On Sept 20, the Healthy Start Coalition of Osceola held a full day of events, concluding with a walk in honor of Infant Mortality Awareness Month.
The walk was in remembrance of the 39 infants that had passed away in Osceola County in 2023, which was a jump compared to the previous years.
“We are so grateful to be able to come together to bring awareness.” said Healthy Start Executive Director Kerri Stephen at Kissimmee City Hall during the event.
The Healthy Start Coalition of Osceola County is a non-profit established in 1994 to develop and implement quality systems of care for maternal and child health, as well as allocate the related health care dollars going into the community. Community leaders, health care providers, consumers and residents make up the membership of the coalition. Part of the Sept. 20 event was a nutrition class in partnership with Second Harvest Food bank.
“We learned a lot, even myself,” Stephen said. “Being knowledgeable, reading the nutrition label, and learning about sugar and fiber and its impacts.”
After, at the Hart Memorial Library, they conducted a FIMR combined Community Action Group and Case Review Team committee meeting. At the meeting, they reviewed cases many cases where pregnant women experience an emergency but don’t go to a faculty that’s equipped with the OB services that’ll be able to provide the care they need, resulting in delayed care. One of their plans is to adding information to the proper resources on their website and spreading awareness so that people will know where to go when needed.
“We’ve been discussing a motto of 13 visits starting at 13 weeks of pregnancy which we hope to begin using so that women know when they should be getting prenatal care and how frequently.” Stephen said.
The group also plans to start working with teens who may be interested in volunteering with them and training them to be health ambassadors, as well as opening up the opportunity to have those same teens get involved with their Youth Development Task Force.
At 4 p.m., they ended the day by having an Infant Mortality Awareness walk to remember the 39 infants who passed in Osceola County last year. The walk took place from Hart Memorial Library up Dakin AveNUE to Kissimmee City Hall, where they had a moment of silence accompanied by the heartfelt song “Gone too Soon” by Daughtry.
“You do it one day at a time and one step at a time.” A participant stated.
Healthy Start’s event on Oct. 11 will be a T.E.A.M. Dad graduation, for a group of fathers who have completed the program which entails 12 sessions of 24/7 Dad. Fathers and father-figures with a child three years or younger can receive education, training and support on fatherhood, including help with parenting and co-parenting, improving child development, building healthy family & community relationships, workforce development & economic stability, and personal development with T.E.A.M. Dad.
