Making a Commitment to Your Health

Making a commitment to focus on mental and physical health can bring huge benefits to women who want to be successful at every stage of their lives. Healthy young girls are better able to learn and grow into productive members of their families and communities. Healthy young women are able to take more advantage of education and are more successful at finding better jobs, having better relationships and having healthier babies. Healthy older women have more life experience to contribute to their families, their work and their communities. Below you will find information for women of child bearing age (14 - 44), general information about women's health issues and information by race, ethnicity and geographic background.

If You Are Pregnant or May Become Pregnant, Did You Know That

• Pregnant? No Insurance? To learn more about how to apply for Prenatal Medicaid, click here.
• Are you a female (Age 14 - 55) who has lost your Medicaid? Apply for the Expanded Family Planning Waiver Insurance available beginning in March, 2007.
• Folic acid reduces the risk of birth defects in newborns. Having a healthy baby means making sure you're healthy too. One of the most important things you can do to help prevent serious birth defects in your baby is to get enough folic acid every day - especially before conception and during early pregnancy. Repeated studies have shown that women who get 400 micrograms (0.4 milligrams) daily prior to conception and during early pregnancy reduce the risk that their baby will be born with a serious neural tube defect (a birth defect involving incomplete development of the brain and spinal cord) by up to 70%.Click here for more information.
• Birth defects caused by poor nutrition occur during the first 28 days of pregnancy - usually before a woman even knows she's pregnant. Only 50% of pregnancies are planned. Any woman who could become pregnant should make sure she's eating a healthy diet and getting enough folic acid. Click here for more information.
• Obesity during pregnancy causes increased health risks for both moms and their babies. Obesity during pregnancy causes higher risks of: birth defects, hypertension, gestational diabetes and blood clots. Click here for more information.
• Smoking during pregnancy is the single most preventable cause of illness and death among mothers and infants. It is associated with increased risks for preterm premature rupture of membranes, abruption placentae, and placenta previa, and with a modest increase in risk for preterm delivery. Infants born to women who smoke during pregnancy have a lower average birth weight and are more likely to be small for gestational age than are infants born to women who do not smoke. Click here to learn more.
• For help with smoking cessation, call the Florida Department of Health Family Health Line toll free at 1-800-451-2229. Visit the Florida Tobacco Quit-For-Life line for free, confidential, comprehensive counseling and information about how to quit.  At your request, counselors will call you to follow-up with more assistance.
• Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause physical and mental birth defects. Each year, more than 40,000 babies are born with some degree of alcohol related damage. Click here to learn more.
• Addiction to Suboxone and other prescription pain killers On May 18th 2007, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported a growing problem with addiction to Suboxone among people trying to quit addictions to other opiates or prescription pain killers. Drugabuse.gov also reports increasing addiction rates among women to prescription as well as illicit drugs. Suboxone and other opiate prescription drugs when abused can lower breathing rates to dangerous and even fatal levels.
• Illicit drug use during pregnancy increases the risk of prematurity, low birth weight, and infant mortality. Click here to learn more.
• If you are pregnant and don't have health insurance, you can apply for a Prenatal Medicaid to cover your prenatal visits and delivery. To learn more, click here.
• If you are pregnant, you can ask your doctor to give you a Healthy Start Prenatal screen at your next prenatal visit. Consenting to the screen may provide you with additional services that will help you have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. Screen information also provides community data that enables Healthy Start to pursue funding for additional community services for pregnant women and their families.
• When your baby is born, you can ask the hospital or your midwife to do a Healthy Start Postnatal screen on your baby. Consenting to the screen may provide you with referrals to other services and information that you or your baby may need. Screen information also provides community data that enables Healthy Start to pursue funding for additional community services for pregnant women and their families.

General Health Information for Women

• Pre-teen vaccinations for meningitis, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and cervical cancer - One of the things parents can do to protect their children at 11 and 12 years of age is to make sure pre-teens are vaccinated against serious, sometimes life-threatening diseases such as meningitis, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and cervical cancer.  Many parents do not realize that some childhood vaccines, such as those for tetanus and whooping cough, wear off over time and, as they get older, young people are at risk of exposure to different diseases at school, camp or in other new situations.  The Pre-teen Vaccine Campaign promotes vaccination of 11-12 year olds.  Research shows that pre-teens generally do not get preventive healthcare, visiting the doctor only when they are sick.  The pre-teen check-up is a great time to talk with the healthcare provider about pre-teen vaccination status. Click here for more information.
• Teen pregnancy and STD's are two of the greatest risk factors for infant mortality. Visit these sites for more information on teen pregnancy: National Great to Wait Program, Planned Parenthood Federation, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy..
• Are you a female (Age 14 - 55) who has lost your Medicaid? Apply for the Expanded Family Planning Waiver Insurance available beginning in March, 2007.
• Do you have a question about services in Volusia County? Visit Healthy Volusia. Healthy Start Coalition of Flagler and Volusia works in partnership with Healthy Volusia to provide health information and resources to residents in our community. Healthy Volusia has information and resource materials available at no cost to the general public. Call Amy Leaman or Gloria Luther in the Office of Health Education & Promotion (386-274-0603) for information or click here to visit Healthy Volusia's web site.
• Do you want to improve your health to help prevent cancer? Click here for information form the American Cancer Society.

   

Information by Race/Ethnicity/Age

African American
Caucasian
Eastern European and Askhenazi Jewish Descent
Teen Health
Hispanic/Latina
Hispanic Obesity Prevention and Education
Italian
Older Women's Health
Southeast Asian/African Descent