MCH Leaders in the Southeast: Florida

For April we are featuring the Sunshine State, Florida. One of our featured leaders is Annette Phelps, ARNP, MSN, Division Director for Family Health Services at Florida Department of Health. Annette was happy to answer a few questions about her work and why she is involved with Every Woman Southeast.

How long have you been in your current position?

I have served as Director of the Division of Family Health Services for the past 10 years. My experience in the central office related to family and community health spans over 20 years and prior to that I worked in a county health department and served as an ARNP there. I also worked as an ARNP in a VA Ambulatory Care Clinic and a College Student Health Service and as an SICU nurse.

What is your favorite thing/task/part of your work?

Every day brings new challenges and opportunities to better serve families. Whether it is prioritizing scarce resources, assessing the needs of our families, creating a new program or adapting or introducing a new program--it is all about the families we serve.

What is your biggest challenge?

Change is the biggest challenge. We want to be evidence based in our approaches but are hesitant to give up old habits and what we "think" in our heart works and also wonder what about the populations that the approaches were not tested on, or what about the strategies that have not yet been tested at the evidence level. Reconciling all of the needs with the best solutions is hard and planning and implementing new approaches or changed approaches takes time and diligence.

Why are you involved in/interested in Every Woman Southeast?

I learn so much from colleagues across the region. It helps with implementing changes to have knowledge of others in regard to challenges and ways around hurdles. The bright ideas and energy are infectious too.

If you had a million dollars what would you do with it? (besides move to the mountains or beach and retire)

It depends on what the source and purpose are. If it is for personal use it would go a long way toward retirement and some special interests for caring for moms and babies. If I had a million program dollars, I would invest in some evaluation activities to try and build the evidence base on some of our state programs.

To find out more about what is happening in Florida, visit everywomansoutheast.org/partners/florida.

Camellia Project Provides Education, Support to High-Risk Postpartum Moms

High-risk postpartum mothers are receiving inter-conceptional education and support through the Camellia Project, a pilot program funded by the March of Dimes, Florida Chapter, in northeast Florida.  The project provides curriculum-based group activities and individual support to mothers who have had a fetal or infant loss, or a baby hospitalized in the NICU.  It offers an inter-conceptional intervention for  addressing maternal risk factors that could impact a subsequent pregnancy in this high risk group.

Project interventions include:  1) initial support for mothers in the NICU, follow-up and engagement post-discharge; 2) facilitation of post-partum health care, including family planning; 3) provision of education and support through group activities; and 4) follow-up and linkage to other needed services in the community. The Camellia Project utilizes an adaptation of the inter-conceptional curriculum developed for the Magnolia Project, a successful federal Healthy Start initiative being implemented in the urban core of Jacksonville. Group activities include six sessions that focus on goal setting, chronic disease and associated risk factors, baby spacing and family planning; stress, and the benefits of healthy eating, multivitamin consumption and physical activity.

In two years, 180 women have been served by the project with 77 completing the intervention. Preliminary evaluation results indicate the project has successfully increased participant knowledge through the educational session and positively impacted their intent to adhere to five of eight healthy behaviors.  Based on one- and four-month follow-up, exercise, contraceptive use, healthy diet, reduced smoking and improved problem solving increased following participation in the program. Only two of the participants (2.6%) have become pregnant again within a year. Stress and depression were also lowered for participants after the group activities; however levels appear to increase at the one- and four-month follow-up.  The most important impact of the program has been increasing the social supports provided by the women themselves. Follow-up interviews with initial participants reveal that lasting friendships have been formed among group members. During the group activities, mothers provided support to one another, offering resources and guidance based on their own knowledge and experience.  The mothers are particularly appreciative  for the opportunity to interact with other mothers who understand what they are going through with  a baby in the NICU.

The Camellia Project is one of three demonstrations projects funded by the March of Dimes, Florida Chapter targeting a statewide priority to develop Comprehensive Inter-conception Health Services for High-risk Women. Women who have experienced a poor birth outcome are at highest risk of a poor outcome in their next pregnancy. The Florida chapter is also funding an evaluation of the demonstration projects to identify best practices for a model inter-conceptional intervention.  The Camellia Project is being implemented by the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition, Inc. For more information visit: http://nefhealthystart.org/for-women/camelia-project/.

MCH Leaders in the Southeast: Florida

Another one of our featured leaders from Florida is Lori Reeves, MPH, Program Services Director at the Florida Chapter of the March of Dimes. Lori thoughts about her work and why she is involved with Every Woman Southeast are below.

