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Prenatal Care Referrals Help Address North Philadelphia's High Infant Mortality
Community outreach project to reduce infant morbidity and mortality
Starting in October 1995, Temple University Hospital expanded a pilot program to address infant mortality in North Philadelphia and provide a full range of primary care and preventive services.
The program had demonstrated that an aggressive outreach and prevention effort can significantly reduce infant morbidity and mortality and may reduce hospital costs for newborns.
Temple planned to reorganize segments of its primary care and obstetrics and gynecology services into one center, the Temple Center for Women's Health (TCWH).
Key Results:
- TCWH engaged in outreach activities aimed largely at agencies serving pregnant women. Activities included:
- Presentations on prenatal care to community organizations.
- Visits to psychosocial agencies serving as referral sources.
- Participation in health fairs.
- Workshops on health issues.
- Tours of TCWH for community organization representatives.
- A child-care open house.
- And distribution of information packets.
- TCWH established linkages with medical, education and psychosocial institutions and agencies in the community.
- The outreach effort helped TCWH achieve 3,042 referrals for prenatal care during the grant period, according to the project director.