13 Oct Escambia County Healthy Start Coalition, Inc.

Posted at 20:53h in 2024, Escambia County Healthy Start Coalition, Inc., Health & Wellness, Nonprofit by

escambia county healthy start coalition, inc.

Healthy Start Mobile Stork Stock

Grant Year: 2024 | Focus Area: Health & Wellness | Grant Amount: $100,670 | Grant Status: In progress

The mission of the Escambia County Healthy Start Coalition, Inc. (“Healthy Start”) is to improve the health of pregnant women and babies through community partnerships. Healthy Start is in its 32nd year of service. The core System of Care includes prenatal and infant screening to identify those most at risk of poor birth or health outcomes. Home-visits by registered nurses and health educators from the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County, coupled with care coordination and needs identification provide a one-stop entry point for assistance. Appropriate services may include education and support in childbirth, newborn care, parenting, child development, food and nutrition, mental health, and financial self-sufficiency. Healthy Start is the only program in Escambia County that offers services with registered nurses who provide critical health care coordination to help ensure positive outcomes for mothers and their babies. Healthy Start Stork Stock is a resource of essential baby supplies and safety equipment, including diapers, baby wipes, formula, car seats, strollers, and pack-and-play safe sleep spaces ("cribettes") which are made available to families in need.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT

Healthy Start Mobile Stork Stock will bring baby supplies and safety equipment to families for whom transportation is a barrier to access. IMPACT 100 funds will be used to purchase and retrofit a 15-seat passenger van. It will be customized with seating for no more than three persons, including the driver, to maximize shelving and storage capacity for diapers, baby wipes, formula, car seats, strollers, and safe sleep cribettes. In addition to providing basic equipment, Healthy Start will educate recipients on services available to young families, including Healthy Start's suite of programs, with emphasis on home visitation and accidental injury prevention strategies. The program will promote the Healthy Start Mobile Stork Stock through a published schedule of weekly outreach events at predetermined locations and scheduled dates/times each month on the website and social media channels. Adequate supplies will be maintained in the van to support infants and caregivers who otherwise lack transportation and access to the Healthy Start resources in current locations in downtown Pensacola and Century.

EXPECTED IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY

Healthy Start Mobile Stork Stock will directly enhance the physical well-being and safety of Escambia County babies from birth to age 3 years and assist their caregivers in Escambia County by providing items essential for the babies' health and safety. In addition, the organization will provide critical health education in all available Healthy Start programming to pregnant women, new mothers and fathers, and other caregivers, with special emphasis on critical health-related and injury-prevention messaging and available services. Stork Stock distribution will be increased by 25% with the purchase of the passenger van and bring essential baby supplies and safety gear directly to underserved communities. The priority locations for distribution are identified as "Pockets of Poverty," in which greater than 50% of children are living in poverty, as identified by current Census Tract data. The organization expects to enroll a minimum of 25% of these Mobile Stork Stock recipients in Healthy Start services where they can deliver critical safety education on safe sleep practices, water safety, hot car awareness, and distribution of baby supplies within this population.

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