How long have you been in your current position?

I have been in my current position as state program director for 12 years and with the March of Dimes for 17 years.

What is your favorite thing/task/part of your work?

I really enjoy working with partners on high-impact initiatives.

What is your biggest challenge?

Finding enough time!

Why are you involved in/interested in Every Woman Southeast?

I love the synergy of working with a passionate group of people that crosses state lines and disciplines on the common goal of improving health for women across the lifespan. I think there is great power in putting minds together to solve problems, and that with the brainpower and passion of leaders across the Southeast, we have a much greater chance to come up with effective solutions.

If you had a million dollars what would you do with it? (besides move to the mountains or beach and retire)

Well, that would depend on whether it was mine personally or mine for work! If it were for work, I would put it towards expanding our quality improvement efforts to include a stronger emphasis and post-partum and interconception care, in order to increase the number of women who complete a postpartum visit, improve the content of that visit, and develop a medical home that would keep women connected with providers before, during, and beyond pregnancies.

If it was for me personally, I think it would just pay for college for my kids, and if anything were left, I would put it in a retirement account. I might also consider replacing our 14 year-old car!

To find out more about what is happening in Florida, visit everywomansoutheast.org/partners/florida.To find out about the Florida Chapter of the March of Dimes, visit http://www.marchofdimes.com/florida/.

WISH Media Preference Survey Results

THANK YOU Every Woman Southeast (EWSE) VOLUNTEERS
Every Woman Southeast would like to thank all EWSE members who participated in the Women’s Integrated Systems for Health (WISH) media preference survey. The survey asked about how you receive, share, and find out about learning opportunities and professional training. Your responses will help the WISH team better serve you and your colleagues when advertising about new trainings and generating interest about new topics in women’s healthcare.

WHAT IS WISH?
The WISH project focuses on promoting and integrating the public health community to optimize mental and physical health among adolescents and women of reproductive age. The project has several components to build leadership capacity among public health, mental health, substance abuse, violence prevention and primary care in order to develop more holistic and integrated systems of care. Thank you for taking time to help us deliver better healthcare to women.

RESPONDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
About 70 health professionals completed the survey, the majority of whom identified as Public Health Nurses, Public Health Program Managers, Health Educators, Administrators, Social Workers, Physicians, Epidemiologists, Nurse Practitioners, and Nutritionists. Several respondents also work in the following fields: academia, health policy, midwifery, and community health advocacy.

MEDIA PREFERENCES AND SURVEY RESULTS
Below is a summary table of online mediums EWSE members use to receive information about educational opportunities. 95% of all EWSE respondents indicated that email alerts are a preferable way to receive information, followed by online newsletters and websites. 50% of respondents indicated that listserves are useful when receiving information about training and educational opportunities.

Several EWSE respondents also identified several professional organizations they use to find out about learning opportunities. The majority of EWSE follows indicated the following professional organizations: AMCHP (47%), HRSA (44%), APHA (40%), NACCHO (26%), CityMatCH (27%), and MCH Navigator (25%). Several participants also cited local health departments, CDC, March of Dimes, and ACOG as professional organizations they follow for training and educational information.

The chart below indicates how people share information about educational opportunities with peers and colleagues. 80% of EWSE survey respondents indicated that they used email alerts to share information, followed by websites (35%), listserves (31%), newsletters (30%), and Facebook (23%).

MCH Leaders in the Southeast: Tennessee

This month we are featuring Tennessee. One of our featured leaders is Cynthia Chafin, M.Ed., CHES, Project Director and Consultant, MTSU’s Adams Chair of Excellence in Health Care Services/Center for Health and Human Services, and Community Health Collaboratives, LLC. We recently asked her a few questions about her work and why she is involved with Every Woman Southeast.


How long have you been in your current position?

