By Jay Langston

Editor

For the last 25 years, the federal Healthy Start program has served the women, infants, children and fathers of the nation by providing reproductive life planning and family health services in high risk communities.

With Healthy Start grant funding, Centerstone has been able to implement Healthy Start's mission in Marshall County through its Early Childhood Services team.

The Early Childhood Services team assists women before, during and after pregnancy with their health and social service needs, while also engaging fathers to help them become better dads.

At present, Centerstone's Early Childhood Services programs has assisted 25 women and 11 children in Marshall County.

The program helped 310 participants during 2016, and received a federal grant for $680,000 to serve the nine-county region. Services are provided in the participants' homes or at a community location.

"Centerstone's Early Childhood Services programs in Marshall County and throughout Middle Tennessee are dedicated to bringing parents and babies together throughout pregnancy and the first two years of life," said April Scott, Healthy Start Project Director at Centerstone. "Our family-centered care programs include parenting support to new moms and dads, educational tools to strengthen family resilience, and breastfeeding education. In addition, we provide infant massage education, smoking cessation support and in-home therapy for mother's experiencing postpartum depression. Our goal is to create optimal maternal and infant health and development within our community."

Healthy Start is dedicated to reducing inequalities in maternal and infant health in high risk communities; Centerstone supports women before, during and after pregnancy by addressing their health and social service needs, strengthening family resilience and engaging community partners to enhance systems of care.

With the aid of Healthy Start grant funding, Centerstone's Early Childhood Services team is caring for Middle Tennessee women and families in Bedford, Coffee, Dickson, Giles, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Marshall and Maury counties.

Centerstone Early Childhood Services are available to women of reproductive age, pregnant women, mothers who have just given birth and families with young children from birth to a child's second birthday. Additionally the services offered include fatherhood engagement and supporting couples with reproductive life planning.

Healthy Start works in communities with infant mortality rates at least 1.5 times the national average and high rates of low birth weight, preterm birth and maternal mortality. Healthy Start is funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"My experience with Centerstone has been enlightening," said Abby Forsythe, Chair of Centerstone's Healthy Start Community Action Network (CAN). "Being a part of the Centerstone CAN has allowed me to collaborate with others to address infant mortality, prenatal care, breastfeeding, the mental health of mom and baby and many other areas of concerns that are sometimes overlooked because we assume moms and families are receiving this information somewhere else. Centerstone has provided an opportunity to work with a passionate group of people determined to close the gap by working within our community to make sure our families have healthy babies and grow great kids!"

For more information about Centerstone Early Childhood Services, visit centerstone.org/earlychildhood or call 931.490.1580.