The Camellia Project was featured this month by Every Woman Southeast, highlighting the preliminary results of the pilot project for mothers who have had a baby in the NICU. The regional maternal and child health coalition included the project in their monthly newsletter and their blog.
The Camellia Project is an interconceptional program funded by the Florida March of Dimes and implemented by the Healthy Start Coalition. It provides education and support to high-risk postpartum mothers who have had a fetal or infant loss or a baby in the NICU, addressing risk factors to prevent subsequent poor outcomes.
The preliminary evaluation of the first two program years shows increased participant knowledge, intent to adhere to healthy behaviors and the impact of the social support the mothers receive from each other.
The Camellia Project feature was part of a larger focus on Florida for the month of April. There was also interviews with key MCH leaders in the state:
Every Woman Southeast focuses on improving the health of women and infants in an eight-state region with high rates of infant mortality, poor health behaviors, poverty and racial disparities.
Emotional support for mothers from disadvantaged families leads to better outcomes for their children, according to new research brief from Child Trends.
The study looked at three positive outcomes — children’s social competence and school engagement — and three negative outcomes — externalizing, depression symptoms, and grade retention. Even when controlling for family structure, income, gender, race/ethnicity and child’s age, emotional support for mothers postively impacted all of the outcomes.
In Northeast Florida, mothers can receive one-on-one support through programs like Healthy Start and Nurse Family Parternship. Healthy Start is a voluntary program that provides services to woman and infants based on their risk factors for a poor birth outcome. A key component of the program is personal support staff.
Contest Winner, Alexandria Shuman
Based on recommendations from the most recent FIMR Project Impact report, the Community Action Team hosted a logo design contest aimed at educating the community about the dangers of smoking during pregnancy. According to the report, 35 percent of mothers experiencing infant death self-reported some type of substance abuse. Ninety-three percent of these were tobacco smokers.
Contest participants attended an educational training that covered first, second, and third-hand smoke and their potential risks to unborn babies. Any type of cigarette smoke exposure can contribute to poor birth outcomes such as prematurity, low birthweight, underdeveloped organs, breathing problems, and increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Once the training was completed, participants designed a logo to promote smoking cessation during pregnancy. The winning logo will be featured on printed materials and promotional items to be distributed in the community. Logos were judged based on originality, creativity, difficulty and clarity of message. Congratulations to contest winner Alexandria Shuman and the rest of the participants for a job well done!
Despite wide-spread recognition that a baby reaches full-term at 37+ weeks gestation, nearly half of Florida consumers responding to a statewide questionnaire indicated delivery before this threshold is safe. These and other results from a survey of consumer knowledge and perceptions, conducted as part of a three-year effort to raise awareness about the importance of the last weeks of pregnancy, were presented last week at the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative Inaugural Conference in Tampa. Nearly half of the survey respondents who delivered a baby in the last 18 months indicated they had been offered the option to schedule an induction or C-section by their health care provider. Read the full presentation here.
The conference was sponsored by USF Health, the Florida March of Dimes and the Florida Hospital Association. The gathering brought together hospital representatives, physicians, payers, Healthy Start Coalition staff, researchers and national experts to discuss strategies for reducing late pre-term births and morbidities associated with non-medically indicated scheduled inductions and C-sections.
Featured speakers included Kathleen Rice Simpson, PhD, RN, FAAN and Eric Knox, MD; Stan Graven, MD; Mark Hudak, MD; Maureen Corry, MPH and Rebekah Gee, MD. A panel of hospital representatives participating in the Florida Perinatal Practice Collaborative working to reduce non-medically indicated deliveries before 39 weeks shared the successes and challenges of their efforts over the last year.
The results of the consumer survey, implemented by Healthy Start Coalitions in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Lee and Santa Rosa counties, will be used to measure the impact of a statewide campaign by the Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions and March of Dimes. The Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition is staffing the initiative. More information on the campaign, as well as tips for consumers, can be found on http://www.39weeksFl.org.
The Florida Folic Acid Coalition launched a new version of their Web site last week, featuring the latest folic acid news and events in the state and both consumer and provider information about the health benefits.
The Florida Folic Acid Coalition is a coalition of organizations committed to decreasing the incidence of folic acid preventable birth defects and to promoting optimal folate status among Floridians. The Coalition promotes such events as Florida Folic Acid Awareness week and programs like “Folic Acid: At Work for You!”, a Folic Acid work-site wellness program.
Visit the new Web site at http://www.folicacidnow.net.
The Camellia Project was featured this month by Every Woman Southeast, highlighting the preliminary results of the pilot project for mothers who have had a baby in the NICU. The regional maternal and child health coalition included the project in their monthly newsletter and their blog.
