A healthy start for moms-to-be

The Health Department is throwing a party aimed at changing bad habits.

By CHANDRA BROADWATER, Times Staff Writer
Published November 2, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Ron Thompson | Times] Gulf Coast Academy seventh grader Kyle Garvey, 12, puts together a gift basket for young mothers. He plans to hand out 15 of the baskets and 30 blankets he made on Saturday during the Healthy Start Coalition's "Preganancy Party."

BROOKSVILLE -- Nearly 20 percent of pregnant women in Hernando County smoke. That's almost three times the state average.

The result: A growing number of babies born weighing less than 5-1/2 pounds.

"Smoking not only cuts the amount of oxygen that goes to the brain, but receptors in blood-rich organs attract Nicotine," explained Harriet Martin, a Hernando County Health Department coordinator for the county's Healthy Start Coalition.

So when a mom-to-be lights up, she denies organs such as the lungs, heart and uterus of oxygen, Martin said. And that ultimately leads to stunted development in the infant.

This weekend, the coalition and 19 other local and state agencies hope to make dangerous activities like these a thing of the past.

The first ever Pregnancy Party aims to help up to 300 pregnant women to learn what they can do to have safer, healthier pregnancies. The reservation-only event sponsored by Amerigroup, a managed health care provider, will take place at the Jerome Brown Community Center on Saturday.

Part of a statewide network, the coalition offers the free program to women to maximize health and self-sufficiency. Hernando is part of the central Florida group, which also includes Citrus, Lake and Sumter counties.

While munching on some tasty and nutritious food, expectant moms can learn more about breast feeding and programs that offer mental health counseling. And for smokers, women can also test the carbon monoxide levels in their exhaled breath.

"When some people see that, they're really shocked to figure out how much oxygen they're not getting," Martin said. "The visualization really seems to drive it home."

Learning what to do and not to do during a pregnancy, such as choosing the right foods to eat, are things that some people just don't know, said Dawn Easter, community liaison for the coalition.

For example, while most women know about the Women, Infants and Children program, they aren't sure of how to go about getting food stamps. "A lot of women don't know what's in their community that's available to them," Easter said. "We're hoping to show them what's out there."

Representatives from groups including the Early Learning Coalition, the International Cesarean Awareness Network and Baby and Me Consignment and others will have booths set up at the community center.

Events like this help all moms learn as much as possible about how to have a healthy pregnancy, said Jean Rags, Hernando health and human services director.

"It's another opportunity to educate moms-to-be and it's going to benefit them and the baby in the long run," Rags said. "And that's so we can have lower infant mortality rates while educating them the mothers about things like nutrition, the effects of over-the-counter medicines to their bodies during a pregnancy, and how important dental hygiene is in relationship to the baby."

Stopping or at least curbing these kinds of numbers is the main goal of the Healthy Start Coalition, Martin said. By state statute, all obstetricians are required to screen pregnant women volunteers both before and after birth.

The information compiled through such questionnaires help health experts focus on habits, like smoking, that might contribute to a newborn's poor health.

"Our focus right now is to get women to cut down or stop smoking, especially during the second trimester," Martin said. "We're hoping to change the minds of a couple dozen women, and let them know that we'll work with them and help them to do that."

Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1432.

If you go

For reservations
The Central Healthy Start Coalition Pregnancy Party is Saturday at the Jerome Brown Community Center in Brooksville. Call Community Liaison Dawn Easter at (352) 592-7124, or send an e-mail to dawn@dishmail.net For more about the coalition, go to www.centralhealthystart.org.

Infant mortality
Compared to the rest of the state, Hernando also has seen slightly higher infant mortality rates in recent years. According to the 2006 county Health Needs Assessment, there were 7.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in the county between 2000 and 2004. The state had 7.3 deaths per 1,000 live births during the same time period.

[Last modified November 1, 2007, 21:21:59]