I have been an independent project director working with multiple grants and organizations since 2000, and incorporated in 2007 as Community Health Collaboratives, LLC. The first grant that I ever worked on was organizing, facilitating, and managing the Tennessee Folic Acid Council activities in 2000. The Council has been active in a variety of folic acid initiatives since its inception, and some of its members have now formed a preconception advisory committee for an upcoming grant focusing on broader preconception health programming. I have managed multiple grants through the work that I do with Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) Center for Health and Human Services since 2003, including S.M.A.R.T. Moms, a five-year prenatal smoking cessation grant that reached over 13,000 pregnant smokers and a grant focusing on SIDs education for WIC patients as well as special programming for pregnant and parenting teens in local high schools. I recently received funding for a second- year project to be implemented on the MTSU campus educating college-age women on preconception health and being aware of how the choices they make now might impact them later in life. The project will use the web, text messaging, and other social media tools as modalities for educating young women on these important areas during 2012/2013. The “Did u Know What’s Good 4 u is Good 4 ur Future Baby” project promises to be exciting, innovative, and engaging to our target audience! In addition to implementing these activities on the MTSU campus, we will be developing a tool kit for other academic institutions across the state to replicate the program on their campuses. The response was overwhelmingly positive during the pilot phase of this project with over 1200 young college women participating in learning activities. I am very excited what we will be able to accomplish through this second year with a broadened scope and mission. I want to thank the March of Dimes for funding both the SMART Moms and "Did u Know" programs.

What is your favorite thing/task/part of your work?

I enjoy working on multiple grants and projects. I never get bored and it never seems ‘routine’ or dull. I find both short term and long term grants equally rewarding.

What is your biggest challenge?

Of course funding is a challenge for most of us. With many of the projects I work on, it isn’t certain whether or not we will have the funding to continue the project long enough to accomplish what we would like to accomplish. Each project is designed with sustainability in mind so that the work can continue even if the funding does not. This also provides a broader reach in that others can carry forward the work that has already been done and create a multiplying effect, with bigger benefits. Another big challenge is just not having enough time in the day and in the week to do all that I want to do and hope to accomplish. It’s hard to change the world, but it’s possible to change one small corner of each individual’s world if they find something that they are passionate about and pursue it, with the goal of making a difference through positive change. While I don’t expect to solve all of the world’s public health issues, it’s nice to feel like I can make a difference even though I wish I had more hours in the day and week to do it.

Why are you involved in/interested in Every Woman Southeast?

Every Woman Southeast provides an opportunity for partnerships and relationships with professionals who face the same public health issues that we face here in Tennessee. Historically, Tennessee has not fared well in many areas, and the other states involved in Every Woman Southeast face some of these same issues and really ‘get’ the challenges that we face. We all learn so much from each other and the benefits of collaboration are invaluable. From the webinars to blogs to the opportunities to collaborate together on grant opportunities, Every Woman Southeast provides a great way of communicating with and learning from others who really understand our public health issues and concerns and who are equally passionate about improving the health status of their states.

If you had a million dollars what would you do with it?

I would definitely continue working as a public health professional, as public health is my passion and my calling. I would probably pay off bills and expenses, splurge a bit for my children and husband, and divide some of the remainder between all of the different organizations that fund projects that I work on, since the issues we are trying to tackle are immense and never seem to have enough resources. I’d also fund an animal welfare project!



To find out more about Chafin's work visit http://www.communityhealthcollaboratives.com/index.asp. You can also visit http://www.mtsu.edu/achcs/about_chair.shtml. To find out more about what is happening in Tennessee, visit everywomansoutheast.org/partners/tennessee.

MCH Leaders in the Southeast: Tennessee

Another one of month's featured leaders from Tennessee is Kimberlee Wyche-Etheridge, MD, MPH, Director, Bureau of Family, Youth and Infant Health at the Metro Nashville Davidson County Public Health Department. She  recently answered her a few questions about her work and why she is involved with Every Woman Southeast.

How long have you been in your current position?

Ten years

What is your favorite thing/task/part of your work?

My favorite part of the job is looking for new and innovative ways to address and solve old problems, as well as the honor I have to work with the community and colleagues on the National MCH stage.

What is your biggest challenge?

Using a quote I heard earlier this month, my biggest challenge is, “Those who represent the corporate immune system whose job it is to kill anything different or new.”

Why are you involved in/interested in Every Woman Southeast?

I believe that change and improvement cannot happen in a silo. We must work together, share resources as well as successes and failures in order to create a movement of improved health for women and families across the South.

If you had a million dollars what would you do with it? 

I would set up a scholarship system so that every baby born in high risk areas was set up with a college savings account so that as they grew, they would understand that the community cared enough about him/her, and believed in him/her so much that this account was started, and in return the expectation is for high school graduation, college and greatness on behalf of the communities that need their help.

To find out more about what is happening in Tennessee, visit everywomansoutheast.org/partners/tennessee.

