Search Results: MCH Organizations

Annotation: A Heartbreaking Choice provides resources and support for expectant parents who have received a diagnosis that their unborn child has a serious fetal anomaly or other live-threatening health problem that makes it unlikely that the baby will survive and thrive. For those who have made the decision to end their pregnancy when faced with such a grim diagnosis, this organization provides support groups, an online discussion forum, a confidential list service, an online memorial for grieving parents, personal stories, and feature articles to help these parents cope with their loss.

Keywords: Congenital abnormalities, Fetal death, Grief, Perinatal bereavement, Perinatal mortality, Pregnancy loss, Support groups

Annotation: Aiding Mothers and Fathers Experiencing Neonatal Death (AMEND) offers support and encouragement to parents who have lost an infant. Bereaved parents have one-to-one contact with a trained counselor who has also experienced a loss due to miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death. Several local chapters exist without formal national affiliation. St. Louis AMEND was established in 1974. Los Angeles AMEND was established in 1977 and can be reached at P.O. Box 30, Harbor City, CA 90710-0030; (818) 887-7999. Services to consumers include publications and reference information. Some materials are available in Spanish.

Keywords: Grief, Neonatal death, Perinatal bereavement, Perinatal mortality, Pregnancy loss, Spontaneous abortion, Support groups, Parent support services

Annotation: The Alabama Child Death Review System was created on September 11, 1997 in order to review, evaluate, and prevent cases of unexpected and unexplained child death. ACDRS's mission is to understand how and why children die in Alabama, in order to prevent other child deaths. ACDRS, which includes both state and local child death review teams, focuses on prevention through statistical analysis, education and advocacy efforts, and local community involvement.

Keywords: State agencies, Alabama, Child death review, Infant death, Child death, Infant mortality

Annotation: The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) is a national alliance to promote consistent and safe maternity care to reduce maternal mortality by 1,000 and severe maternal morbidity by 100,000 instances over the course of four years, 2014 – 2018 (and continuing). Over this four-year period, AIM will collaborate with eight qualified states and a large number of hospitals and hospital systems across the U.S. participating on a voluntary basis to initiate or improve a culture of maternal safety through continuous quality improvement cycles. The purpose of the AIM program is to equip, empower and embolden every state, perinatal quality collaborative, hospital network/system, birth facility and maternity care provider in the U.S to significantly reduce severe maternal morbidity and maternal mortality through proven implementation of consistent maternity care practices that are outlined in maternal safety bundles (action systems). The AIM Program is designed to complement current maternal safety initiatives in progress, as well as drive continuous quality improvement on a state and birth facility level. It is funded through the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

Keywords: Collaboration, Maternal health, Maternal mortality, Prevention programs, Quality assurance

Annotation: The American SIDS Institute (ASI) is a national nonprofit health care organization dedicated to the prevention of sudden infant death and the promotion of infant health. ASI's mission is to: conduct research related to the cause of sudden infant death and its prevention; provide clinical services to assist pediatricians in managing high risk infants; provide education about prevention methods aimed at the public and medical community; and offer family support services including crises phone counseling, grief literature, and referrals.

Keywords: Consumer education, Family support, Infant health, Infant mortality, Prevention programs, Professional education, Research, SIDS

Annotation: The Unexplained Infant Death Council assists the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to develop unexplained infant death training and educational programs, to inform the governor and the legislature of the need for specific programs regarding unexplained infant deaths, and to approve and periodically review the infant death investigation checklist. The council consists of 11 members and is staffed by the ADHS Child Fatality Review Program. The council develops protocols for investigations of infant deaths that have no previously diagnosed illness contributing to the death. The protocols specifically address the need for compassion and sensitivity with parents and caregivers, include recommended procedures for law enforcement, and require scene investigations as a component of the infant death investigation.

Keywords: SIDS, Arizona, Child death, Infant death, Infant mortality, State organizations

Annotation: The Association for Recognizing the Life of Stillborns (ARLS) offers Certificates of Life (for a fee) to parents who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant death. The certificate serves as a substitute for a legal birth certificate and attests to the fact that the baby was once alive.

