12/28/2011 — Yale New Haven Hospital has been awarded a $35,000 grant from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven to support the coordination of care for pregnant women in order to reduce infant mortality rates and improve birth outcomes for vulnerable, at-risk populations in the Greater New Haven area.
With increasing numbers of uninsured and unemployed women, this funding is vital to the health of this region and this community. Infant mortality and poor birth outcomes are national public health issues with an astounding 543,000 babies born too soon each year according to the March of Dimes. The rate of preterm births in Connecticut is highest for African American infants at 14.4 percent per 1,000 live births. In New Haven, the infant mortality rate is two and a half times higher than all other races.
"It is absolutely vital to the health of both the mother and baby that the appropriate prenatal care and case management services are received," said Patricia DeWitt, MPH, director of community health at Yale New Haven Hospital. "This generous grant from The Community Foundation will give more pregnant women access to the care they need in order to have a healthy pregnancy and birth; thus assisting in reducing health disparities."
"We’re pleased that Yale New Haven Hospital is undertaking this important work. Reducing health disparities is essential to building a strong community," said Will Ginsberg, president & CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. "This grant will continue to help YNHH successfully implement the New Haven Healthy Start program, which is administered by The Foundation, and support the work of providing care coordination to pregnant women who deliver at Yale New Haven Hospital."
Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, millions of dollars each year are distributed from an endowment of approximately $325 million in more than 800 named funds at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. In addition to its grantmaking, The Community Foundation works toward building a stronger community by: taking measures to improve student achievement, including partnering with the City of New Haven and Yale University to create New Haven Promise which promotes college education as an aspiration and provides graduates college scholarships; serving as the lead for New Haven Healthy Start, a federally funded program to improve maternal health and reduce the infant mortality rate; working with various groups to grow and deepen the impact of their philanthropy; identifying and supporting grassroots leadership; and strengthening nonprofits and promoting philanthropy through technical assistance programs, a new online knowledge and giving resource known as www.giveGreater.org. For more information, visit www.cfgnh.org or www.facebook.com/cfgnh.
Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), part of Yale New Haven Health, is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826, today, YNHH has two New Haven-based campuses, and also includes Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor of nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. www.ynhh.org
