March of Dimes Brings Health Care to Hurricane-Devastated Gulf Coast
Posted on: Wednesday, 7 March 2007, 12:02 CST
NEW ORLEANS, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The March of Dimes unveiled the first of three "Mom and Baby Mobile Health Centers" that will bring much-needed medical care to pregnant women, new mothers, and babies in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The Mobile Health Centers were paid for with $3 million from the $100 million Qatar Katrina Fund, established by the Amir of Qatar, H.H. Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani to provide assistance after the storm. The centers will be staffed by the Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans and partners of the Partnership for Access to Health. This collaboration is unprecedented and unique for the New Orleans region and will be a model for others.
More information can be found online at http://www.marchofdimes.com/aboutus/22663_24140.asp.
"In the post-hurricane era, building bridges between organizations is vital to restoring basic services, such as health care," said Greg Gumbel, a New Orleans native and honorary chairman of the March of Dimes Hurricane Relief Fund.
The March of Dimes worked with the Qatar Katrina Fund to design this project. Qatar's Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Nasser Bin Hamad Al- Khalifa, said he identified "partners who would bring innovative solutions to the enormous problems caused by Hurricane Katrina." He added: "These Mobile Health Centers will provide an immediate improvement in Louisiana's quality of life. Providing mothers and babies easy access to health care is an important component of rebuilding communities. The results will be felt for generations."
Even before the hurricanes, Louisiana's preterm birth rate was 25 percent above the nation's. Today, local health services remain overwhelmed and unable to meet the needs of an increasingly poor and uninsured population. Pregnant women are arriving in emergency rooms in labor, without having had any prenatal care, doctors and nurses say. Hospitals have seen an increase in premature and low birth weight babies.
Inside, the mobile centers look like a healthcare provider's office. The handicap accessible centers have bilingual staff and will provide about 15,000 visits in three years to New Orleans, and other areas without adequate maternal and infant health services.
The March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. For Spanish language information visit nacersano.org.
March of Dimes
CONTACT: Robert Storace, +1-914-997-4622, rstorace@marchofdimes.com, orTodd Dezen, +1-914-997-4608, tdezen@marchofdimes.com, Elizabeth Lynch,+1-914-997-4286, elynch@marchofdimes.com
Web site: http://www.marchofdimes.com/
Source: PRNewswire
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