Our Vision.

The vision of the South Phoenix Healthy Start Project (SPHS) is that fewer

babies will be victims of infant mortality and that women of childbearing

age and their babies will be healthier as a result of early and easy access to

high-quality, comprehensive perinatal health care and community assets

and resources.

SHARING LIVES...

Not one single program

participant family living in the

South, Central Phoenix or

Maryvale communities have

suffered the pain of losing their

baby before its first birthday!

Since, the South Phoenix

Healthy Start Program began

nearly twelve years ago

p r o v i d i n g c o m m u n i t y

awareness and prenatal health

e d u c a t i o n a n d

developing an engaged

Community Consortium, there

have been no infant deaths to

program families even as the

infant mortality rates and poor

birth outcomes within their

communities increased around

them.

South Phoenix Healthy Start “sharing healthier lives with our new little lives…”

Our Services...

Community Health Workers

(CHW) from the target commu-

nities enroll pregnant women

and parenting families from the

target area as early in their

pregnancy as possible and

continue services through the

interconceptional period until

baby’s second birthday.

The CHW is directly supervised

by an RN with over 20 years of

OB care in a clinical setting.

Risk/Asset Screening is con-

ducted and the RN provides

consultation planning with the

CHW on the appropriate sched-

ule for home visitation and peri-

natal health education.

Each CHW receives on-going

training on perinatal health top-

ics and is community resources

to enable them to provide high

quality health education using

evidence based curriculum

developed by March of Dimes,

Partners for a Healthy Baby, and

Beginnings Guides for Parents.

The team is trained on conduct-

ing depression screening using

the Edinburgh Depression Scale

and infant development using

the Ages and Stages Question-

naire .

In 2010, over 30,000 individuals living

in the Healthy Start community

received valuable health and

community resource information

delivered by Healthy Start team

members and community volunteers.

Healthy Start team members attend at

least 10 community events each month

for the sole purpose of community

education and outreach referral to

pregnant and parenting families into

perinatal health and social services.

Each year over 400 local families are

enrolled into full case management

services through South Phoenix

Healthy Start.

During home based case management

visits, participants receive several

health, behavioral, safety and environ-

mental assessments; education on

topics such as prenatal nutrition; labor

and delivery; signs/symptoms of pre-

term labor; mother/child bonding; in-

fant development; prenatal and post-

partum depression; smoking; use of

alcohol and drugs; family violence;

breastfeeding; immunizations; SIDS;

car seat safety; finishing school;

budgeting; employment; and the

importance of the father’s involvement

in baby’s life. In addition, the SPHS

case manager ensures the participant

receives a referral to other community

resources as needed.

Group education and home

visits are free to pregnant and deliv-

ered mothers, regardless of income or

insurance coverage, immigration status

and with special emphasis on teens

and women at high risk for medical

complications or family support issues.

All progress achieved on the family

development plans and health educa-

tion goals are tracked using the Life

Skills Progression.

Community outreach and health

promotion education is conducted by

the trained Promotoras contracted

through Healthy Mothers, Healthy Ba-

bies Maricopa.

South Phoenix Healthy Start works to reduce perinatal disparities, through

the systematic, responsive, and competent delivery of five core services to

mediate underlying factors that determine perinatal outcomes, such as

health behaviors, social responses, income, resiliency and asset/resource

linkages and other factors. The core services delivered to target area

families at no cost to the families are:

1. Outreach and Recruitment of Eligible Families

2. Home Visit Based Prenatal/Postpartum and Infant Case Management

3. Perinatal and Infant Health and Development Education

4. Depression Screening, Referral and Support

5. Interconceptional Care Coordination and Education for Mothers,

Fathers and their Babies

Our Team...

Our Communities... The target communities served by South

Phoenix Healthy Start cover a geo-

graphic area of approximately 250 square

miles. That’s’ an area larger than the

islands of Bahrain, St. Lucia and Guam!

These communities in the state have

higher than average state and national

rates of teen birth , prematurity , low

birth weight (LBW) and infant mortality

and actual infant deaths, especially

among African American, Native Ameri-

can and Hispanic families.

