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Completing the Healthy Start screening form is valuable for all mothers regardless of age, race or economic status.
Prenatal Screening Rates* (July 2017 - August 2017)
Coalition Prenatal Screening Rate Goal: 70%
Citrus County
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161/253 = 64%
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Hernando County
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149/348 = 43%
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Lake County
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362/713 = 51%
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Sumter County
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43/102 = 42%
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Coalition Total
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715/1,416 = 51%
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State Total
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21,820/49,401 = 44%
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* Prenatal Screening Rate = Total Consenting to Screen / Estimated Number of Pregnant Women
Infant Screening Rates** (June 2017 - Augst 2017)
Coalition Infant Screening Rate Goal: 85%
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Citrus Memorial Health System
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104/104 = 100%
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| Seven Rivers Regional (Crystal River) |
60/69 = 87%
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| Bayfront Health (Spring Hill) |
107/107 = 100%
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| Oak Hill Hospital |
167/196 = 85%
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| Florida Hospital Waterman |
108/108 = 100%
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| Leesburg Regional Medical Center |
240/240 = 100%
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| South Lake Hospital (Clermont) |
129/129 = 100%
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| Coalition Total |
1,354/1,416 = 96%
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State Total
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46,590/49,401 = 94%
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**
Infant Screening Rate = Total Screened/Total Infants
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Premature birth is birth that happens before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Babies that are born this early may have more health problems or may need to stay in the hospital longer than babies who are born later and closer to their due date. Each year in the US, for every 10 babies born, 1 of them is born prematurely.
Prematurity can cause long-term health problems for babies. This can have long lasting financial effects and can affect a person's education and ability to work later in life.
How Much Does Premature Birth Cost Society?
In 2007, the Institute of Medicine reported that the cost associated with premature birth in the US was $26.2 billion each year. See below to see how the numbers add up:
- $16.9 billion in medical and health costs for the baby
- $1.9 billion in labor and delivery costs for mom
- $611 million for early intervention services. These are the programs for children from birth to age 3 with disabilities and developmental delays. They help children learn physical, thinking, communicating, social and self-help skills that normally develop before age 3.
- $1.1 billion for special education services. These services are specially designed for children with disabilities ages 3 through 21. They help children with development and learning. Children can get these services at school, at home, in hospitals and in other places, as needed.
- $5.7 billion in lost work and pay for people born prematurely.
How Does Premature Birth Affect A Child's Performance In School?
Premature babies may have a harder time in school than babies born on time. They're more likely to have learning and behavior problems throughout childhood. This may lead to low test scores, having to repeat grades and needing special education services. For every 3 children born prematurely, 1 will need special school services at some point during their school years. The Institute of Medicine says these services cost an estimated $2,200 per year per child. Learning problems may not appear until elementary school or even middle school.
Even babies born at 36 to 38 weeks of pregnancy can struggle in school. Studies show that premature birth increases the likelihood that a child does poorly in school. In the last few weeks of pregnancy, a baby's brain is still developing and growing. In fact, a baby's brain at 35 weeks weighs only two-thirds of what it weigh at 39 to 40 weeks. This is why if your pregnancy is healthy, it's best to stay pregnant for at least 39 weeks. This gives your baby's brain and other organs the time they need to develop before birth.
How Does Premature Birth Affect A Person's Ability To Work?
Premature birth can affect a person's being able to work, the amount of work he can do or both. Some adults who were born prematurely may have long-term health conditions that prevent or limit them from working.
The Supplemental Security Income (also called SSI) program pays benefits to disabled adults and children who have limited income and resources. We don't know exactly how many adults getting SSI were born prematurely. But as the average person in the US lives to be about 79, long-term health problems that prevent a person from working could be covered by this government program for many years.
Prematurity Awareness Month
November is Prematurity Awareness Month and when the March of Dimes focuses the nation's attention on premature birth. The awareness month kicks off with the release of the Premature Birth Report Card. November 17th marks World Prematurity Day, and the March of Dimes and their partner organizations worldwide ask that everyone help spread the word on the serious problem of premature birth.
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Our Legislative Budget Requests
Issue 1: Enhanced Services for Drug Addicted Pregnant Women and Drug-Exposed Infants
Drug Exposed Newborns - From 2005 to 2016, there were combined total of 17,931 infants born diagnosed with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome in Florida. The number has increased from 338 in 2005 to 4,215 in 2016. A coordinated effort is needed. Healthy Start is in a strategic position to intervene due to the infrastructure in place in local communities and our successful track record of engaging the target population of at-risk pregnant women and infants.
Family Engagement Specialist - Healthy Start proposes to strategically place new Family Engagement Specialist positions across the state of Florida to provide outreach, education, and service coordination for pregnant women addicted to drugs and families with drug-exposed newborns. This model is based on the successful project in Flagler and Volusia counties where 97% of women accepting services had a completed assessment; 100% of women with a completed assessment had documentation of an individual plan of care; and 100% of infants had follow-up with a pediatric medical home.
We are requesting $3.8 million general revenue to provide new services to Florida mothers with drug exposed newborns and pregnant women addicted to drugs.
