Welcome to the website of the beautiful Blue Grass State of Kentucky! From our strong Appalachian mountains in the East to the abundant lakes in West, there’s more to Kentucky than its striking scenery. We can also boast of strong willed women and men who want to see our next generation grow and thrive. And a robust preconception and interconception experience for Kentucky women will make the best opportunities for our children.
State’s Preconception Health Plan
Our Every Woman Kentucky group developed four initial objectives:
- Re-build funding for the state folic acid program in the Local Health Department system in light of decreased funding from the tobacco settlement money. Search for private sector funding.
- Develop a Task Force to plan strategies for Kentucky to initiate the Family Planning Wavier before the Health Care Reform Mandate in 2014. IN PROGRESS
- Organize a Commonwealth-wide Summit to highlight the importance of Preconceptual and Interconceptual care with special emphasis on Kentucky’s birth defect rates and folic acid therapy.
- Present at the Greater Kentucky march of dimes 8th Annual Prematurity Summit in November 2010 to educate about the Every Woman Southeast – Kentucky Coalition and recruit their assistance. We will “ask to be invited” to participate in the 2011 Prematurity Summit. DONE!
Preconception Health Activity Highlights
- Folic Acid Partnership involves 50 different members across the Commonwealth. Their goal is making the public aware of the importance of folic acid consumption by women before and during pregnancy.
- Local Health Departments provide folic acid/prenatal vitamins to ALL reproductive age women at annual exam and family planning visits (approximately 50% of Kentucky pregnancies are unplanned). 76,000 women in 2009 received vitamins.
- Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait is a collaboration of March of Dimes, Johnson and Johnson Pediatrics and the Kentucky Department for Public Health, Division of Maternal and Child Health to work with patients, families and providers to educate them of the importance of full term pregnancy and avoiding even the ‘late preterm’ (34 to 37 weeks).
- H.A.N.D.S. is a home visitation program for first time parents from the mother’s prenatal care to the child reaching age two. Proven outcomes include less premature babies, less low birth weight babies, and less domestic/child abuse.
- G.I.F.T.S. (Giving Infants and Families Tobacco-Free Starts) boasts a 20% quite rate vs the national average quit rate of 10%. Kentucky has a very high incidence of smoking in pregnancy (one county has 50% of pregnant women smoking during their pregnancy).
- Health Start: Eliminating Racial/Ethnic Disparities establishes interconcerption health education and counseling to improve the birth outcomes of subsequent pregnancies. Multiple Local Health Departments around the Commonwealth have developed this program.
You can contact several Preconception Health Council members including:
Katrina Adams-Thompson, MSW
State Director of Program Services
March of Dimes-Kentucky
Emily Adkins, RN
Folic Acid Coordinator
Division of Women’s Health
Department for Public Health
Emily [dot] Adkins [at] ky [dot] gov
Nasenin Assef, MS
Administrator
Personal & Population Health Services
Louisville Metro Department of Public Health & Wellness
Susan Brown, RN, ICCE, IBCLC, RLC
Statewide Folic Acid Campaign Coordinator
Folic Acid Partnership
Barren River District Health Department