Earlier this year, FLOURISH St. Louis launched its Action Teams to focus on five priority areas: prenatal care, infant health, health communication and navigation, transportation, and behavioral health. The teams have been working diligently to explore the challenges and potential solutions in their areas of focus, developing strategies to educate and mobilize the St. Louis community around reducing infant mortality. In June, each team presented a topline plan for addressing their priority area to the FLOURISH Cabinet.
“The strategies proposed by the Action Teams range from improving a mother’s experience in the doctor’s office to addressing systematic issues by encouraging changes to Missouri state laws,” said Jill Thompson, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Generate Health, the backbone organization for FLOURISH. By addressing every obstacle that can affect prenatal and postpartum care, the action teams plan to create systematic change to benefit moms and babies in St. Louis.”
Already, some of the Action Teams are making strong progress towards their goals:
- In May, the Infant Health Action Team hosted a safe sleep webinar, drawing 90 participants and urging community members to take a pledge to promote safe sleep. The team also compiled a directory of organizations providing portable cribs to help existing programs coordinate and utilize limited resources.
- The Transportation Action Team developed a Riders’ Bill of Rights. The document is being reviewed by Missouri HealthNet and will ensure that expecting and new mothers and their children will be able to access medical care through Medicaid transportation providers more easily and effectively. The Transportation Action Team also recently applied for a BUILD Health Grant. In total, 16 partners alongside FLOURISH St. Louis and Generate Health have come together to be a part of the grant application, hoping to capitalize on the opportunity to improve the health of St. Louis.
“We’re proud of what our Action Teams have accomplished so far, and we know that this is only the beginning,” said Thompson. “The teams are being thoughtful and deliberate in developing their strategies and actions, and we hope that will translate into effective, lasting change in the effort to reduce infant mortality.”
As Action Teams continue to find ways to reduce infant mortality in St. Louis, they need support and ideas from the community. You can share your ideas with FLOURISH St. Louis by contacting us directly or through joining an Action Team.