Earlier this year, a newly formed 501c3 nonprofit organization is a collaboration between the Bootheel Network for Health Improvement and the Missouri Bootheel Regional Consortium, Inc. was established. Thus, Bootheel Babies and Families was formed and had its third steering committee meeting. The Foundation for Health in St. Louis asked the two organizations to combine and form an organization called Bootheel Babies and Families that will combat infant mortality.
The group conducted a poll and based on the responses, Bootheel Babies and Families have scheduled the Cultural Competency Training for Monday, Sept. 28, from 10:00am to 2:30pm at the Fisher Delta Research Center, 147 State Hwy. T. Portageville. For more information, please remail or contact Teletia Atkins at teletia.atkins@yahoo.com (573) 748-5541.
Their last meeting was an initial session, the purpose was to inform community leaders about statistics regarding the mortality rate in the lower region of the state and the vision for the organization. Currently Pemiscot County has an infant mortality rate of 13 percent and Dunklin County's is 9.6 percent.
A part of the discussion was the fact that the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is measured by the number of infants who die before their first birthday per 1,000 live births, is a key indicator of a nation's health and well-being. Missouri's IMR is 6.5, which places the state 23rd in the nation.
Bootheel Babies and Families is going to be a long term investment that is community driven and focused. It will be a collaborative effort that supports, enhances, and builds on current efforts to establish healthier communities. The organization is looking to add nontraditional partners from different sectors in the community to become part of the effort to reduce infant mortality.
The main focus of the steering committee at the moment is to establish a backbone of members who will work behind the scenes to educate the communities about infant mortality and to teach young mothers prevention methods.
According to Kim Hughes, RN at the Dunklin County Health Department, possible solutions in Dunklin County would be to possibly offer parenting classes to expectant mothers. Members of the committee are working on an education grant to fund that sort of program.
The other grant they are working on is for transportation. When the organization discussed barriers to obtaining health care for young pregnant mothers, the major complaint was that they just did not have transportation to doctor visits. The transportation grant will be used to fund some sort of program that gets expectant mothers to their doctors.
Did you know?
9.41 deaths per 1000 births was the yearly average in the Bootheel between 2000 and 2010--almost double the national average
10 deaths per 1,000 among Caucasians
16.2 deaths per 1,000 births among African American
225 babies died in the Bootheel before their first birthday between 2000 and 2010
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