Mantua: MOMobile Center Provides Healthy Start for New Moms and Infants

https://vimeo.com/18393472]

Remarkably, whether a child eventually graduates from high school relates to behaviors that child’s mother engages in during pregnancy. The mother’s behaviors can affect almost everything about her child’s future from health to social skills and test scores.

But first-time mothers don’t always know how to properly take care of themselves and their babies while pregnant. This is particularly pronounced among low income pregnant women with living in areas where health resources are scare.

Problems involving pregnancy is a big problem in West Philadelphia, where, in 2006, 9.3 percent of infants were born with a low birth weight. The death rate for infants in West Philadelphia was a staggering 15 per 1,000 live births, more than double the national average.

Enter the MOMobile Resource Center at the corner of 42nd St. and Lancaster Ave. in Mantua.

The center, a collaboration between the Maternity Care Coalition of Philadelphia and the National Healthy Start Association, receives a federal grant every year to provide education and services for pregnant women in the West Philadelphia area.

“We’re hoping to target women early in their pregnancy to ensure healthy behaviors that will really enhance the well-being of the whole family,” site coordinator Jennifer Polan said.

African-American women are at a higher risk for giving birth to infants with low birth weights, Polan said, as are women who smoke, drink or use drugs during their pregnancy. Knowing how to care for a young child, along with having access to resources such as cribs, strollers, diapers, baby food and formula can drastically reduce the chance of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other causes of infantile death.

In Philadelphia’s Mantua community, where 16,390 individuals live below the poverty line, many women who become pregnant simply can’t afford the things their infants will need during the first few months of their lives, Polan said. Many are also uninsured and don’t have access to proper health care.

The MOMobile Center offers workshops and classes that teach everything from financial management to child nutrition. The Center also has a stock of donated goods such as diapers and formula that mothers can pick up when needed.

In addition, the Center offers a case management program that accepts up to 175 women each year. If a woman lives in the 19104, 19139, 19142, 19143, 19151, or 19153 Zip Codes and is pregnant or has given birth within the past six months, she can sign up with the program and be paired with a case manager who will guide her through her pregnancy and the child’s infancy and continue working with her until the child turns two.

“The case managers go out to their homes and do a needs assessment with them,” Polan said. “The case manager then does what I like to call the ‘one-on-one parenting class’ with them, where they work through various topics like child development, parenting tactics, even life skills like self-esteem, budgeting, HIV prevention, safe sex, things like that. Additionally, the case managers might provide referrals to various neighborhood organizations that can help these women get the services they need, whether that’s housing, food stamps, health care, whatever.”

The program works in conjunction with a number of different prenatal clinics and health centers, including the Helen O. Dickens Center for Women’s Health at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, both of which frequently refer their lower-income clients to MOMobile.

“We also rely on a lot of word-of-mouth referrals,” Polan said. “People ring the doorbell, walk in, or their friends enroll and then they themselves are enrolled.”

Abbie Sykes graduated from the program a year ago – and now works at the MOMobile Center as a consumer advocate, managing intakes and referrals, assisting with workshops and passing out supplies. As she sees it, this center does a lot of good for the community.

“There are resources you can get access to through a case manager quicker than you can on your own,” she said. “[And the program] gives you a plan. If you have case management services, you’re going to have more goals, short-term goals and long-term goals.”

Right now, there are four case managers working with MOMobile and around 115 clients, Polan said. The Maternity Care Coalition operates seven other MOMobile sites in Philadelphia, Delaware County and Montgomery County and last year served more than 2,500 women. The National Healthy Start Association, meanwhile, funds 96 programs around the country, including three others aside from the MOMobile Resource Center in Philadelphia.

The people who work at MOMobile – including Polan and Sykes – see it as their job to make pregnancy and child-raising easier for the women of the West Philadelphia community, whether that means providing goods, services or even just a listening ear.

“We’re trying to meet the needs of the people in the community and educate them and let them know that we are here to help,” Sykes said.