October 1st, 2006

 

From the Desk of the Executive Director. . .

Greetings to all of our community partners and beautiful families! Thank you for visiting us at our website and taking the time to learn about the Healthy Start Coalition of Flagler and Volusia Counties, and the services we fund and support for families. We are committed to our mission of reducing fetal and infant mortality, low birth weight, and poor developmental outcomes for our precious children.

We have seen the impact that human connection and compassion can have for families facing the realities of child bearing and child rearing. Since 1990, the initiation of Healthy Start in our community has resulted in the infant mortality rate being reduced by 50%, from almost 10 deaths per 1000 births to 4.2 per 1,000 in 2005!

While Volusia and Flagler Counties have made strides in the areas of fetal mortality, adolescent pregnancy and first trimester entry into prenatal care, our rates of infant mortality and low birth weight among Black women in Volusia County, and very low birth weight among Hispanic women in Flagler County, show racial and ethnic disparities that require our immediate attention. Volusia and Flagler Counties also show significantly higher percentages than the state for tobacco use among pregnant women. There is still much to be done.

Our community, as many in our state, is currently faced with the critical task of developing strategies to assure the health and well-being of our most vulnerable populations. Medicaid reform and policy changes regarding undocumented residents threaten the ability for many women to gain equal access to health care. Each day brings forth new challenges that affect the well-being of our women and children and call us to action.

We must continue to enlist the support of entire medical, social service and faith-based communities to improve the outcomes for our women and babies. Each one of us achieves the health and quality of life afforded to us by the love and support of our very first community – our family. Each family must navigate its way within a greater community that either values the core of that family’s existence or not. This value will not be fully realized with one method, or by one system of care. It must be approached as a committed effort by multiple systems, and those systems must achieve integration through continued leadership. May we all strive to support each family with the medical, social, financial, and planning resources at our disposal!


Sincerely,

 

Dixie L. Morgese
Executive Director