Healthy Start celebrates 'soft' opening on Wednesday

  • June 16, 2015
  • /   Mollye Barrows
  • /   training-development
Theresa Chmiel knows moms in Northern Escambia County need more help, especially in the tiny town Century. About 40 percent of the estimated 1,700 people who live there, are at or below the poverty line. Most of those are single moms heading up the household. As executive director of Escambia Healthy Start Coalition, Chmiel hopes to help give many the support they need to raise healthy families when the clinic opens Wednesday. "This is a year in the making and it’s coming to fruition," said Chmiel. "The community has really backed us. I think they're really excited about us coping up there and closing that gap for maternity and pediatric care. " Healthy Start is a nonprofit that provides a variety of services aimed at improving the health of pregnant women and their babies, including education and basic medical care. The coalition also uses data and research to identify a community's needs and improve outcomes. There were three infant deaths out of 288 births in Northern Escambia in 2013, a rate of 10.42 compared to 6.82 in Southern Escambia. "The highest risk population of women and children are in the northern part of the county," said Chmiel. "Accessing quality, consistent care is a huge burden and so often they don't do it. They end up with high infant mortality because they're not taking care of themselves." Chmiel hopes opening the Healthy Start Coalition office and clinic at 511 Church St. in Century will help change that. On Wednesday the doors will open at 10 a.m. when the Escambia Health Department's Mobile Immunization Unit will be there to provide vaccines for infants and children headed to school and daycare. "We couldn't pass up the opportunity to go out there and shake hands and kiss babies," said Chmiel, "but we are still gathering much needed items before we can open on a regular schedule." Items needed include a refrigerator to store vaccines and other medical related supplies, a baby changing table, and a copy/print machine. WIC will provide services at the clinic at least once a month and Dr. Marian Stewart, a pediatrician based out of the neighboring town of Jay, is also opening a satellite office there. "She is really excited," Chmiel said of Stewart. "She is from Jay and glad to be practicing close to home. She also recognized that many of the patients she saw in Jay are coming from Century seven miles away and face transportation issues." Chmiel has also made arrangements through Sacred Heart Health System to rotate residents from Florida State University's pediatric program, through Century once a month. There are no hard dates for when all these services will be provided, but Chmiel says they can nail those down once they have the all equipment they need.
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