Giving Newborns A Better Chance
MedStar Introduces PG Healthy Start Program
By Gil Griffin
To describe the following statistics as sobering would be a massive understatement — they reveal a crisis, demanding an immediate remedy.
Prince George’s County’s maternal mortality rate is 50 percent above the national average. That rate is 40 percent above Maryland’s average. Worse still, only 55 percent of pregnant Prince George’s County women access prenatal healthcare.
That’s why DMV medical giant MedStar Health this month unveiled its new, pilot program, PG Healthy Start. It offers potentially life-saving care to new Prince George’s County mothers and their families, as a mechanism to boost maternal wellbeing and attempt to significantly lower infant mortality rates.
“We need to do better for our new mothers and families in Prince George’s County,” Dr. Stephen Michaels, president of MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center says. “PG Healthy Start aligns perfectly with MedStar Health’s mission of caring for our patients, those who care for them, and our communities.”
New and expecting mothers, who with their partners and other family caregivers who enroll in PG Healthy Start through MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center can get services spanning from pregnancy to up to two years after birth, including lactation consulting, postpartum care, transportation assistance, and referrals to support groups, and programs such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
MedStar Health officially launched PG Healthy Start at a recent Community Baby Shower and Resource Fair at Clinton Baptist Church in Clinton, connecting various nonprofit organizations with new and expecting mothers and their families. MedStar Health deployed more than two dozen nurses, who provided blood pressure screenings and blood sugar checks.
Clinton Baptist Church Pastor Colin Pugh II heralded the sanctuary’s role in assisting and empowering new parents.
“Families have opportunities to connect with local organizations, explore baby essentials, and participate in valuable workshops,” Pugh says. “We’re striving to do bigger and bigger things, offering more support for new and expecting parents.”
