In the second part of our ‘4 Days until July 4th Weekend’ blog series, we would like to introduce you to another great outreach program. This program gets young people on the right track even before they enter this world…
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Meet – Better Indy Babies/Healthy Families
Better Indy Babies (BIBs) is a free home visitation program for expecting mothers. BIBs is designed to promote a healthier you for a healthy pregnancy. Our efforts assist in healthy fetal development and help reduce infant immortality rates, SIDS, and foreseen childhood health problems. Since 1989, the program has been providing prenatal care coordination services and served as one of two pilot projects funded by the Marion County Divisions of Family and Children Services.
Healthy Families – Marion I (HF) is a voluntary home visitation program that works with parents and children from the age of 0-3 for healthy growth and development for the child through a variety of services including access to health care and parent education.
So here are the four things you should know about Better Indy Babies & Healthy Families.
- Separate names, but they work together to make one great program!
As you may have noticed from reading above, both programs basically serve the same purpose — only in two different stages of a child’s life. Both work toward proper care and development for all Indianapolis children through home visitation.
- Together they provided more than 12,364 home visits last year.
The result of a home visitation program such as BIBs/HF is a researched success. A Healthy Families program in New York with a similar sister program like Better Indy Babies was featured in a research study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine where ‘pregnant women and adolescents were randomized to either an intervention group that received bi-weekly home-visitation services or to a control group’. And the conclusion was this:
- photo by paparutzi
“A prenatal home-visitation program with focus on social support, health education, and access to services holds promise for reducing low-birth-weight deliveries among at-risk women and adolescents.”
- BIBs/HF is filled with tireless staff who not only visit these families, but also become an integral PART in their lives.
This is true and can be seen in an earlier blog post that gave a recap of the BIBs/HF Picnic & Graduation Ceremony. Read that post!
- Assistance to help sustain this great program is always a need!
There are plenty of ways to get involved with this great group of people!
- Donate new or gently used baby items to the BIBs Pantry at University Heights United Methodist Church.
- Consider a small gift. We can’t understate the significance of even a $5 donation to the BIBs/HF programs. Raise awareness and tell your friends that you donated to this great program! Together, we can help all children in Indianapolis get a GREAT start to LIFE.
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Interested in BIBs/HF? Want to learn more?
Questions about Low birth weight and infant mortality in Indianapolis?
Comment below!
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[...] month, we introduced you to our several of our outreach programs. Our Homeless Initiative Program, Better Indy Babies & Healthy Families program, School-Based Services, and our Health Promotions team all serve those who are most in need in the [...]
[...] You can learn more about the great things being accomplished by our BIBs/HF staff by reading our introduction post here. [...]