The Lowndes County Board of Health was awarded a grant by Healthcare Georgia Foundation to continue working to improve birth outcomes among the “highest of high risk” African American women in Lowndes County through the Baby LUV (Lowndes Unique Victories) program at Lowndes County Health Department.

“We completed a one year demonstration grant in September,” says Tiffany Crowell, RN, Perinatal Executive Director. “After that, we were given the opportunity by invitation only to apply for the ‘Taking Care of You: Evidence-Based Approaches to Reducing Adverse Birth Outcomes’ grant. We are one of three programs in Georgia that received the grant.”

The Baby LUV program began in 2008 due to a significantly high infant mortality rate in Lowndes County. Due to the success of the program, it has been a model for other programs throughout the state of Georgia. “With this grant, we will be able to expand the program for the purpose of achieving measurable reductions in adverse birth outcomes among high disparity populations,” states Crowell.

The Healthcare Georgia Foundation grant will allow the Baby LUV program to:

• increase the number of the “highest of high risk” African American pregnant women that the program serves in Lowndes County;
• increase collaborative partnerships in the medical community to enhance and expand educational services;
• improve the evaluation process by working with an evaluation team and incorporating a new database system to collect and analyze data; and
• have sufficient staff to effectively provide services to all clients.

With this grant, Healthcare Georgia Foundation announced that the organization had surpassed the $50 million milestone in grants dedicated to improving the health of all Georgians and expanding access to affordable quality healthcare for underserved individuals and communities.

For more information on the Baby LUV program call Lowndes County Health Department at 333-5257 or visit www.southhealthdistrict.com/babyluv.