Melinda Tuhus
Stephanie Ramirez’s doctor tells her she asks too many questions about her pregnancy. But she has a lot of questions. So she’s jazzed that a new text-messaging program will provide her with more information.
Ramirez was one of four teens — three pregnant, one with a five-month old son — who were on hand Wednesday afternoon at the city’s health department clinic on Meadow Street to kick off the new program, sponsored nationally by the Coalition for Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies.
The girls are all students at Polly McCabe, the city’s school for pregnant teens. But the new program — called Text4Baby — is not just for teens; it’s for all pregnant women and new mothers, said Acting Health Director (and Community Services Administrator) Dr. Chisara Asomugha, a pediatrician (pictured).
She said that data from phone companies show that 91 percent of Americans have access to cellular service, and the most popular feature is text messaging. So this is a way to reach a lot of people.
“In the U.S. more than 500,000 babies — one in eight — are born prematurely and an estimated 28,000 children die before their first birthday,” she said. “This is a crisis.” That puts the U.S. near the bottom among developed countries in survival of its youngest citizens.
Maria Damiani (pictured), the head of maternal, child and family health in the New Haven Health Department, explained the value of the program: “Instead of handing out pamphlets and brochures that are obsolete 20 minutes after we do them, we’re now doing stuff electronically and moving into the 21st century.” Damiani said once a woman registers, it allows her to text “baby511411” on their cell phones to access information that is useful to their stage of pregnancy or the age of their baby. “Or you can text ‘bebe511411’ to get the information in Spanish,” she added.
Ramirez spoke briefly. She said that because she is always thinking up more questions for her doctor, she thinks the new program is awesome.
Interviewed later, she elaborated on some of her questions.
“I ask about what we can do with our partners, and what we can’t do. What I should eat? How many times a day can I eat junk food? [Try not to, was the answer.] Why sometimes do I get pains when I’m walking? Will my insurance cover everything for the baby’s birth?” Answer: Yes.
Ramirez, a sophomore (on the right in the photo), is pictured with, left to right, senior Yaneris Gomez, junior Diane Gonzalez, and junior Takiesia Crenshaw. Though they came from different schools before arriving at Polly McCabe, the girls are all planning to attend Wilbur Cross High School next fall, because that’s the only city school with an on-site child care center.
Damiani said the text messages will also provide other resources a woman may need, like information on how to access an obstetrician if she doesn’t have one.
About 2,000 babies are born each year to residents of New Haven. The most recent data (2006) show that New Haven had an infant mortality rate of 9.9 per 1,000 live births, significantly above the national average. But that’s a lot better than the 1989 city average of 18.5 (with some neighborhoods, like Dixwell, registering over 30) that prompted a major effort to bring the rate down. It was so successful that it was down to 7 in 2001. But then it started rising, and hit 26.9 per 1,000 births in 2004. (Click here for a story on that.) It has trended down since then. Damiani said one year a set of triplets and two sets of twins died, skewing the numbers. “Our real issue is low birth weight,” she said. “A lot of infant mortality is prematurity — babies born too early and too small.”