days shy of 20 weeks gestation, Liliana was stillborn after a placental abruption.
Due to Lily’s gestational age being shy of 20 weeks, Amanda and her husband were denied Family Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (FSGLI) benefits and faced significant expenses for her funeral costs. Had they not had funds immediately available to cover the expenses, they would have had to allow the hospital to dispose of their daughter with medical waste. Adding to their distress, there was no bereavement leave policy, and Convalescent Leave only covered a short period for childbirth recovery. Amanda would have had to return to work while still physically and emotionally recovering if not for COVID-19 work-from-home policies and a very supportive supervisor. It was during this time that Amanda resolved to advocate for change so that other women and military families experiencing loss would not have to endure the same hardships.
Over the past four years, Amanda has worked on improving bereavement policies, FSGLI, and perinatal loss support with former CMSAF Bass and the Women’s Initiative Team. Her efforts have contributed to changes in minimum Convalescent Leave requirements for pregnancy loss and the establishment of the DoD’s first sanctified Bereavement Leave in NDAA 2022. Now, Amanda has expanded her focus under her DAF Fellowship to address the root cause of her suffering—enhancing obstetric care within the Military Health System.
Through a literature review assignment, Amanda discovered numerous academic studies indicating that obstetric care in the Military Health System was of lesser quality than in civilian hospitals, with increased risks and complications for mothers and babies. This realization spurred Amanda to conduct further research into the quality of obstetric care for active duty women and military spouses.
Amanda published an op-ed piece in the Air Force Times about her experience and findings. She is also pursuing publication of a qualitative content analysis of women's discussions on social media forums regarding obstetric care experiences under TRICARE and a qualitative interview study of active duty women’s obstetric care experiences. For her Capstone project, Amanda is conducting a third research study comparing quality of care under TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select. This anonymous quantitative survey is open to any spouse of an active duty member who has had a pregnancy since January 1, 2018, and was at least 2 weeks postpartum by March 1, 2024. Interested spouses may still complete the survey HERE until the end of August.
Through her research, Amanda hopes to catalyze improvements in the Military Health System and TRICARE coverage to enhance obstetric care on military bases and provide active duty women with more choices in their care providers. While Amanda will graduate from George Mason in December and continue her career as an Acquisitions Officer, she aims to keep working with the WIT and advocacy organizations such as Five & Thrive to further improve the quality of life and care for military members and their families. Since 2020, Amanda has welcomed a rainbow daughter, Avalina, and is currently pregnant with her third child, another girl due in October. She hopes her work will make a lasting impact for future generations of women and make her daughters proud.
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