Neighborhood Health Center is implementing a new program focused on improving health outcomes for pregnant patients and their newborn babies with support from a Univera Healthcare Health Equity Award.
Neighborhood Health Center serves communities that experience disproportionate percentages of high-risk pregnancy outcomes, such as low birth weight, premature birth, and late or no entry to prenatal care.
This $20,000 grant will help fund a maternal-infant health community health worker and care coordination training program at Neighborhood. The program will offer Neighborhood community health workers and care coordinators specialized training in obstetrics and gynecology to assist patients with internal referrals to nutrition, behavioral health, pediatrics, and other services, as well as referrals to outside medical specialists and community resources for social support.
“In the Buffalo zip codes where our Neighborhood offices are located nearly 14% of births are premature compared to less than 12% on the county level,” said Neighborhood President and CEO Joanne Haefner. “These same zip codes also have higher instances of low birth weight and pregnant patients entering prenatal care late or not at all. We thank Univera for believing in our efforts to improve these health outcomes and care for our patients so they can lead healthier lives.”