Spotlight: Pediatric and Family Health Subcommittee The main focus of this Subcommittee is reducing root causes of infant mortality in Saginaw County. After conducting a survey of new parents this summer, subcommittee members reviewed the 97 compiled responses and chose three main topics to work on this year. The survey includes questions about healthy pregnancy, safe sleep and sources of information for moms who are pregnant or have a child 2 or younger. We would still like to distribute the survey to more parents throughout the county, but will work toward our initial goals at the same time. Subcommittee members voted on their top 3 topics/issues to address this year. They are:
- Addressing disparities in infant mortality - The rate of death before the first year is higher for black babies than white babies, especially in the City of Saginaw.
- Messages about the importance of full-term pregnancy - Many respondents thought babies would be healthy even if born before 37 weeks.
- Covenant HealthCare's New Baby and You binder - This book is reviewed and updated every five years.
At the December meeting, the members broke up into small groups to develop goals, objectives, activities and timelines for each topic. Prioritizing goals continued in February. The Subcommittee meets again April 14, 2015. |