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Jacksonville hospitals, agencies working to reduce infant mortality, sudden infant death syndrome

Vaseline

In Duval County’s long battle against stubbornly high infant mortality, 18-month-old Kenneth Gruse is a survivor.

Mother Kimberly Dingler was single at the beginning of her pregnancy, living on her own and afraid of the uncertainty that awaited her.

“This would be my first child,” she said. “It was a scary time for me. I had never changed a diaper or even held a baby.”

Her doctors at UF Health Jacksonville referred her to Brighter Beginnings, a program sponsored by Ascension St. Vincent’s Hospital to help reduce infant mortality in Duval County, which is improving but still above the state average and other metropolitan areas in Florida. Each free three-hour session provided Dingler with a wealth of information on topics such as child care, safe infant sleep skills, prenatal and postpartum education, and prevention of sudden infant death syndrome, or sudden infant death syndrome.

Participants ate lunch while there and often went home with diapers, wipes and formula, which also boosted self-confidence.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, but I knew I needed help and guidance. I was pleasantly surprised,” she said. “It made my first year with my son less stressful. … helped ease my fears.”

Efforts are being made throughout the Community to reduce child mortality

The infant mortality rate in Duval County is 7.2 deaths per 1,000 births, compared to the state average of six deaths per 1,000 births, according to Dr. Sunil Joshi, chief health officer on Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s staff.

For 2019 through 2022, the county’s SIDS rate was 1.0 per 1,000 births, compared to the state rate of 0.3, according to the Florida Department of Health. That translated into 12 of 66 SIDS deaths in Florida in 2022, 14 of 65 deaths in the state in 2021, 14 of 59 deaths in the state in 2020 and nine of 60 deaths in the state in 2020, according to the department. 2019.

While the SIDS rate remains unchanged, Duval’s overall infant mortality rate has improved over the past four years, reaching 9.5 deaths per 1,000 births. The state rate has “remained stable over the same period,” Joshi said.

Brighter Beginnings and other programs help pregnant women and new mothers “make a difference” in saving babies’ lives, said Faye Johnson, CEO of the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition.

“We have seen infant mortality (in the region) fall by 35% since home visiting and education programs started in the first decades,” she said. “However, rates are still influenced by the social determinants of health and policy issues that must be addressed before we can make further progress in Northeast Florida.”

Joshi agreed.

“A combination of factors are at play, including access to obstetric care early in pregnancy, substance abuse, preterm birth, congenital infections and unintended sleep-related deaths,” he said. “The social determinants of health, including inequality in income, housing and health literacy, also play a role. Many younger women do not understand the importance of prenatal care in achieving a successful pregnancy and a healthy baby.”

‘Coordinated effort needed’: Jacksonville’s entrenched health disparities can impact lives

Deegan has made this issue a priority and several years ago the City Council included an infant mortality focus area in their strategic plan, Johnson said.

Joshi attributed the reduced Duval rate to nonprofits that use community health workers to “reach out to prenatal and postpartum women” on topics such as self-care, substance abuse, breastfeeding and appropriate sleeping arrangements for newborns.

The community health workers “are culturally competent and bring appropriate shared life experiences with these families,” he said. “This creates a deeper connection at a grassroots level, allowing moms, dads and families to learn from people they feel comfortable with.”

The city also plans to fund as many as three additional workers for one of the nonprofits, which could reach about 200 at-risk women per year, Joshi said. “This has the potential to have a big impact,” he said.

But the community needs to encourage more pregnant women to get prenatal care, including “appropriate screening tests and medical treatment to keep themselves healthy,” Joshi said. They should also get tested for syphilis, because untreated syphilis is likely to be passed on to the baby. The treatment is “cheap, safe and very effective – penicillin,” he said.

Accidental suffocation is one of the causes of infant mortality

Willie Roberts, Ascension St. Vincent’s Community Outreach-Faith nurse manager, leads Brighter Beginnings, which shows 1,056 people have been served since 2014. With a 35-year career in nursing, she easily sees the gap between what some pregnant women and new mothers think. and their babies need to thrive and the reality of their lives.

As Joshi noted, the so-called social determinants of health, including economic stability, education and housing, play a role, she said. Some women are unemployed and live in cars or in homes where families have to sleep in one bed. They lack prenatal education or parenting skills, she said. The women in her classes ranged in age from 12 to 47.

“They come from everywhere,” Roberts said. “We don’t turn anyone away.”

A major focus of the lessons is safe sleep for babies: sleeping only on their backs at night and taking naps carries the lowest risk of SIDS. According to Joshi, about 20% of all infant deaths in Northeast Florida are due to unintentional sleep-related asphyxiation.

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Brighter Beginnings also encourages women to get prenatal care and helps them navigate the health care system, Roberts said. Other topics include nutrition, breastfeeding, parenting skills and domestic violence.

Roberts is determined that the current community-wide effort will be successful.

“We are all in this together,” Roberts said. “We fight… We don’t give up.”

Success stories like Dingler “keep us going,” she said. “This isn’t just a program, it’s a ministry.”

[email protected], (904) 359-4109

LEARN MORE

A brighter beginning: For more information, contact Willie Roberts at (904) 308-7558 or [email protected].

Coalition for a Healthy Start in Northeast Florida: For more information, call (904) 723-5422 or visit nefhealthystart.org.

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