First Five Coalition: An Update

First Five Coalition Visits Prenatal Health Clinic Model in Hall County
In an effort to examine a successful model of prenatal healthcare to uninsured community residents, First Five Healthcare Subcommittee members visited the Long Street Clinic in Hall County on April 17. Longstreet Clinic is a large, physician-owned specialty group. The Hall County Health Department, local hospital, and the Longstreet Clinic combine forces to offer prenatal care at the Health Department for undocumented/uninsured women. The hospital provides two nurse midwives, and 600-800 women/year are seen. The cost is $450 up front, with a total cost of $1,200 for care (a 10% discount is given to women who pay the full $1,200 up front). 

Archway Partnership First Five Facilitates Meeting with OB-GYN’s

A few of the First Five Healthcare Subcommittee members recently met with some of the local OB-GYN’s  to discuss private care of women who need full-term care and get released early from the Health Department (currently the Health Department only offers partial-term prenatal care). At the meeting, subcommittee member and owner of a local clinic, Stephen Miracle, presented a proposal. Local OB-GYN, Dr. Tidwell, suggested that the Health Department extend their care to 32 weeks as opposed to the current 28 weeks. Then, private care could take over. The Health Department was open to the idea. Other local OB-GYNs were open to that same idea. The committee will continue to work towards finding a solution for all women in the community to obtain optimal prenatal care. 

March of Dimes Grants

First Five Healthcare Subcommittee member, Dr. Luis Viamonte, set up a meeting with the March of Dimes Regional Director on May 7 to discuss prenatal grants. One of the models discussed at a previous First Five Healthcare Subcommittee meeting, group prenatal care – Centering Pregnancy, is a top 3 priority for March of Dimes grants this coming year.

After the meeting, Dr. Viamonte invited the March of Dimes staff to visit the Dalton-Whitfield Health Department women’s clinic and the Hospital NICU area.  

Grant writing entities, including the Whitfield County Health Department, Hospital, Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership, and Georgia Mountains Health were all in attendance. Archway will continue facilitating these meetings to collaborate on the grant writing process.

It was such a positive meeting, and we look forward to seeing how all this plays out in the next few months. The March of Dimes grants are due at the end of the July with funding occurring January 2015.