Three-year grant allows Bootheel organization to focus on maternal, child health

Thanks to a three-year grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health, the Missouri Bootheel Regional Consortium in Sikeston, Missouri, has added a new program focusing on preventive health care for mothers and children in five counties of Southeast Missouri. The Maternal Wellness Program provides in-home coaching for women ages 15 to 44 in Scott, New Madrid, Mississippi, Pemiscot and Dunklin counties.

"The key to our program is the relationships with the participants," says Tracy Morrow, maternal wellness health coach with MBRC. The program, which has been underway for about a year, educates participants on nutrition, exercise, smoking cessation, health literacy and mental health. Many participants have been told before what changes to make to be healthy, but this program takes it down to a personal level, says Morrow. Health coaches work one-on-one with participants to identify – and apply – simple lifestyle changes to improve the health of each family member.

Chronic diseases and obesity have been identified as the target areas for the program. The Bootheel's adult obesity rate is at 32 percent and the childhood obesity rate is at 17 percent, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"To have healthy infants, you need to have healthy mothers," says Cynthia Dean, chief executive officer of the MBRC. The Maternal Wellness Program helps the "community to see that prevention and education are usually the best way to solve the problems they have with chronic diseases," she explains.

One way health coaches address these topics is by teaching participants how to read food labels and identify unhealthy ingredients or ingredients that their children are allergic to. Health coaches also teach participants simple exercises that can be done at home or around the neighborhood.

This is another important aspect of the program, says Dean: "A lot of things can be accomplished without a lot of money." Many participants think they have to join an expensive gym and master complicated workouts to exercise, but that's simply not the case.

"Small changes add up to big changes," says Dean. "The little changes add up to big differences in their lives and the lives of their children. It's a generational thing."

As outreach facilitator for the MBRC, Carolyn Davis travels throughout the coverage area to meet and recruit women who could benefit from the consortium's services. That means she frequents local doctor's offices, grocery stores, schools, housing projects - anywhere she's likely to meet women in need. About 300 women are participating in the program.

Davis also knows firsthand how the simple changes encouraged in the program can affect women's lives. She started out as a volunteer for the coalition, and once she began implementing the changes she taught to others, she lost about 100 pounds and was able to stop taking her high blood pressure medications.

"When we put the information out there, it makes people more conscious of making healthy choices," says Morrow.

She, Dean and Davis have noticed a marked improvement in the participants – they enjoy the support and motivation, experience higher self-image and self-confidence, and say it's easier to do everyday things like play with their children when they're making healthy choices.

"When we give them tips and ways to improve these conditions, they feel empowered. They feel they can take charge of their health," says Morrow.

Next, the consortium hopes to increase opportunities to collaborate with other local organizations and boost community outreach via an expanded website, social media and possibly smartphone apps, says Dean. They are also working toward an additional grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health that would allow the consortium to focus on infant mortality within a six-county area.