We are looking forward to our next Every Woman Southeast webinar which will focus on the postpartum visit - an important opportunity for interconception care. It seems that this is another topic of great interest in the Southeast - we have over 370 people registered! While we like to feature home grown programs, we're reaching over to the West Coast to learn from Dr. Jeanne Conry, MD, PhD who has provided leadership to work in California where our innovative colleagues have reconsidered and improved the postpartum visit.
Why is this visit important? For many women, this may be one of their last encounters with a health care professional - for their own care - for a long time. While Health Care Reform has the potential to provide ongoing access to health coverage for all women, our current system of care leaves low income mothers without coverage once they are about 6 weeks postpartum. In our region over 12% of new mothers find themselves pregnant again within 6 months of giving birth. The risk of preterm birth increases with short birth intervals.
Interested? Please join us for the webinar on October 13th from 12-1:30 EST. You can register on our website. We will post the slides in case you miss it. You can also start a conversation on this topic - add a comment to our blog!
Showing posts with label Women's Wellness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women's Wellness. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Alabama Adventure
Thank you to Team Alabama for inviting me to talk about the Every Woman Southeast Coalition at their annual Perinatal Symposium in Birmingham last week. While thunderstorms kept me in the Charlotte, NC airport longer than I liked, the weather in Alabama was beautiful! At the Symposium, I was honored to follow a fantastic presentation from Rose Horton, President-Elect of AWOHNN. The presentation was the first I've given about EWSE since we decided to push our boundaries and commit to addressing health inequities and the social determinants of health. I think it went over pretty well. The slides are posted on our website.
I also got a glimpse at Albama's fantastic preconception health campaign called GALS - Get a Healthy Life. Here is a link for more information http//www.adph.org/familyplanning. Seriously - a public education campaign that features shoes - fun and great information.
I also got a glimpse at Albama's fantastic preconception health campaign called GALS - Get a Healthy Life. Here is a link for more information http//www.adph.org/familyplanning. Seriously - a public education campaign that features shoes - fun and great information.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
WISH Webinar Series is a Wrap
The Women's Integrated Systems for Health Webinar series concluded with two excellent presentations on policy and advocacy. The slides and suggested links and resources from each of the webinars are posted on our website - under initiatives. We're still working on getting up a few of the recorded presentations but encourage you to check them out now. The WISH program also just recorded and posted an overview presentation about the initiative and the training opportunities that will continue to be available. Next steps for WISH? Six online study modules coming January 2012.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Are You Registered?
The 3rd National Preconception Health Summit is just around the corner. The agenda and registration information are posted at http://www.beforeandbeyond.org/. Check it out! I know times are tight, but the registration fee is only $175 and the current room rates are only $92. The Summit begins officially Sunday evening June 12th and finishes up at the end of the day on June 14th. In addition to excellent plenary sessions, the Summit includes alot of work sessions and many networking opportunities. Every Woman Southeast will have a display booth and will be part of a break out session panel.
I attended the 2nd National Preconception Summit in California a few years ago. I came home with a lot of new ideas. I was also impressed at the energy around the importance of working with policies, the environment, local communities, health care providers and public health leaders to support women of reproductive age in being as healthy as they can be and in planning and reaching for their goals in life. I hope to see you at the Summit in June!
I attended the 2nd National Preconception Summit in California a few years ago. I came home with a lot of new ideas. I was also impressed at the energy around the importance of working with policies, the environment, local communities, health care providers and public health leaders to support women of reproductive age in being as healthy as they can be and in planning and reaching for their goals in life. I hope to see you at the Summit in June!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Learn about HRSA's New Bright Futures for Women's Health Initiative
On April 6th Sabrina Matoff-Stepp and Anna Kindermann from the Office of Women's Health at HRSA will share information on the new Bright Futures for Women's Health Initiative. This presentation is part of our Women's Integrated Systems for Health (WISH) webinar series. The presentation will be recorded and available for viewing a few days after the webinar.
The first webinar in the series went very well. The slides and speaker bio are posted on our website. Free access to the archived webinar will be available shortly. Dr. Melzter-Brody made many key points about the critical and overlapping issues that impact women of reproductive age, particularly those who are pregnant, postpartum and new mothers.
Why does all of this matter? As the preconception movement grows into the women's health initiative that it is meant to be, we all need to think about weaving our different work and projects together to meet the needs of the whole woman.
Is your project doing this? Tell us how!
The first webinar in the series went very well. The slides and speaker bio are posted on our website. Free access to the archived webinar will be available shortly. Dr. Melzter-Brody made many key points about the critical and overlapping issues that impact women of reproductive age, particularly those who are pregnant, postpartum and new mothers.
Why does all of this matter? As the preconception movement grows into the women's health initiative that it is meant to be, we all need to think about weaving our different work and projects together to meet the needs of the whole woman.
Is your project doing this? Tell us how!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Interconception Webinar is a Hit
We still can't believe that we had almost 300 people listen in to our webinar last week on Interconception Health for High-Risk moms. The response to this topic and to the webinar series has been wonderful. Clearly there is a significant interest in sharing ideas and practices in providing services and support to this important and under-served population.
