One of the ways I got here

I’ve taught two classes this week as a guest lecturer, at two different universities.  The first was a group of undergraduate students, focused on careers in health science.  Each student was required to submit questions for me and my colleague.   As you might expect, there were a series of questions about how we found ourselves in the maternal and child health discipline.  It made me remember that I first found my way to maternal and child health via my love for babies, and my wish that no mother or baby would die in the first year post-delivery.

I got to know many of my colleagues at the Illinois Maternal and Child Coalition through our collaborative work on an infant mortality reduction initiative called “Closing the Gap on Infant Mortality”. At the time, I worked for the March of Dimes Illinois Chapter, and we were asked to support the work by facilitating educational sessions for two peer educator cohort on topics such as healthy pregnancies and signs and symptoms of preterm labor.  Between 2004 and 2007, the group did amazing work in reducing infant mortality, or babies dying before their first birthday, reducing rates by up to 37% in two Chicago community clusters: Austin, and West Englewood/Englewood/Auburn Gresham.    Tactics included a strong peer education/outreach component;  localized presentations and impromptu, quick educational chats with community residents; and an awesome social marketing campaign featuring Common.  I’ve found a photo of Common and I posing at the Westside Health Authority, when he came to help us launch the initiative by attending one of our early press conferences.   That experience made me even more committed to addressing infant mortality and  the peer education model.  Additionally,  that work helped me discover the high level of respect I had for the staff at the Illinois Maternal & Child Health Coalition, now EverThrive Illinois.  Three years after that project ended, I was privileged to become the Executive Director of the organization.

I still think that infant and maternal mortality is one  of our signature programs, and our unique niche in the maternal and child health marketplace.  Since the Closing the Gap project, I continue to believe that no other organization in Illinois focuses on this issue in quite the same multifaceted, community-engaging way that we do.  Our Campaign to Save our Mothers and Babies works to promote educational programs such as text4baby, a free mobile health information service for pregnant and parenting mothers;  we also educate teen girls in high schools in Englewood, and provide educational sessions to women inside the Cook County jail system.  We will continue to fight for policies and programs at the state and federal level which are designed to reduce infant and maternal mortality.  And, the work is still necessary—in Illinois, over 1,000 infants die every year.

However, we can’t do any of that work without your support.

Right now,  your support means more than ever, as the Community Memorial Foundation is generously offering a matching grant opportunity. Your dollar will go twice as far to help save mothers and babies across Illinois.

Please join me in supporting healthier communities in Illinois!