March of Dimes Awards Grant to Wakulla County Health Department in Order to Improve the Health of Mothers and Babies in Wakulla County

The March of Dimes Florida Chapter has awarded a grant to the Wakulla County Health Department to support a Wakulla County Baby Shower to be held Saturday, April 21st.  The baby shower will be held at the First Baptist Church in Crawfordville from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The event is aimed at underserved maternal and child health needs here in Wakulla.  This program will recognize the importance of communities working together to provide a safe, nurturing environment for expecting mothers and babies.  We will also highlight preconception care for those women planning to become pregnant in the next 12 months.  Community baby showers are an intimate, fun celebration aimed at linking maternal and child health services and resources with those who need them most.

This grant is one of many that the March of Dimes awards in pursuit of its mission to prevent birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.  This event is open to ALL Wakulla County residents and will highlight local resources, educational materials and supplies to help get babies off to a healthy start.  If you are interested in more information or in donating materials and/or supplies for infants and expecting mothers, please contact Melvena Wilson at 850-926-2558 ext. 160 or via email at Melvena_Wilson@doh.state.fl.us

“We will use the March of Dimes grant seed money to meet our objectives of providing mothers and babies with preconceptual and interconceptual education“, said Mary Westbrook, Healthy Start Director.  “We are grateful to those volunteers who support the March of Dimes by participation in events like WalkAmerica and who donate in other ways.  That participation and those donations make this grant possible,” she said.

The Wakulla County Health Department is, “Lighting the Way to Good Health”.  We offer family planning and maternity services, immunizations, pharmacy outreach program, Healthy Families, Dental care, environmental health services, WIC and Healthy Start services.  Healthy Start services include child birth education, parenting education, smoking cessation and breastfeeding education/support as well as information on baby spacing.  Healthy Families is a community-based family support program for families with newborns.  Program staff provide at home visits, and resources to new mothers.

The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.  Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies and in 2003 launched a campaign to address the increasing rate of premature birth.  For more information, visit the March of Dimes Web site at marchofdimes.com/Florida or its Spanish language Web site at nacersano.org.

This article originally published on March 8, 2007.

Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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