There isn’t a pregnant woman or mother in the world who couldn’t use a little help now and then. Fortunately, assistance is available through the Indian River County Healthy Start Coalition, a system of support connecting women and families with an array of free services.
Healthy Start Coalition, one of 32 in the State of Florida, is the funding mechanism for the Healthy Start Core Services and its Enhanced Services – Healthy Families of IRC, Belly Beautiful, TLC (Touch Love Communicate) Newborn, and MomCare. The coalition, which receives its funding primarily through grants and fundraisers such as the upcoming Dancing with Vero’s Stars, is also charged with overseeing program quality standards.
Services are available to every pregnant woman in the county, regardless of income, and begin with a prenatal risk screen, completed at the obstetrician’s office by one of four trained care coordinators.
“Only about 4 percent of pregnant women don’t get any prenatal care and about 25 percent do not come in until the second or third trimester for care,” says Kathie Cain, HSC executive director. The main reason is a lack of medical insurance, which is where MomCare comes in. “We are working on streamlining the process of women getting access to Medicaid faster. That’s where the big problem is.”
Care coordinators work with pregnant women and their children up to age 3, assuring access to medical care and counseling, providing parenting, nutrition, breastfeeding and childbirth education, connecting them with other resources and, as needed, referring them to Healthy Families.
“We also try to make sure they bond with their baby, because bonding and attachment begins prenatally and is critical to infant brain development,” says Cain. “Research has shown that how a baby’s brain grows, especially after birth, is through the loving interactions with caregivers.”
Studies show that the first 1,000 days of a baby’s life are critical to brain development and future learning potential.
“If a child doesn’t grow emotionally and socially, they’re not going to be ready for school. We want them to be curious and wanting to learn,” Cain adds. “If parents don’t get that closeness and attachment with the child at that point and the skills needed to keep nurturing that growth, they’re going to be behind when they get to kindergarten. And then they’re going to be on the cycle of always being behind and it’s hard to catch up.”
Through Belly Beautiful, mothers receive a book on what to expect throughout their pregnancy and can attend group childbirth classes at the hospital on a variety of topics.
“The moms give each other support,” says Cain. “We’re had stories of moms delivering around the same time and they end up bringing their babies together and having playgroups.”
TLC Newborn comes into play once a baby is born. Its Safe Sleep Campaign addresses a primary cause of infant death, giving all new mothers a onesie that reads “This Side Up” as a reminder. The organization also provides breastfeeding support, information on an infant’s monthly developmental milestones, and a baby book, to get them into the habit of reading to their child early.
Care coordinators refer mothers who might be at high risk of abuse or neglect of their children to Healthy Families for more in-depth screening and home visits up to five years.
“Healthy Families is a program that focuses on families that have multiple stresses,” says program manager, Beth Dingee, noting that 43 stress factors are assessed. “Those stressors in pregnancy can ultimately affect an individual’s ability to parent. What we know is that as a person’s stress level increases, so does their chance of lashing out at those around them that they love the most. What we try to do is pick apart the stress and help them to manage their stress more effectively. A lot of what we deal with is culture. It’s really just educating. Initially they might not get it, and that’s why it’s so important to have consistency, continuity and trust.”
“It’s all about the child; it’s not about the parents,” stresses Cain. “It’s about the child and carrying them successfully through so they have an equal chance at the same bright future as every other child who may not have those circumstances going on in life. Get them to school on equal footing.”
HSC is one of a number of organizations participating in the April Pinwheels for Prevention campaign to combat child abuse and neglect.
“We’re putting a lot of prevention programs out there so that kids get a chance, because abuse and neglect is preventable. It’s all preventable; every little bit of it,” says Cain. “We have all those identifiers, so we’re going to go to those families and embrace them and lift them up. The main reason for abuse is that isolation, that stress, marital or financial problems, those emotional issues. And sometimes, it’s just going ahead and talking to that mom a little bit. That can make all the difference in the world.”