Louisville coalition formed to improve infant health

Healthy Babies Louisville consists of 17 health and social service institutions

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Jan. 26, 2016) — Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and officials from 17 local health and social service institutions today announced a new coalition to improve infant health in Louisville.

Healthy Babies Louisville was created to lower infant mortality rates, reduce the gap in infant mortality between black and white babies, increase access to prenatal health care; reduce smoking among pregnant women and decrease teen pregnancies.

“Good health for each person begins even before birth,” Fischer said. “It begins with a safe, healthy pregnancy. My goal is for every mom to have a safe pregnancy and every baby to get that healthy start. Healthy Babies Louisville unites some of our city’s best healthcare and social service agencies in a shared goal of improving infant health in our community.”

The coalition consists of Baptist Health Louisville, Family and Children’s Place, Family Health Centers, Family Scholar House, Humana CareSource, the Louisville Metro Department Community Services and Revitalization, the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, Metro United Way, Norton Healthcare, Kosair Children’s Hospital, Passport Healthplan, the Raymond A. Kent School of Social Work, Seven County Services, the Teenage Parent Program of Jefferson County Schools, University of Louisville Hospital and Wellcare.

“Healthy Babies Louisville will allow us to build on past successes and share what each of us has learned,” said Charlotte Ipsan, RNC, MSN, NNP-BC, chief administrative officer, Norton Women’s & Kosair Children’s Hospital and Healthy Babies Louisville steering committee member. “With all of us coming together, we can leverage our resources and achieve better health for our community’s infants and their families.”

Immediate projects that Healthy Babies Louisville plans to take up include reinstituting the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Board to investigate the causes of fetal and infant deaths, increasing referrals to prenatal and perinatal services through the Metro United Way 211 call center and increasing access to mental and behavioral health services for families and children.

“The 2-1-1 information line is the number to call when you don’t know who to call,” said Glenn Powell of Metro United Way. “Moms and dads can call us at 2-1-1 to find all the services they need to help them raise healthy children.”

Healthy Babies Louisville will use the Collective Impact Framework to achieve its goals.  The Collective Impact approach is premised on the belief that no single policy, government department, organization or program can tackle or solve the increasingly complex social problems we face as a society.

The approach calls for multiple organizations or entities from different sectors to work on a common agenda, shared measurement and alignment of effort. Unlike collaboration or partnership, Collective Impact initiatives have centralized infrastructure—known as a backbone organization—with dedicated staff whose role is to help participating organizations shift from acting alone to acting in concert.

For more information on the Healthy Babies Louisville, visit www.healthybabieslouisville.org or call 574-8661.