Healthy Start In The News

Norton Healthcare gives $572,000 grant to Healthy Start program
November 8, 2011
Courier-Journal.com
Shortly after her son was born, Kathryn Williams said she began isolating herself, sleeping a lot and feeling generally unhappy. A resource worker from the city’s Healthy Start program helped her recognize that these might be signs of post-partum depression, and connected her with a clinical psychologist who she said helped her be a better mom.

Why is infant mortality still a U.S. problem?
November 2, 2011
CNN Opinion
If a measure of a successful society is its ability to prevent infant deaths, then there is an ugly truth in the United States today that public health officials know but the public largely does not: Too many of our babies are dying, and they don't have to. Public health officials, doctors and researchers from around the world are gathering in Washington this week for the 139th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association to address the pressing public health issues of the day, and it is imperative that they focus their attention on protecting the most vulnerable members of our society. The U.S. infant mortality rate is one of the highest among all developed countries. The disparity in rates within the United States is alarming as well, with black babies dying at more than twice the rate of white babies.

Tackling Infant Mortality Rates Among Blacks
October 14, 2011
The New York Times
PITTSBURGH — Amanda Ralph is the kind of woman whose babies are prone to die. She is young and poor and dropped out of school after the ninth grade. But there is also an undeniable link between Ms. Ralph’s race — she is black — and whether her baby will survive: nationally, black babies are more than twice as likely as white babies to die before the age of 1. Here in Pittsburgh, the rate is five times.

Healthy Start combats high infant death rate
September 27, 2011
PennLive.com
I am program director of Greater Harrisburg Healthy Start, a community-based coalition making steady progress in reducing infant deaths in our area. September is National Infant Mortality Awareness Month, and I am writing to ensure that the community is aware of the issue of infant mortality.

Syracuse Stroll for Infant Mortality Awareness Month
September 21, 2011
Your News Now
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Colorful strollers were paraded through Kirk Park Wednesday. Proud parents showing off their babies as part of the first ever Syracuse Stroll. "What we wanted to do is really focus on all the beautiful babies in the City of Syracuse who reach their first birthday and celebrate day 366," said Syracuse Healthy Start Project Director Kathleen Coughlin

How health professionals have helped lower infant mortality rates in Grand Rapids
September 20, 2011
The Grand Rapids Press Editorial Board
From unemployment to median income, Michigan’s numbers have not offered much encouragement in recent years. But here is a statistical trend that should make West Michigan proud: Infant mortality is on the decline in the city of Grand Rapids. Especially encouraging was the drop in infant mortality for African American children. Grand Rapids has had a scandalously high number of black babies who did not make it to their first birthdays.

Stillbirths More Common for Women With Previous Infant Deaths, Study Finds
September 20, 2011
Bloomberg News
A woman who loses a child during the baby’s first year of life is at risk of having a stillbirth in her next pregnancy, according to research that underscores the importance of good health before conception. Women who lose a child in the infant’s first year of life were three times more likely to have a stillbirth than women whose children survive to their first birthday, research today in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found. Black women were more likely than white women to suffer a subsequent stillbirth, the study showed.

September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month-Pinwheel Memory Garden at The Birth Place this week
September 20, 2011
Naples News
Naples, FL, September 15, 2011, September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month. Over the last five years, 845 babies died before their first birthday or were stillborn, right here in Southwest Florida. On September 21, Healthy Start of Southwest Florida and NCH volunteers will plant 845 pinwheels to honor the memory of the babies who have died and to raise awareness in our community.

Dancing with the Martin Stars proving successful beyond expectations
September 20, 2011
TCPalm
They say you can't tap-dance your way out of a bad situation. Tell that to the Martin County Healthy Start Coalition. Its first-ever Dancing with the Martin Stars fund-raising event on Sept. 24 is wiping out a budget deficit this year.

Budget cuts hit Healthy Start Coalitions hard
August 22, 2011
NYT Regional Media Group
LAKELAND - Budget cuts to the state's network of Healthy Start Coalitions threaten the health and welfare of thousands of Florida mothers and their babies. The state's 32 coalitions saw their collective budgets reduced by $5.4 million for the fiscal year that began July 1, about a 23 percent reduction from the previous year's total of $23.6 million.

Foundation gives $16K for children's health
July 20, 2011
Hillsboro Star-Journal
The Hillsboro Community Foundation recently gave a $16,000 grant for children’s health services in USD 410 from the Marga Ebel Fund.