Keywords: Fetal death, Grief, Perinatal bereavement, Perinatal mortality, Pregnancy loss, Spontaneous abortion

Annotation: The Association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs (ASIP) is a multidisciplinary professional membership organization whose members provide community education, training programs, and consultation for health departments, hospitals, emergency responders, medical examiners and law enforcement. The SIDS/ID professionals in ASIP (whose work addresses Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Other Infant Death) represent a majority of the states, in many cases including the State SIDS/ID program director. ASIP provides national leadership to establish and promote policy and practice for professionals who respond to infant and child death and is committed to bereavement support, risk reduction and prevention services.

Keywords: Infant health, Infant mortality, SIDS

Annotation: The Best Babies Zone (BBZ) Initiative is a multi-sector approach to reducing infant mortality and racial disparities in birth outcomes and improving birth and health outcomes by mobilizing communities to address the social determinants that affect health. The uniqueness of this national initiative lies in the fact that not only is the approach zonal, but it is comprehensive – addressing four critical sectors – economics, education, health, and community – in order to strengthen environments that support better and healthier outcomes. BBZ is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and is being implemented in three cities – Cincinnati, Ohio; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Oakland, California.

Keywords: Barriers, Cities, Communities, Community action, Environmental influences, Infant mortality, National initiatives, Public private partnerships, Racial factors, Risk factors, Socioeconomic factors

Annotation: The California Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Program is dedicated to Sudden Infant Death support, awareness, and risk reduction. Information is provided on grief and bereavement, SIDS facts, and infant care practices for reducing the risk of SIDS. Information is available for SIDS professionals, SIDS Coordinators, and families. Numerous materials are available in Spanish, and occasionally in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, and VIetnamese. The program is under the direction of the California Department of Public Health, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division.

Keywords: Advocacy, California, Consumer education materials, Family support, Infant death, Infant mortality, Parent support, SIDS, Spanish language materials

Annotation: The Center for Loss in Multiple Birth (CLIMB, Inc.) is an organization of parents who have experienced the death of one or both twins (or higher multiple births) during pregnancy, birth, infancy, or childhood. The Center provides services to individuals in the U.S., Canada, and abroad which include referrals; a quarterly newsletter; an online discussion forum; a parent contact list; samples of birth/memorial announcements; a library; publications; and assistance to twins clubs, loss groups, authors, and researchers. Some materials are available in French, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian. Training seminars are sponsored upon request.

Keywords: Fetal death, Grief, Multiple births, Perinatal bereavement, Perinatal mortality, Pregnancy loss, Spontaneous abortion

Annotation: The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is a research and advocacy group for children and youth. It gathers data and disseminates information on key issues affecting children and adolescents, including development and implementation of federal and state policies. CDF provides information, technical assistance, and support to a network of state and local child advocates, service providers, and public and private sector officials and leaders. Initiatives have included adolescent pregnancy prevention programs, prenatal care campaigns, universal immunization programs, promotion of the Head Start program, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Publications include a monthly newsletter, CDF Reports. A publications list is available. CDF also coordinates the Black Community Crusade for Children, an effort to strengthen black community support for children, and publishes a newsletter of Crusade activities, Necessary. In addition, it coordinates the Student Heath Outreach (SHOUT) project, a student-run project whose goal is to reach all eligible children and sign them up for health insurance by engaging students, as well as school administrators, in the effort to spread the word about Medicaid and CHIP.

Keywords: Child health, Adolescent pregnancy, Blacks, Child advocacy, Child care, Child safety, Children, Data collection, Homeless persons, Infant mortality, Legislation, Minority groups, Prenatal care, State children', Statistics, s heatlh insurance program

Annotation: The Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (COIN) to Reduce Infant Mortality is a public-private partnership developed by the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau to reduce infant mortality and improve birth outcomes in 13 southern states. These states include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. These states comprise U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regions four and six. Participants learn from one another and national experts, share best practices and lessons learned, and track progress toward shared benchmarks.

Keywords: Collaboration, Infant mortality, Prevention, Public private partnerships, Risk reduction

Annotation: The Colorado Child Fatality Review Committee is a multidisciplinary group of professionals representing public health, medicine, law and law enforcement, child welfare, forensics, mental health, and other special interests related to the health and safety of children. The committee has been reviewing all child deaths in Colorado since 1989 to: describe trends and patterns of child death in Colorado, identify and investigate the prevalence of risk factors for child death, characterize high-risk groups in terms compatible with the development of public policy, evaluate the service and system responses to children and families who are at high risk and to offer recommendations for improvement in those responses, and improve the quality and scope of data necessary for child death investigation and review. Specific benefits have resulted from the child fatality review process. These include a better understanding of how children are dying in Colorado, greater accountability among professionals, participation in the development of prevention strategies, statewide child death investigation training, stimulation of policy assessment, and improvement in dialogue with the media.

