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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Health officials in a northern Indiana county are seeking the state's help to address a troubling number of babies who never live to see their first birthdays.
St. Joseph County health officials have applied for a state grant to fund a program addressing the county's infant mortality rate, which has risen from 4.2 per 1,000 live births in 2011 to 8.5 in 2014, the South Bend Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/1AvAVT0 ). The statewide rate is 7.7 per 1,000 live births.
Health officials say they are particularly troubled by the rate among black infants, which was nearly four times as high, at 14.5, as that for white infants.
"We're not sure what's happened," said Dr. Dale Deardorff, the county's interim health officer. "Something drastic has happened and we really need to understand it."
The Fetal Infant Mortality Review program would enlist graduate-level nursing students at Indiana University South Bend to gather case data whenever a baby or fetus dies. The program would examine social, economic, cultural, health, safety and systems issues related to the death.
Memorial Hospital and Saint Joseph Health System's Mishawaka Medical Center have each pledged $4,000 to the effort.
Genessa Doolittle, the county health department's epidemiologist and emergency preparedness director, said the county tried to address the problem a few years ago by joining Elkhart County officials in the Michiana Regional Perinatal Collaborative. But she said problems with data from the state prevented the effort from producing results.
"We really hope we are granted this funding," she said. "There are programs that are very beneficial in St. Joe County, but we don't have anyone looking comprehensively at the root causes of infant mortality. Until we know more about root causes, it's going to be very hard to come up with interventions that will be effective."
A decision on the grant should be made by early July, Deardorff said.
"We have to take some steps very soon," he said. "We've got a lot of work to do. This should be a community call to action."
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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com
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