In North Texas, Dallas County and Parkland Health aim to support health of moms and babies through federal Healthy Start program.
Healthy Start also targets disparities in health outcomes that have resulted in higher mortality rates for Black and Indigenous women and infants of color. Black women in the U.S. experience far higher rates of maternal deaths than other racial or ethnic groups in the country.The $6 million in Healthy Start funding headed to Texas is one of the largest federal awards of any other state, said Carole Johnson, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration housed in the U.S.
Unlike more restrictive federal grants, the Healthy Start program can help fund families’ most critical needs, Johnson said.The program also links parents with services, including support for access to housing, transportation, or food, which are key factors in the health of parents and children. The program can best meet those needs by examining what policy wonks often call the “social determinants of health,” Johnson said.
Parkland’s program – which is required by the federal government to enroll about 700 women, children and fathers – focuses on a population of people in Dallas County who have the highest risk for infant mortality. Other keys to the program to boost success for mothers: stabilizing housing, child care and employment following a child’s birth.Dallas County, which is receiving the federal award for the first time, will be starting its Healthy Start program from scratch, said Sandra Lozano, Dallas County Health & Human Services Public Health Director.
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