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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Andrea C. Bresnick, MPH, Massachusetts Public Health Association, 12 Cow Hill Road, Sharon, MA 02067, Gail Ballester, MEd, Bureau of Family and Community Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington St, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02108, and Antonia M. Blinn, CHES, Massachusetts Chapter, March of Dimes, 1253 Worcester Road, suite 400, Framingham, MA 01701, 1 508-663-2102, abresnick@mindspring.com.
Successful maternal, child and family health outcomes depend on a broad range of coordinated support services for women and their families. Too often women, infants and children do not receive necessary services due to poor coordination amongst maternal and child health providers. An effective model of care for pregnant women examines health and sociodemographic factors together to ensure this coordination of services. For more than thirteen years the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has partnered with a broad range of community-based MCH providers to implement effective strategies for enhancing the continuum of perinatal care services. By facilitating dialogue amongst diverse groups of health care and public health professionals, the coalition addresses the critical problems of infant morbidity and mortality in the state. This model of collaboration, the Partners in Perinatal Health, includes 18 diverse organizations and is committed to improving the quality of health care available to pregnant and parenting women, children, and families throughout Massachusetts. Partners accomplishes its goals through the following methods: 1. educating the multidisciplinary MCH provider network about the unique and varied needs of pregnant women and their families, and about available resources and strategies for addressing these needs; 2. creating an ideal model of care through innovative collaborative approaches, which are supported and implemented by partner agencies; and 3. advocating for unified MCH policies that strengthen outreach, access to and utilization of health care and intervention services for families through its recently established advocacy section, the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Massachusetts.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participants will be able to
Keywords: Prenatal Interventions, Perinatal Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.