Issue 2: Newly Designed Healthy Start System of Care
Beginning July 2018, Healthy Start, at the direction of and in partnership with DOH and AHCA, will implement a newly designed Healthy Start model and system of care to achieve even greater impact on infant mortality, prematurity and healthy child development. The new system of care builds on our 25 years of experience and offers proven, targeted services for mothers and babies, leveraging community resources, integrating costly evidence-based interventions, and coordinating with Medicaid managed care plans. Additional funding will ensure Healthy Start has the resources required to more effectively serve those at greatest risk and produce measureable improvements in outcomes.
We are requesting $7.18 million in state general revenue. We will draw down an additional $6.32 million in federal match for the Medicaid portion of services.
Issue 3: Medicaid Funding Shortfall
With more than $7 million in unpaid services, Healthy Start Medicaid funding has not been sufficient to meet the needs for at-risk pregnant women and babies each year since the beginning of MMA. We have a3-year total of more than $7 million in unpaid services provided by the Healthy Start Coalitions. The number of Medicaid-eligible pregnant women and infants served by Healthy Start has increased from 59,692 to 151,979 over the last 4 years with no increase in funding. Intensity and duration of services is important to achieve optimal outcomes; however, these have decreased because of the insufficient funding. Many Coalitions have used their local reserves and leveraged local funding to support the past shortfall, but for many, these resources have been depleted.
Without the additional funding, approximately 5,500 pregnant women and infants will not receive services. The impact varies by Healthy Start Coalition region. 64% (20 of 32) of Healthy Start Coalitions will need to cut services and more than 61 service workers will be laid off.
We are requesting $1.3 million in state general revenue, which will draw down an additional $2.1 million federal Medicaid match to cover the shortfall for 2017-2018 services.
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Board Membership
Please contact
Heather Hollingsworth
if you have someone interested in
becoming a Board Director. We are currently looking for representation from the advocacy and consumer categories.
Did you know that you can donate to Central Healthy Start just by shopping on Amazon? Want to know how? Just use the following link and continue to shop as you normally would. For every purchase made using this link, Amazon will donate a percentage to the Coalition at no additional cost to you. How cool is that?
World Breastfeeding Week
Our Lake County Healthy Start program participated in the Mom-To-Be Expo at Leesburg Regional Medical Center in honor of World Breastfeeding Week on August 2, 2017.
Our Citrus County Healthy Start program participated in the Breastfeeding Roundup at the IFAS Extension Office in honor of World Breastfeeding Week on August 4, 2017. A keynote address on Dads and Breastfeeding was given by Citrus County Public Health Officer, Mr. Tito Rubio, MPH, CPH.
Leading Lady Donation
On behalf of the Central Healthy Start Coalition, I'd like to sincerely thank Leading Lady for their very generous donation of breastfeeding covers, bras, belts, capris and more! Their donation is valued at $1,226.03. We are so appreciative of the wonderful support from this amazing company! Our breastfeeding Healthy Start participants thank you!
A Visit From Congressman Daniel Webster
Congressman Daniel Webster recently participated in a Lake County World's Greatest Baby Shower Planning Committee meeting to help stuff bags and make a couple of donations to the event himself.
Lake County World's Greatest Baby Shower Rescheduled
Due to the impact hurricane Irma had on our area, the Lake County World's Greatest Baby Shower has been rescheduled for Tuesday, October 24th. There will be an A and B session to accommodate a number of different schedules. For more information, please click
here and
here.
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The Healthy Start Team
Past President
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Lesha Buchbinder
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Early Learning Coalition of Lake County
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President
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Joelle Aboytes
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Department of Children and Families - Circuit 5
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Vice President
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Terri Mathis
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LifeStream Behavioral Health Center
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Treasurer
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Jaclyn Citarella
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Mid Florida Community Services
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Secretary
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Dana Selfridge
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Healthy Families Pasco-Hernando
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Esmeralda Batiz
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Community Health Centers
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Maria Granado
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Lake County Community Health Worker Program
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Dee Dixon
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Healthy Families Citrus County
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Ingrid Ellis
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Early Learning Coalition of the Nature Coast
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Coalition Staff
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Coalition Screening Rates
Prematurity Awareness
Legislative Budget Requests
Coalition Updates
The Healthy Start Team
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Greetings!
I hope things are finally returning back to normal for all of our Coalition members and Healthy Start participants after hurricane Irma and the substantial impact she made to the great state of Florida. The Coalition is here to help in whatever way we can. If there is a need, please let us know. We will do everything we can to meet that need or connect you to the resources that can.
Mark your calendars.........
October is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness month and November is Prematurity Awareness month. Education and awareness of both SIDS and Prematurity is a crucial part of Healthy Start's mission. In order for us to do better, we must first know better. Will you help us educate and create an awareness for both of these health concerns during their respective months?
On a lighter note, we are only 12 weeks away from Christmas! December 26th will be here before we know it! Have you started your shopping yet? Yep, neither have I! Don't forget that you can use our Amazon Smile link to get all of your Christmas shopping done and for every purchase made, Amazon will donate a percentage to the Coalition.
We will see everyone at our next Board of Directors meeting in December.
Thank you,
Julie Moderie, MPH
Program Director
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Executive Committee
Thurs., November 2,2017
@ 1:00 PM
Kids Central, Inc.
Service Provider Advisory Council
Thurs., December 7th, 2017 @ 12:00 PM
Kids Central, Inc.
Board of Directors Meeting Thurs., December 7th, 2017
@ 1:00 PM
Kids Central, Inc.
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