This May Be The Key To Solving Infant Mortality

By Eleanor Boudreau

Memphis, TN – Tasha Brown's daughter, Ariana, was just three months old when she started having trouble breathing.

"Her chest was just moving so fast," Brown said, "It was to the point where you literally could see her throat go in, and you could see the skin go in."

It was a winter day and Brown's car wouldn't crank up. Panicked, Brown called an ambulance. The ambulance rushed her daughter to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with walking pneumonia, and the doctors rushed to drain her lungs.

Brown had a "high-risk" pregnancy. She was young, she's black, and she didn't find out she was pregnant or get any pre-natal care until she was almost five months along. She also didn't have a place of her own, and Brown has a serious lung disorder that put her daughter at risk of developing asthma and lung problems after she was born.

Brown's daughter almost died.

"If I had let her go to sleep that night she probably wouldn't have woke up," Brown said.

But Brown's daughter didn't die. Brown is a participant in the county's Healthy Start Initiative. The program only works with women who are "high-risk," yet most of the participants don't lose their kids. Despite the abysmal infant mortality rate in the county as a whole, out of 80 pregnant women enrolled in Healthy Start in 2008, there were no deaths no fetal deaths, no infant deaths. No deaths.

Healthy Start works primarily as a referral program. It refers women to resources for housing, food, clothes, and mental health services. It has a nurse and nutrition educators on staff, and maybe most importantly, Healthy Start offers home visitations by a social worker. Brown still cries when she thinks about what her social worker did for her.

"She made me feel like, you know, you can do this, you can finish school, you can get your job," Brown chokes, "I found a job, I got my apartment, I got a houseful of furniture now, my kids got their own room, and they go their own clothes, you know, I'm better. Because she never let me feel like I could not do anything."

Healthy Start is also not alone. There are other programs giving non-medical help to pregnant women in Shelby County and coming out with similar success rates. Kimberley Lamar heads-up The Blues Project. Less than one percent of "Blues" babies die.

Lamar said, "All health care needs to address the emotional aspect of health. Adding that to the health care model will make a true difference, and maybe that's the key to solving this infant mortality issue."

Netasha Bowers helps women let go of the mental things that effect their health, and the health of their babies. Bowers is a social worker for The Blues Project, but she was also a teenage mother.

"I had someone actually tell me you're gonna be living in the projects which is stereotypical and it angers me," Bowers said. "So in my mind, if you're telling me this, there is no telling how many other people have said this to our clients."

Late one Monday afternoon, one of Bowers' clients wanders into her office. Jessica Love has had three children with The Blues Project, and they're all with her. Her four-year-old son walks beside her, and she wheels her 16-month-old twins in, in a double stroller. Love has a lot on her mind.

While she was pregnant with her twins, Love lost her job. Now her family is giving her a hard time for not working. "Let it go," Bowers tells her, "And do what you have to do to take care of you and these children. And focus on that."

And that's where Love is having her second problem. Love says she's applying for jobs, but it's difficult. Her oldest is enrolled in a pre-kindergarten program, but her twins are always with her.

When Love's oldest was growing up, Love was working and daycare was provided for her. After her twins were born Love tried to enroll them in daycare, too, but she got turned down.

"I've been under a lot of pressure and stress," Love said.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Hold on," Bowers interrupts. "So, you're telling me your DHS case worker said they cannot do Families First Child Care for you because you are not working?"

Bowers says she'll look into it. Still, it's not all bad news. Love's daughter recently learned to walk. Love's twins were born three months prematurely, and her daughter had a lot of medical problems as a result.

Love takes the little girl from the stroller and as she begins to totter around the office, this is the first time Bowers has seen her walk.

"Blow me that kiss," Bowers says to the little girl.

Love's daughter does.

Bowers snatches at the air and smiles. "Oooooh! I got it!" she says.

This may not be the end of Love's troubles, but whatever happens all three of her children have made it past their first birthday. Too many children in Shelby County don't.

To learn more about the Healthy Start Initiative call (901) 544-7650.

To learn more about The Blues Project call (901) 448-3770, or stop by one of their clinic locations in the Memphis Health Center at 360 E.H. Crump Blvd. and in Christ Community Health Services at 3124 North Thomas and 3362 South Third St.