If you missed the webinar, you can see all the slides on the EveryWoman Southeast website. Feel free to email or call the speakers directly if you have questions about their presentations. We'd also love to hear from you if you've been working with these moms. Please email Sarah at sarahv@med.unc.edu.
A special shout out to our wonderful speakers - especially Juanita Graham from Mississippi who called in while snowed in at home with her power set to go out. Now that is dedication!
We're currently working with the NC Institute for Public Health and the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health to launch a free 6 part series that focuses on integrative community approaches to optimizing mental and physical health among adolescents and women of reproductive age. The Women's Integrated Systems of Health (WISH) project has information about their work and the series on our website. Just click on Initiatives and then WISH.
In the meantime, don't forget to register for the 3rd National Summit on Preconception Health and sign up for our listserv.
If you missed the webinar, you can see all the slides on the EveryWoman Southeast website. Feel free to email or call the speakers directly if you have questions about their presentations. We'd also love to hear from you if you've been working with these moms. Please email Sarah at sarahv@med.unc.edu.
A special shout out to our wonderful speakers - especially Juanita Graham from Mississippi who called in while snowed in at home with her power set to go out. Now that is dedication!
We're currently working with the NC Institute for Public Health and the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health to launch a free 6 part series that focuses on integrative community approaches to optimizing mental and physical health among adolescents and women of reproductive age. The Women's Integrated Systems of Health (WISH) project has information about their work and the series on our website. Just click on Initiatives and then WISH.
In the meantime, don't forget to register for the 3rd National Summit on Preconception Health and sign up for our listserv.
Friday, January 1, 2010
About us
We are an emerging partnership of community leaders, public health advocates, health care providers, policymakers, researchers, teachers, health care administrators and change agents who want to improve the health of women of reproductive age who live in the southeastern region of the United States. We live and/or work in the great states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The Department of Health and Human Services refers to our states as Region IV. Our partnership is brand new, collaborative, transparent, cross discipline, cross issue, and cross state.
Collectively, we would like to build on our region’s history of collaboration and innovation to improve the health of our young women, mothers, babies and families. In spite of much good work, our region continues to have high rates of infant mortality, preterm birth, sexually transmitted infections, poverty, unplanned pregnancy, chronic disease, and health inequities. We are worried about the impact of the current economic crisis on our women and families. We believe that a concerted effort to bring this region together to take a fresh approach to collaboration around preconception health, maternal and child services, and women’s wellness is likely to have a greater impact here than anywhere else in the country.
The upstarts who came up with this idea over the phone one day are Lori Reeves, who is the state program director for the Florida Chapter of the March of Dimes, and Sarah Verbiest, who directs the Center for Maternal and Infant Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They were quickly joined by Merry-K Moos (N’l Preconception Steering Committee and UNC-CH), Kay Johnson (N’l Preconception Steering Committee and Johnson Group Consulting), Erin McClain (UNC Sheps Center for Health Services Research) and Julie DeClerque (Region IV Network for Data Management and Utilization Project and Sheps Center). We were lucky to be able to bring Elizabeth Jensen, former March of Dimes program staff member turned grad student, on board to help us with data collection and organization.
This initiative has just launched as of the first week of January 2010. We are in the process of collecting information about women’s wellness activities in the south, supporting the development of state teams, and planning a small regional meeting where we can come together and create a plan for our next steps. If you would like to join one of our state teams and/or the larger initiative, please email Elizabeth at ecjensen@email.unc.edu.
Collectively, we would like to build on our region’s history of collaboration and innovation to improve the health of our young women, mothers, babies and families. In spite of much good work, our region continues to have high rates of infant mortality, preterm birth, sexually transmitted infections, poverty, unplanned pregnancy, chronic disease, and health inequities. We are worried about the impact of the current economic crisis on our women and families. We believe that a concerted effort to bring this region together to take a fresh approach to collaboration around preconception health, maternal and child services, and women’s wellness is likely to have a greater impact here than anywhere else in the country.
The upstarts who came up with this idea over the phone one day are Lori Reeves, who is the state program director for the Florida Chapter of the March of Dimes, and Sarah Verbiest, who directs the Center for Maternal and Infant Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They were quickly joined by Merry-K Moos (N’l Preconception Steering Committee and UNC-CH), Kay Johnson (N’l Preconception Steering Committee and Johnson Group Consulting), Erin McClain (UNC Sheps Center for Health Services Research) and Julie DeClerque (Region IV Network for Data Management and Utilization Project and Sheps Center). We were lucky to be able to bring Elizabeth Jensen, former March of Dimes program staff member turned grad student, on board to help us with data collection and organization.
This initiative has just launched as of the first week of January 2010. We are in the process of collecting information about women’s wellness activities in the south, supporting the development of state teams, and planning a small regional meeting where we can come together and create a plan for our next steps. If you would like to join one of our state teams and/or the larger initiative, please email Elizabeth at ecjensen@email.unc.edu.
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