Dedicated staff members from hospitals, health centers and physician practices were honored for their critical role in improving the lives of pregnant women and their newborn babies at “Delivering Our Future,” the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami Dade’s Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony held at Jungle Island.
The awardees performance in delivering direct care to pregnant women and newborns – such as prenatal and postnatal risk screening and providing new parent gift packs – have helped to lower the county’s infant mortality rate to 4.5 percent, much lower than state and national averages. The historic infant mortality rate tops a successful year for Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade (HSCMD), which is part of a statewide network of community-based organizations that are tasked to reduce Florida’s infant mortality and improve the lives of pregnant women and families of newborns – from birth to age three.
The event included presentations from Justin Senior, Deputy Secretary for Medicaid at Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration and Celeste Philip, M.D., the Deputy Secretary for Health and Deputy State Health Officer for Children’s Medical Services.
