| CRANBURY, N.J., - Black women are more likely than any other race or ethnicity to have a baby born preterm in New Jersey. 12% of all New Jersey babies were born preterm in 2005, yet Black women accounted for over 17% of those preterm births. This means that about 1 in 6 African-American babies is born premature in New Jersey.
The March of Dimes New Jersey Chapter has awarded a grant to the Newark Community Health Centers, Inc. to provide CenteringPregnancy®, a program proven to help reduce these disparities.
Preterm birth is the leading killer of black babies in the first year of life and can be a major cause of lifelong disabilities. CenteringPregnancy® is a prenatal care program shown to help lower preterm birth rates in African-American women. Through its novel techniques, CenteringPregnancy® has proven to be successful in reducing preterm labor rates up to 40% in African-American women.
According to Xenia Acquaye, Associate Director of Program Services for the March of Dimes New Jersey Chapter, the lowered rates are assumed to be due to an increase in social support, education, and resulting compliance with prenatal care. This year, The March of Dimes New Jersey Chapter was able to fund the Newark Community Health Center to provide New Jersey’s first CenteringPregnancy® program.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the preterm birth rate in Newark is higher than the average preterm birth rate in New Jersey. Newark Community Health Center’s President / CEO, Mr. Peter R. Velez, MPH, wanted his center to be the first in New Jersey to offer this innovative program.
The staff at Newark Community Health Center received training for the CenteringPregnancy® program. According to Acquaye, the Newark Community Health Center is recruiting patients now. “The March of Dimes New Jersey Chapter is very eager to provide Newark with this opportunity and we hope to see it up and running this fall,” she said.
The CenteringPregnancy® program focuses on group centered prenatal care where a small group of women, all within the same gestational age, receive prenatal care education. Groups form within the 12th to 16th week of pregnancy and continue for 10 sessions until the early postpartum period.
During routine prenatal care visits, a woman typically spends a majority of her time in a waiting or exam room and only spends a short time with her health care provider. With the CenteringPregnancy® program, a woman spends two hours with her provider in an open environment, where part of the room is designated for prenatal care and the rest of the room is designated for discussion. These discussions help to build social support systems, which may help reduce stress levels.
Each patient receives prenatal care assessments with her practitioner and is able to discuss specific concerns. She also learns and performs self care techniques, such as taking her blood pressure and accurately weighting herself. Each woman is invited to share their experiences and discuss different topics relating to pregnancy and parenting with each other, as well as the practitioner.
“The CenteringPregnancy® program began with a nurse midwife at Yale,” Erika Hart, Health Education/Program Services Coordinator for the March of Dimes New Jersey Chapter, said. The midwife, Sharon Rising, created the program in Connecticut in 1994. Since its inception, the CenteringPregnancy® program has expanded to a total of 38 states and the District of Columbia.
The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. With chapters nationwide and its premier event, March for Babies, the March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies. For the latest resources and information, visit marchofdimes.com or nacersano.org.
|