Satellite Locations

Due to the great geographic size of the

target area and the extensive, diverse

needs of the Healthy Start community,

many of the core services delivered by

the Healthy Start team are conducted

within the communities themselves, not

just in a distant office.

Currently, SPHS has staff and community

volunteers working at various locations

throughout the community and looking

for additional opportunities to meet

families in their own neighborhoods.

Several sites have Healthy Start corners

and community resource for neighbors

s t o p p i n g b y f o r i n f o r m a t i o n .

SPHS is working at John F Long Family

Service Center and within several churches

in South Phoenix and Maryvale to provide

information , offer referrals, conduct office

visits and hold health education sessions.

Special educational services are also

provided in partnership with the Phoenix

Union High School District and West Phoe-

nix Charter High School for Community

Health Workers to provide weekly prenatal,

postpartum and parenting classes and sup-

port on campus at eight local high schools.

Our Partners...

Our Support...

South Phoenix Healthy Start is a

public health intervention

administered by Maricopa

County Department of Public

Health and is funded by the

Health Resources and Services

Administration (HRSA), Bureau

of Maternal Child Health and

State of Arizona First Things

First program to eliminate

disparities in perinatal birth

outcomes and provide prenatal

and postnatal education to

women and their families in the

targeted communities of South

Phoenix, Central Phoenix and

Maryvale.

South Phoenix Healthy Start has a strong, long established

Community Consortium that meets monthly.

The Community Consortium has over 50 regular members from all aspects of the

Healthy Start community—health providers, social service agency representatives, pub-

lic health officials, non-profit and business owners, educators, community leaders and

interested residents, faith leaders and more importantly program participants.

The Community Consortium comes together to receive on-going perinatal health infor-

mation, public health data and community resources and programs available to fami-

lies. Additionally, members assist each year in the strategic planning process.

In 2011, a Healthy Start Participant Advisory Council will be established to provide

valuable leadership into the needs and recommendations for program development.

Other Family Support

Services We Offer...

Doula or Prenatal/Labor/Post

Partum Support Services

Child Birth Education classes

for mom and her partner

Dancing for Birth classes

Healthy Fathers Initiative

classes on male involvement

and life skills

Lactation consultation

Social events for enrolled

families like; birthday parties,

baby showers, crafting/

scrapbooking, sewing skills,

healthy cooking, etc.

First Saturday monthly

Farmer’s Market providing

fresh vegetables and fruits to

families

Folic acid vitamins

Safe cribs, car seats and other

incentive items useful to new

families.

Transportation to Dr. visits

St. Mary’s Food Bank and SPHS community volunteers come together on the first Saturday of

each month to distribute nearly 22 tons of fresh vegetables and fruit to the SPHS participants

and community at no cost. Produce boxes are also deliv-

ered to enrolled participant family homes if they are unable

to get to the “market.”

Farmer’s Market.

Curriculum developed by Community Consortium member, AZ Facts of Life designed to

improve provider, staff and community skills in working with families to engage them more

completely in their own advocacy and goal attainment.

Motivational Interviewing.

A Mother’s Worth offers a 4 week series of Weekly CBE classes that give participants an un-

derstanding of the different stages of labor, natural comfort measures, common hospital inter-

ventions, newborn care, and information on breastfeeding. An additional movement class will

be offered that includes relaxation, abdominal and pelvic floor focus, optimal fetal positioning,

and “fourth trimester” motion tips and practice. Both classes are conducted by certified

educators trained in clinically relevant models and is enjoyable, creative and engaging.

Child Birth Education and Dancing for Birth.

Workshops offered through our partner, Father Matters designed to assist in promoting male

involvement during prenatal, delivery and during the development of their children. Work-

shops also assist men in establishing paternity, working with child support enforcement stan-

dards and custody issues, building financial literacy and skills and job readiness.

Fathers Mentoring Fathers and Financial Sustainability for Fathers.

SPHS Winter/Spring Events

South Phoenix Healthy Start

Main Office

2737 West Southern Avenue, Suite 8

Tempe, AZ 85282

602.304.1166 ph

602.276.3209 fax

sphealthystart@mail.maricopa.gov