Keywords: Child death, Colorado, Infant death, Infant mortality, Prevention, SIDS, State agencies

Annotation: Compassionate Friends is a non-profit self-help organization that offers friendship and understanding to families who have experienced the death of a child of any age, from any cause. The group provides support to bereaved parents, grandparents, and siblings. Compassionate friends was founded in 1969; the first of 600 U.S. chapters were organized in 1972. The organization offers brochures & videos. Some materials are available in Spanish. The organization also publishes a catalog and a national magazine, and sponsors several regional meetings and a conference each year. Contact the national office for chapter information in your area.

Keywords: Child death, Support groups, Fetal death, Grief, Perinatal bereavement, Perinatal mortality, Pregnancy loss, Spontaneous abortion

Annotation: The Connor Kirby Infant Memorial Foundation provides financial assistance for funeral and cemetery expenses and for therapy sessions to families suffering from the loss of an infant.

Keywords: Infant death, Bereavement, Child death, Family support services, Fetal death, Financial support, Grief, Infant mortality

Annotation: Cribs for Kids was established in 1998 under the guidance of SIDS of Pennsylvania, whose staff realized that most sudden unexpected infant deaths were among low-income families, and most of the infants who died were found on couches, chairs, or adult beds. Cribs for Kids partnered with portable crib manufacturer GRACO Pack N Play.® Currently, Cribs for Kids has more than 350 Partner Programs that provide safe sleep educational materials and portable cribs to families who cannot afford a safe place for their babies to sleep.

Keywords: State organizations, Advocacy, Consumer education, Family support, Infant death, Infant mortality, Parent support, Pennsylvania, SIDS

Annotation: The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) -- renamed by Congress in 2008 in honor of the Institute's founder -- supports and conducts research on topics related to the health of children, adults, families, and populations. The mission of the NICHD is to ensure that every person is born healthy and wanted; that women suffer no harmful effects from reproductive processes; that all children have the chance to achieve their full potential for healthy and productive lives, free from disease or disability; and to ensure the health, productivity, independence, and well-being of all people through optimal rehabilitation. Areas of emphasis include: events that happen prior to and throughout pregnancy and childhood, including infertility, pre-term birth, birth defects, developmental disabilities, and human learning and behavior; human growth and development across the lifespan, including nutrition, developmental biology, and congenital diseases; reproductive health and education about reproductive practices, including disorders affecting fertility and infertility, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases/HIV/AIDS; and medical rehabilitation interventions for those affected by disabilities, including technology and assistive-device development, intervention evaluation, and health promotion and prevention of disabilities. The Center for Research for Mothers and Children, the Center for Population Research, the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, and the Division of Intramural Research comprise the NICHD. The Institute offers a wide range of materials for various audiences, from researchers to parents; many publications are available in Spanish.

Keywords: Adolescent health, Child health, Congenital abnormalities, Infant health, Infant mortality, Maternal health, Medical research, Mental retardation, National Institutes of Health, Nutrition, Population dynamics, Publications, Reproductive health, Spanish language materials, Training

Annotation: The FIMR/HIV Prevention Methodology National Resource Center aims to support the improvement of local perinatal HIV systems. The resource center offers information, training, and expert guidance to communities currently implementing, or interested in implementing, the fetal and infant mortality (FIMR) case review and community action process known as the FIMR/HIV Prevention Methodology Protocol.

Keywords: Case assessment, Community action, Disease prevention, HIV, Infant mortality, Perinatal influences, Resource centers

Annotation: The Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions is dedicated to strengthening maternal and child health by ensuring that all Florida families have access to a continuum of affordable and quality health and related services and advocating for public policy initiatives to facilitate those services. The coalition aids over 30 statewide Healthy Start programs in Florida to assist at-risk mothers receive the care they need for a healthy pregnancy and baby through local coalitions providing high-quality prenatal care for mothers and health care for infants and children.

Keywords: Advocacy, Child health, Florida, Healthy Start, Infant health, Infant mortality, Maternal health, Prevention programs, State programs