Program fights infant mortality

Kansas City Healthy Start wants to lower the infant mortality rate among babies in high risk neighborhoods and a federal grant could help them reach that goal.

The Department of Health and Human Services recently awarded Kansas City Healthy Start with a $7.5 million grant.

The grant will span the next five years — $1.5 million each year. Five KCHS branches will be affected by the new funds: Truman Medical Center, Truman Behavioral Health, Project EAGLE and English and Hispanic sites at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Kansas City Healthy Start, known as KCHS, has served Jackson County, Mo. and Wyandotte County, Kan. for more than 10 years. The goal of KCHS is to improve the health of pregnant women and babies and to decrease infant mortality and ethnic disparities. The program is part of the Mother and Child Health Coalition, which strives to help every mother and child in greater Kansas City become healthy.

In order to qualify for Healthy Start funds, an area must have an infant mortality rate 1.5 times the national average. In the Kansas City area, approximately seven out of every 1,000 babies die, according to the Fetal Infant Mortality Review, or FIMR. This number jumped to 11.9 per 1,000 in Kansas City’s high-risk ZIP codes.

KCHS examines the causes of this high mortality rate and works to reduce them, specifically working with pregnant women or mothers and their infants.

KCHS provides case management, depression screening, emotional wellness services and more to mothers from all walks of life.

“People think that our moms are dumb and lazy and out for a free ride, and that is not true,” said Jean Craig, project director.

Instead, the mothers in the program simply need encouragement, education or better access to health care, she said.

“They have a number of barriers that prevent them from accessing health care,” Craig said.

One way KCHS studies and helps to improve the well-being of women, infants and families is through FIMR. The program was implemented by the Mother and Child Health Coalition and was founded in 1990. By using data collected about infant mortality throughout the Kansas City area, the coalition and KCHS can work to improve community resources and service delivery systems available to mothers and families.

Mary Jean Brown, MS, RNC, Kansas City FIMR Coordinator, interviews mothers about recent infant deaths and analyzes the data.

Brown said that none of the mothers she interviews are currently involved in KCHS — with greater funding she can get them into the program to hopefully prevent future infant deaths. The funds might also aid in developing another FIMR in Kansas so data can be gathered there as well.

“It would mean the continuation of the FIMR program,” Brown said of the grant.

KCHS also provides men with the resources they need to become better fathers through the Dedicated Dads Program. Of the 102 Healthy Start programs in the nation, not many have a male component, Craig said. KCHS implemented the program about two years ago and response has been positive.

“It has just taken off. It’s incredible,” Craig said.

Pat Martin, RN, serves as the clinical nurse family advocate for KCHS. Martin, who has been a member of the Mother and Child Health Coalition for 16 years, visits the homes of new program participants to make sure they have the tools they need to have a healthy child.

“When you go to a person’s home they’re more relaxed,” Martin said. “You can actually see the dynamics of the home.”

Martin does all of the home visitation herself and builds trust with program participants.

“You just develop a rapport with people. I’m real honest. I try to have that openness where they can ask me any questions,” Martin said. “I stress the fact that they need to be safe and healthy.”

Martin’s responsibilities extend beyond home visitation.

“The job is not just what’s in your job description,” she said.

She sits on several committees, started a coat drive last year and is one of the facilitators for Sista’ Talk, another group involved in KCHS. Martin also teaches child birthing classes, for which she said she is always looking for donations.

“She is a big piece in the whole service,” Craig said of Martin.

With the new funding over the next five years, aid will go out to mothers and children in the Kansas City area, which is the goal of each member of KCHS.

“That’s why I do it,” Martin said.

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