MCH Leaders in the Southeast: North Carolina

This month's featured leader is Amy Mullenix, MSW, MSPH, Statewide Coordinator at the March of Dimes North Carolina Preconception Health Campaign. We recently asked her a few questions about her work and why she is involved with Every Woman Southeast.

Why are you involved in Every Woman Southeast?

Every Woman Southeast is unique in that it brings together states that share strong historical and cultural connections. I’m involved because we also share historically poor health outcomes that influence what I care about most – the health of women and their children. We in the Southeast fare poorly on national measures of chronic disease, sexually transmitted infections, obesity and infant mortality and morbidity. These challenges impact African-American women disproportionally and result in inequities in health outcomes. Every Woman Southeast gives us the opportunity to grapple with our history and its consequences, pushing us to find solutions to age-old problems that expand how we attempt to improve health. Our proposed life course approach provides a framework to think about how we can support women (beginning even before their own birth!) to achieve their fullest health potential as adults. Every Woman Southeast also affords us the opportunity to consider solutions that build on our shared strengths, such as strong extended family structures and faith communities. It allows us to meet with our peers from other states and think big about how to enhance services and social structures so that women and families can access meaningful opportunities to achieve their best health potential. It is sometimes difficult work, but I continue to participate because we need to leave a new legacy of equity for all of our citizens in the Southeast. In so doing we will achieve our other goals – improving birth outcomes and educational outcomes, for example – and cause a domino effect that reaches down through generations to come.

How long have you been in your current position?

I have been working for the March of Dimes since 2005. When I was hired, our Campaign was called the North Carolina Folic Acid Campaign, and it had already documented successes in decreasing neural tube birth defects in one part of the state. Our team expanded the Campaign across the state and incorporated social marketing and a dedicated Spanish-language campaign. Over the past several years we’ve seen a continued steady decrease in neural tube defect rates and a simultaneous refocusing on the health of women prior to and in between pregnancies as a way to improve women’s health and birth outcomes. Because folic acid consumption is one of the “flagship” preconception health messages, it was a natural progression to broaden our mission and include additional preconception health messages like healthy weight and reproductive life planning. In 2010 we changed our name to the March of Dimes North Carolina Preconception Health Campaign and updated our strategic plan to reflect our broader focus.

Tell me about one or two of the projects you are working on now.

One project that I am really excited about is our “Healthy Before Pregnancy” curriculum. We started developing a preconception health curriculum for high school students after realizing that the current curriculum fell short when it came to educating young people about infant mortality, healthy pregnancies and preconception health. The curriculum was released this year after extensive testing and features five lesson plans. It follows the NC Standard Course of Study and uses messages and activities that we tested with students throughout the state. Over the next few months our regional coordinators will be entering high schools to present the “Healthy Before Pregnancy” curriculum and talking with teachers about how they can incorporate it into their classrooms going forward. The ultimate goal is to have preconception health taught consistently in middle and high schools throughout the state. This will increase the number of young people entering adulthood with awareness of how their health is related to their future and that of their children.

Another project that we are working on is expanding our health care provider program in which our regional coordinators train health care providers about preconception health topics in their own clinical settings. We make the case for “every woman, every time” and connect the dots between women’s wellness and preconception health. This program has been proven to change provider counseling behavior about folic acid consumption; we’re currently expanding it to include trainings on healthy weight for women, reproductive life planning and tobacco cessation.

What is your favorite thing/task/part of your work?

I have two. First, the staff that work on our Campaign are consummate professionals who are a team in every sense of the word. I end many of my days thinking about how lucky I am to get to work with them. Second, North Carolina is extremely fortunate to have a large number of dedicated public health and medical professionals who work on preconception health issues. I love collaborating with individuals from other agencies and organizations who share common goals. I also enjoy working with our board and my role on the leadership teams of the North Carolina Preconception Health Coalition and North Carolina Birth Equity Council.

What is your biggest challenge?

Funding for preconception health programs such as ours is never certain, so the question for us is always…If our Campaign ceased to exist because of budget cuts, how would our messages continue to reach women? For every project we plan and program we work on, we always think about sustainability. We’re constantly looking for ways to integrate our messages into other programs and agencies so that preconception health becomes a core component of public health and medical practice rather than something that is the work of a particular campaign or agency. Sustainability is our greatest challenge but potentially our greatest accomplishment, too.

To find out more about what is happening in North Carolina, visit everywomansoutheast.org/partners/north-carolina and everywomannc.com.