[Tutorial Kit] Building a Community Health Indicator List for Prenatal Care in Airtable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLqHukOYyfIMABH6lsaob5KaS77_D6e_Ew&v=6ZgIksUcFeo

Workshop Chapters

Recorded live Jan 27 2026, timestamps are below.

PART 1:

0:00 - Welcome

0:53 - About Us

3:06 - Addressing Imposter Syndrome

4:32 - Data Challenge Overview

4:55 - Q: What is a Key Stakeholder?

6:53 - TOPIC: Prenatal Care

PART 2:

9:00 - STEP-BY-STEP

20:18 - GETTING DATA

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🎯 Data Challenge

Create an indicator list on prenatal care in your region.

The Plan

Collect key indicators for your community using free sources of prenatal care data in the United states and create an indicator list using Airtable.

What is Airtable? A supercharged, AI-powered, automation-enabling alternative to spreadsheets.

3 Learning Objectives

1. Query & Collect 📊 data on prenatal care in your region.

2. Organize & Analyze data using the data tool: 🧰 🛠️ Airtable.

3. Visualize & Humanize data by creating a 🎨 database for a key stakeholder i.e. target audience.

Prerequisites. Beginner-friendly, no prior experience needed.

Keywords and core concepts also covered:

• Human-centered, design-first data

• Basics of 🧰 🛠️ Airtable

• Upstream/Downstream health indicators

Here's what you'll need to successfully complete this challenge

• ⏰ Time. 20-40 minutes

• 🧰 Tools: Airtable.

  • A free Airtable Account

  • READ-ONLY TEMPLATE Airtable Base: https://airtable.com/appoH0DgS7298da4K/shrbcbPpKhYEVq5vv

    • To create an editable copy of this read-only base (a.k.a. "database"), make a copy to your workspace. First, click the link above, then "Copy base".

  • 

    Copy the READ-ONLY Template to create an editable copy in your own workspace. Changes to your copy will not be viewable by anyone.

• 📊 Data:

  • Health Indicator: Prenatal Care in the first trimester (%) (2020-2022). Estimated percentage of live births with first trimester prenatal care entry.

  • Data Source: Maternal and Infant Health Mapping Tool, Health Resources and Services Administration (2020-2022). https://data.hrsa.gov/topics/maternal-child-health/mchb-mapping

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

An indicator is a measurable characteristic used to describe and monitor the health status of a population.

An indicator list is a collection of these measures—usually based on secondary data (data collected by others, such as government agencies or surveys). Indicator lists are commonly used to:

• Describe community health needs

• Monitor conditions related to health

• Support or challenge health policies

In this project, the central health priority is maternal and infant health, with a focus on prenatal care. The steps below will guide you to create an indicator list in Airtable for prenatal care.

Step 1: Set Up Your Airtable Workspace

Airtable is a powerful tool for managing and presenting information clearly. Key features include:

• Basic Features

  • FILTER and GROUP data to focus on specific indicators

  • HIDE fields that are not currently needed

  • VIEW Different table formats to organize information

• More Advanced Features

  • AI-generated summaries that help create narrative insights from your data

  • Automations

For this tutorial:

1. Login to Airtable or "Sign Up for Free" and create an Airtable account. Create an account by verifying email and following instructions provided by Airtable.

2. Open the READ-ONLY TEMPLATE Airtable Base and follow the instructions to ‘Copy base’ to your own workspace for editing. Note: This step is not included in the video of the live workshop.

3. Open in your EDITABLE COPY of the Base.

4. Go to:

   1. TAB or TABLE: " 🏁 START - ADD DATA HERE 👇"

   2. VIEW: "🏁 START HERE 👉"

   3. See the Grid (or Spreadsheet) with 3 rows

5. Next, in the first column of the Grid, under the last row, click on the ‘+’ symbol to add a new row and enter the following under the appropriate fields:

   1. Your name (edit as needed)

   2. The county 

   3. The state where that county is located

Note: The United States is included in the dataset as a benchmark, allowing you to compare county-level indicators with national values.

Click "Copy base" to make a Copy of the READ-ONLY TEMPLATE

Make a Copy of the READ-ONLY Base (left, RED header) to have your own editable copy (right, WHITE header). Edits will be viewable only to you.

Step 2: Gather Data from the HRSA Maternal and Infant Health Mapping Tool

1. Open the Maternal and Infant Health Mapping Tool.

2. On the left-hand side, you'll see an accordion menu listing available data categories.

3. For percent (%) of births with prenatal care in the first trimester:

   1. Click to expand Health Indicators.

   2. Select “Prenatal Care in the 1st Trimester (%)” and the year range 2020–2022, click Apply

   3. Use the search box in the top right corner of the resulting map to find the data for your county of interest.

   4. Click within the borderlines of the county on the map to get the percentage value (found in the pop-up box).

   5. Alternatively, search for County within Table in lower part of screen.

   6. Add number to associated Airtable column i.e. "❤️ Prenatal Care in the 1st Trimester (%)"

4. For the percent of uninsured women aged 18–49 years:

   1. Click to expand Demographic Characteristics.

   2. Select “Uninsured Women 18-49 Years of Age (%)”.

   3. Repeat steps c - f above to obtain the percentage value for your county of interest.

5. For the OB-GYN provider rate per 100,000 women:

   1. Click to expand Health Resources.

   2. Select “OB-GYN Provider Rate (per 100,000)”.

   3. Repeat steps c - f above to obtain the percentage value for your county of interest.

For more details, please watch the step-by-step walkthrough portion in the video above (timestamp: 9:00 - STEP-BY-STEP).

Search and click on map to find county-level data

Alternatively, the Data Table is at the bottom of the screen and you can search for county-level data

Step 3: Populate the Indicator Fields

Head back to the Airtable base you created and enter the percentage values gathered above under the appropriate fields. For example, the percentage obtained for uninsured women aged 18-49 goes under the field "Uninsured Women 18-49 Years of Age (%)".

Step 4: Compare Your County to National Benchmarks

Use the U.S. data provided in Row 1 of the Table as a comparison point. For example, if the percentage of women receiving no prenatal care in the first trimester is higher than the national average, note that in your entry. This comparison helps identify potential gaps in healthcare access.

Use the Indicator List to Tell a Data Story

A well-organized indicator list helps highlight health priorities, identify gaps in care, and guide resource allocation. In this case, examining prenatal care indicators can reveal where communities may need additional healthcare resources or policy support to improve maternal and infant health outcomes.

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BroadStreet Certificate (FREE)	Submit A Screenshot of Airtable for a Certificate
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Note: We review projects every 2-4 weeks, and typically at the end of the month.

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Instructors

Diana Saad, MPH, Instructor

Diana Saad, MPH Data for Change Program Coordinator BroadStreet Institute Diana has a passion for exploring data and using tools like Airtable and over the past year has worked with dozens of trainees on Airtable setup, indicator exploration, data stories, and logic models. Diana is passionate about health and wellness, specifically for women and children.

Angel Santellano, BS, Instructor

Angel Santellano, BS Data for Change Program Coordinator BroadStreet Institute Angel is a Master of Public Health graduate student at California Baptist University. Angel is a dedicated higher education professional with experience in health promotion, education, and medical education. Angel has worked with dozens of trainees on Airtable setup, indicator exploration, data stories, and logic models. Angel is focused on the sectors of higher education and not-for-profits.