The Every Woman Southeast Initiative was first conceived by Lori Reeves (FL) and Sarah Verbiest (NC) in June 2009 out of a shared interest in creating more opportunities for colleagues throughout the eight Southern states of DHHS Region IV to work together in improving women’s health and birth outcomes. The concept quickly caught the interest of many partners and, with seed money from the March of Dimes the initiative was officially begun in November 2009.
Phase One
The first part of this initiative took place from November 2009 through April 2010. The first step was to develop an online survey to try to collect information about preconception health related activities from across the region. Many different state and regional partners were asked to share the survey link with their members. Over 300 people responded to the survey.
Next, a series of planning calls were held to solicit ideas and input from representatives from all of the eight states. Call participants were asked to promote the online survey as well as to send in information about preconception related activities underway in their organization and/or state. This group also helped plan the agenda and focus for the initiative’s first meeting.
The first in person meeting of Every Women Southeast partners was held on March 2nd, 2010 in Atlanta. The meeting was well attended and progress was made in shaping and framing this movement. To learn more about the meeting, you can review the meeting’s executive summary or the meeting’s full report.
The final product of phase one of this work was the development of the Every Woman Southeast, Region IV Compendium of Preconception Activities and Resources. This compendium provides an overview of preconception and women’s wellness activities in the south. It also includes a summary of the online survey. This compendium is a work in progress and the current version represents a snap shot in time.
Phase Two
We are currently in our second phase of this initiative. We have convened a leadership team, which has been meeting via conference call every other week during the summer. Notes are taken and shared for each meeting with the state team representatives channeling the information back to their colleagues. The team has focused their work and decision-making on efforts that meet the needs expressed by our partners.
Our first activity was to develop the outline and content for this website. Our goal for the website was to allow us to provide a direct service to partners and organizations across our states by sharing resources and ideas. Our website was launched in October 2010. The site is co-sponsored by the March of Dimes and the UNC Center for Maternal and Infant Health.
The initiative also presented two webinars on topics that were expressed by colleagues as being of great interest. The first webinar took place on November 4, 2010 and focused on how to build a strong, multi-agency, interdisciplinary women’s wellness / preconception health council. The second webinar took place in February 2010 and highlighted interconception health projects for high-risk mothers across the region.
Finally, the leadership team has focused on determining the direction in which the region needs to move and the resources needed to help us expand this effort. The group decided to focus the first collective initiative on increasing the number of women who receive a postpartum visit and reducing the number of short birth intervals in our region. For more information about this initiative and the webinars, click on the “initiatives” section of this site.
At this point in time, Every Woman Southeast is actively seeking support from new partners and funders to allow our work to grow and produce measurable, positive outcomes. We are also excited to be partners in convening the 3rd National Summit on Preconception Health and Health Care in Tampa Florida June 12-14, 2011.