The Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio was awarded $3.23 million over two years by the Ohio Department of Medicaid to expand efforts to decrease infant mortality in Lucas County through the Getting to 1 coalition. Part of the Ohio Equity Institute, the Getting to 1 coalition is coordinated by the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department and the Hospital Council’s Northwest Ohio Pathways HUB.
The funding will support four infant mortality reduction projects in Lucas County so babies are born healthy and celebrate their first of many birthdays. The four projects focus on expanding care coordination and social needs screenings for all women of child-bearing age living in four Toledo ZIP codes with high rates of infant mortality – 43604, 43605, 43607 and 43608 – as well as addressing racism as a social determinant of health and mental health concerns.
“We are building on a solid foundation started more than a decade ago that involves dozens of partners working together to help women deliver full-term and healthy-weight babies,” said Jan Ruma, Vice President of the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio and Director of the Northwest Ohio Pathways HUB. “This funding will allow us to connect more low-income women who are or could become pregnant to the medical care and social services they need to be healthy and, when the time comes, have healthy babies.”
Infant Mortality
In Ohio’s last budget, the state allocated $26.8 million over two years to support community-driven proposals to combat infant mortality and enhance care coordination among various agencies that provide care for women and infants who are at risk. The Ohio Department of Medicaid’s $3.23 million investment for the Getting to 1 coalition is the largest amount that any Ohio community is receiving to combat infant mortality.
Ohio’s infant mortality rate continues to exceed the national average even though it has improved slightly, dropping from 7.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013 to 6.8 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014, according to Ohio Department of Health statistics. Lucas County’s infant mortality rate perennially is one of the highest in the state, and the rate was 9.3 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014, according to Ohio Department of Health statistics.
Infant mortality especially is a concern for African American babies, who statewide are dying at more than twice the rate as white babies. In Lucas County in 2012, the infant mortality rate was 7.05 infant deaths per 1,000 live births for whites and 13.52 infant deaths per 1,000 live births for African Americans, according to Ohio Department of Health statistics.
Reducing infant mortality is one of the five priority areas in Healthy Lucas County’s 2015-2018 Lucas County Community Health Improvement Plan.
Four Projects
The four Getting to 1 projects that are part of the Ohio Department of Medicaid investment include:
- Training for at least 12 new full-time community health workers (CHWs) at care coordination agencies who will enroll women of child-bearing age living in the four hot spot ZIP codes into the Northwest Ohio Pathways HUB and Healthy Start. This increase in the number of CHWs will result in being able to provide care coordination for 1,400 more women.
- Screening women of child-bearing age at health clinics, emergency departments, pediatric practices and schools in the four targeted ZIP codes for health-related social needs and other risk factors for infant mortality. Those in need will be referred to the Northwest Ohio Pathways HUB for care coordination services.
- Hiring a Getting to 1 project coordinator at the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department to address racism as a social determinant of health. The coordinator will enlist organizations and individuals to define their role in creating an environment that promotes healthy moms, healthy dads and healthy babies, as well as offer county-wide trainings on cultural competencies. Additionally, the coordinator will be responsible for increasing community awareness about infant mortality reduction in the targeted ZIP codes.
- Meeting the mental health needs of women in the targeted ZIP codes by hiring a total of four new mental health counselors to serve women.
Details of the investment were announced during a celebration at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 28 at the Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West, 2275 Collingwood Blvd., Toledo.
