Education, Outreach and Community Awareness Project
for a "Healthy Start" 

The Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade "Education & Outreach" Program is funded by The Children's Trust. The Trust is a dedicated source of revenue established by voter referendum to improve the lives of children and families in Miami-Dade County. The Healthy Start Coalition of Miami Dade received a Promotion and Prevention grant from The Children’s Trust in November 2004. The primary focus of this project is to educate prenatal care providers in Miami-Dade County about the benefits of the Healthy Start Program; and to urge them to offer the Healthy Start Prenatal Risk Screen to all of the pregnant women they serve.  In addition, the project seeks to educate, increase awareness and reach out to pregnancy women in Miami-Dade County so that they will advocate for themselves and their babies more aggressively and request a Healthy Start Risk Screen from their prenatal care providers.

Through the establishment of collaborative relationships and strong partnerships, systemic change can be created in a way that pregnant women and infants receive the information and services to assist them in having optimal health outcomes. It has been established through prior research and studies that completing the Healthy Start Prenatal Risk Screen  assists in identifying women at risk for a poor birth outcomes, such as infant death, low birth weight and preterm delivery. An early Healthy Start Risk Screen allows for risk factors to be addressed earlier during pregnancy.

Outreach has focused on prenatal care providers and others who screen pregnant women as well as the community at-large. It is our goal to ensure that all pregnant women and infants are screened for risk factors. Providers who offer a Healthy Start Risk Screen to all pregnant women and new mothers, and who submit the completed forms to the local Health Department are making a significant step toward this effort.

The Education, Outreach and Community Awareness Program for a "Healthy Start" includes project activities to achieve the following goals:

• to promote early screening for pregnant women to improve pregnancy outcomes and enhanced the health and development of their children; 
• to increase community education and awareness of Healthy Start and its impact on infant and maternal health; 
• maintain an informed and active prenatal care provider network to improve screening rates in the county and to ensure Healthy Start screens are offered to all pregnant women as is legislatively mandated in the State of Florida; and,
• increase Healthy Start Prenatal Screening County-wide through community education and awareness using collaboration and partnerships with providers.
  

A staff of two Provider Liaisons identify and reach out to prenatal care providers  and community organizations that provide needed services to pregnant women and infants in Miami-Dade County through the use of printed materials, media announcements, trainings, workshops, and direct contact via face-to-face visits or telephone calls. We are happy to welcome Provider Liaisons Nancy Pierre-Louis and Cheryl Barrain to our staff.