A few times a year I have the privilege of photographing some of the gorgeous babies who benefit from Healthier Moms & Babies...a fantastic non-profit group based out of St Joe Hospital downtown Fort Wayne.
Healthier Moms and Babies’ goal is to reduce infant mortality and improve the outcome of pregnancy in Allen County by offering health education and case management services to low-income, high-risk pregnant women and their families. Spanish-speaking women are served in their language and are provided educational materials in Spanish. Services are provided from as early in the pregnancy as possible to the baby’s first birthday.
Each month a nurse or social worker visit the pregnant woman and educates her on nutrition, health habits and lifestyle changes necessary for a healthy baby. In the second trimester, she learns the signs of preterm labor, warning signs in pregnancy. She learns about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome prevention as well as other injury and illness prevention. After delivery, she learns about infant nutrition and how to encourage her baby’s developmental milestones. Along the way, she is given resource and referral information about other needs, such as food, rent, baby equipment and counseling. This care reduces the number of preterm deliveries, saves families and the community thousands of dollars, reduces stress and truly results in “better babies, one baby at a time.”
In 1996, St. Joseph Medical Center received a grant from the Indiana State Department of Health for a demonstration project to address the causes of infant mortality. This was the beginning of Healthier Moms and Babies. In August, 1997 with the impending sale of the hospital, Healthier Moms and Babies was transferred to the Fort Wayne Medical Education Program, which is itself under the umbrella of the Fort Wayne Medical Society Foundation. Since that time St. Joseph Hospital has continued to provide office space for Healthier Moms and Babies as an in-kind service.
If you are interested in helping HM&B, please volunteer and/or donate! They are also in need of physical donations such as bilingual hardback baby books (both in Spanish and Burmese).
For permission to view the full proof gallery at ShadowlandsPhotography.biz, please contact Sally for the passcode. You can also see more pictures from this photo session as well as other client's photo albums on Facebook.com/ShadowlandsPhotography and ShadowlandsPhotography.com.
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