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| Last updated on October 1, 2008 |
To improve maternal and child health in Chester County through the collaborative efforts of individuals, providers, and policy makers.
Description:
Maternal and Child Health Consortium (MCHC) is a non-profit organization that has been working in Chester County for over ten years with home visiting and case management services for pregnant and parenting women, providing vital information on ways women can have a healthy pregnancy; outreach and help enrolling in health insurance; and linkages to other community resources (including dental care, smoking cessation, counseling for depression). Our mission is to improve maternal and child health through the collaborative efforts of individuals, providers, and policy makers.
In Chester County, too many women and children face cultural, linguistic, and systemic barriers to prenatal and pediatric care and supportive services to enable a healthy pregnancy and birth. Barriers include: delayed entry into prenatal care; high rates of low birth weight for minority infants; lack of public transportation; lack of sufficient bilingual service providers; lack of information about available services and resources; and lack of health insurance for both citizens and non-documented residents. MCHC works to increase access to health care for pregnant and parenting low-income women, their infants and families; and to reduce disparities in birth outcomes, such as prematurity and birth weight.
MCHC has five community-based Healthy Start program sites located in Coatesville, Kennett Square, Oxford, Phoenixville, and West Chester, staffed with 11 Family Health Advocates (most of whom are bilingual and bicultural). We have enrolled more than 3,000 Healthy Start women since our program began. About 65% of our Healthy Start women are Latina (and most do not speak English), 13% are African American, and 22% are white.
Over the past ten years, we have helped our participants in the following ways:
• Sixty percent (60 %) of pregnant women had no prenatal care at enrollment and 98% were linked and sustained prenatal care and primary care;
• Seventy-five percent (75%) of pregnant women had no health insurance at enrollment, and 98% of the uninsured women received Medicaid or emergency medical coverage;
• Depression Screening - Since 2003, Healthy Start moms have all been screened for prenatal and postpartum depression through the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Nearly 40% of prenatal and 25% of postpartum moms have symptoms of depression and are linked to further care.
• Health Education - Several hundred women have completed group prenatal education classes and attended parenting classes.
In addition to our Healthy Start program, MCHC also provides bilingual prenatal and parenting education classes including Comenzando Bien – the county’s only Spanish prenatal education classes; coordination of a countywide health insurance enrollment initiative to enroll eligible but uninsured pregnant women, children and adults in free or low-cost health insurance programs (e.g., CHIP, Medicaid); Professional Education including interpreter trainings for health and human service providers, teaching
History:
Concerned that the health care needs of may area women and children were going unmet, the Chester County Health Department, March of Dimes of Southeastern Pennsylvania, League of Women Voters, and Planned Parenthood of Chester County formed a task force in 1991 to identify gaps in the delivery of prenatal services in Chester County. The task force established the Maternal and Child Health Consortium (MCHC) and commissioned a formal needs assessment that identified major roadblocks to care for low-income women and their children:
- Lack of public transportation.
- Lack of sufficient bilingual service providers.
- Lack of information about available services
and resources.
- Lack of health insurance for non-documented
residents.
Initial funding to the Consortium in 1995 from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Initiative Funding Partners Program and funding in 1997 from the Department of Health and Human Services made it possible to develop a network of community outreach workers, known as Family Health Advocates, to work toward reducing barriers that prevent women from obtaining prenatal care and related services. Advocates provide community based outreach and support to encourage early enrollment into prenatal care in communities with high rates of infant mortality, low birthweight, teen pregnancy and child poverty.
Contact person: Courtney Coleman, Community Health Support Coordinator , (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (610) 344-5279
Address:
 |
30 West Barnard Street, Suite # 1
West Chester, PA 19382
(See a map) |
Web Site: http://www.ccmchc.org
Miscellaneous Information
| Are court referrals welcomed? |
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No
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