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Healthy Start grant will help screen at-risk women, babies

By Staff | Mar 3, 2009

Healthy Start of Southwest Florida will soon be able to increase its efforts to improve risk screening rates for pregnant women in Southwest Florida, thanks to a $9,800 grant provided by the March of Dimes.

The project goal is to identify at-risk pregnant women and infants who are at-risk for a poor birth outcome and eligible for Healthy Start services. Early detection of these risks will help reduce the chance of a premature birth or infant death.

Two Strategies to Achieve Increased Screening Rates

Produce and pilot a short video that explains the importance of having every mother complete the voluntary risk screen

Explains the services available

Includes client testimonials to encourage completion of the risk screen and participation in the Healthy Start program.

Provide “incentive bags” with educational materials for mothers of newborns who agree to complete the risk screen. The March of Dimes’ “Newborn Care” brochure will be included in the incentive bags.

Grant Fast Facts

Grant Amount provided by the March of Dimes: $9,800

Program Cost: $13,500

Video to be piloted at clinics and hospitals with lower screening rates.

Targets a minimum of 5,000 newborns and 2,000 pregnant women

500 additional families to be reached through Healthy Start’s community outreach program.

“Using a video delivery method along with the take-home educational materials increases the family’s ability to understand the importance of completing the voluntary risk screen and the range of services available to them to help them give their baby the best chance of a healthy start in life” said Cathy Cortez, executive director of Healthy Start.

Healthy Start programs support a wide range of women’s health issues

Services which pregnant women can use include assistance stopping behaviors that affect the baby’s health such as smoking/ drinking/ drugs cessation, education on nutrition, diabetes and other diseases, and assistance in locating and receiving medical care and insurance. Additionally, Healthy Start focuses on improving women’s health in between their pregnancies since the majority infant and fetal deaths are attributable to the health of the mother before she gets pregnant.

For every $1 spent on pre-natal care, up to $6 will be saved in neonatal intensive care costs, recurrent hospital and medical expenses paid by Medicaid, exceptional and remedial education, child abuse and neglect investigations, disability and dependency costs.