Connect With Us
|  linked in  on facebook on
flickr
|
|
Subscribe
|  |
|
|
Dear friends,
LA Best Babies Network has moved its offices to California Hospital Medical Center. Please update your files with our new address:
1401 South Grand Ave, PHR Building, 3rd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Our e-mails and phone numbers will remain the same.
Your friends at LA Best Babies Network
|
World Breastfeeding Week
|  Best Babies Collaboratives and Care Quality Collaborative Achieve Healthy People 2010 Goals
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week (August 1 - August 7) and California Breastfeeding Awareness Month, LA Best Babies Network would like to
salute the impressive achievements of the Best Babies Collaboratives (BBCs) and
Care Quality Collaborative in supporting and increasing breastfeeding in our
communities.
The goals set by Healthy People 2010 are for 75% of mothers to initiate breastfeeding, and for 50%
to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months. With the support of First 5
LA's Healthy Births Initiative, and through the efforts of the BBCs, women
participating in the BBC programs have met and exceeded these goals.
This is particularly remarkable considering
that in 2006, the baseline rate of breastfeeding initiation in the BBC
population was only 42%.
The Healthy Births Care Quality
Collaborative also achieved a dramatic 90% increase over the 2007 baseline, in initiation of exclusive
breastfeeding among its clients--rates that were sustained over time.
According to the
Network's Perinatal Scorecard, in Los Angeles County, the rates of both
"any" and "exclusive" breastfeeding in 2007 were well below California state
averages. By race, African American,
Pacific Islander, and American Indian mothers living in LA County were least
likely to breastfeed, whereas rates were highest for white, Asian, multiple race,
and Hispanic mothers. LA County
mothers who were college graduates, or who had attended some college, had higher
rates of all measures of breastfeeding than mothers with less education.
Both the BBCs and the Care Quality
clinics have achieved success by implementing a broad-based, multi-pronged
approach that includes a supportive clinic environment, consistent messages
from all staff, and ongoing breastfeeding education and support, starting at the
very beginning of pregnancy, and continuing in the hospital, and the first
days and weeks following birth.
The Collaboratives recognize that for
breastfeeding to be successful, it is important to make moms-to-be aware of its
benefits early in their pregnancies, and to support them in achieving their
breastfeeding goals, including assisting moms during postpartum hospital and home
visits. The BBCs provide this continuous support through individual case management. Care Quality Clinics also referred clients not receiving
home visitation to WIC lactation peer counselors for additional
breastfeeding education and support.
Through the Healthy Births
Initiative, BBC case mangers and Care Quality clinic staff were trained as
certified lactation educators and lactation consultants.
Yolanda Salomon Lopez, Program
Coordinator for the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services and the
Long Beach-Wilmington BBC, reports that with this training, BBC case managers in
Long Beach are able to provide one-on-one breastfeeding support during hospital
or home visitation.
In the Harbor-Corridor BBC,
according to Cordelia Hanna-Cheruiyot, BBC Case Manager Supervisor/Health Educator
for St. John's Well Child and Family Center, in addition to having case managers
who are certified lactation educators, breastfeeding education is offered
through stand-alone breastfeeding classes, as part of a series in prepared
childbirth classes, and as part of an outreach program to local high schools.
Clients are also offered educational videos, printed materials, flyers, and
incentive programs.
Both Harbor-Corridor and the Long
Beach-Wilmington BBC have initiated breast pump loan programs, and are prepared
to refer clients to additional community resources, including WIC breastfeeding
classes, and La Leche League hotline information.
These efforts have
resulted in healthier babies, moms, and communities.
Learn more:
World Breastfeeding Week
The Breastfeeding Taskforce of Greater Los Angeles promotes breastfeeding
friendly policies and practices.
California WIC breastfeeding awareness month page
California WIC Breastfeeding information page
Download the Network's brochure, Breastfeeding-Friendly
Workplace Policies, available in English and Spanish
|
|
California Pertussis Epidemic
| Pertussis Bacteria  | Whooping Cough Cases May Be Highest in 50 Years
So far this year, 7 infants have died in
California, 3 of them in LA County--all under 2 months old, and all Hispanic,
and the California Department of Public Health has declared an epidemic. Recently, CDHP broadened its
vaccination recommendations to better protect Californians, especially infants who are too young to be immunized.
"We are facing what could be the worst year for pertussis...in more than 50 years," said CDPH Chief of the Center for
Infectious Disease, Dr. Gilberto Chávez. "We are urging health providers to broaden their use of
the pertussis vaccine and Californians to take the simple
step of getting vaccinated."
- anyone 7 years and older who is not fully
immunized, including those who are more than 64 years old,
- women
of childbearing age, before, during, or immediately after pregnancy, and
- other
people who have contact with pregnant women or infants.
Pertussis is highly contagious, and immunity wears
off after approximately 5-10 years, leaving adults susceptible to the disease. As of August 3, 2,492 cases of pertussis had been reported in California, 6 times more than the same period last year, when 392 cases had been
reported. About 300 cases have been in LA County. All of those
killed by the
disease were Hispanic infants.
Since 1998, more than 80 percent of the infants in
California who have died from pertussis have been Hispanic, and in most
cases, infants catch pertussis from a family member or household contact, often their own mother. CDHP also stresses that the booster vaccine is safe for pregnant women. The May 31 Los Angeles Times featured a front page story about a newborn who died after contracting pertussis from his mother. Mariah Bianchi, a
critical care nurse in San Francisco, had been coughing for two
weeks before her baby's delivery, but no one thought to test her for the disease, nor advise her to take preventative measures around her newborn.
Pertussis is easily
misdiagnosed. In adults it can present as a common cold, and newborns, who typically do
not exhibit the "whoop" cough, can have deceptively mild symptoms at first: a
runny nose, an undetectable or mild cough, generally no fever. However, these same infants can deteriorate very
rapidly from the disease.
|
HHS Unveils Insurance Finder Tool
|
On July
1st, the Department of Health and Human Services unveiled HealthCare.gov,
a new online tool with an insurance
finder that makes it easy for consumers to compare insurance plans.
HHS
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says, "HealthCare.gov
will help take some of the mystery out of shopping for health
insurance...The
site makes a system that thrived on complication and confusion easier to
understand."
HealthCare.gov
also contains information on every Medicaid and Children's Health
Insurance
Program in the country, and information on the Pre-Existing Condition
Plan in
every state. Consumers can learn tips for preventing illness at the
"Quick
Guide to Healthy Living"; get an introduction
to the Affordable Care Act; and find information for seniors,
families
with children, people
with disabilities, and others.
|
|
|
|
|
