An effort to combat infant mortality in LaPorte County that began last year will now expand thanks to a new Safety PIN (Protecting Indiana’s Newborns) grant from the Indiana Department of Health.
The grant of $500,000 over two years, which was awarded to the Franciscan Health Foundation, will bring Project Swaddle, which sends community paramedics to the homes of expectant and new mothers for regular check-ins and education, to Franciscan Health Michigan City’s Prenatal Assistance Program
“The maternal and infant mortality rates in Indiana are among the highest in the country. Franciscan Health recognizes the great need for improvement in our communities, and especially in our most vulnerable populations, in lowering these death rates. And we are working tirelessly through our programs, services and direct interventions to save the lives of new moms and their newborn babies,” said Franciscan Health Michigan City President and CEO Dean Mazzoni.
Franciscan Health Community Health Improvement Manager Danielle Crowder said the new grant will complement the existing Prenatal Assistance Program, which launched in 2021 at Franciscan Health Michigan City’s Homer Street campus. The program benefited from a separate Safety PIN grant to a Northern Indiana collaborative led by Franciscan Health partner Beacon Health.
“Franciscan Health’s most recent Safety PIN award will allow Michigan City’s Prenatal Assistance Program to add Community Paramedics to its multidisciplinary team. The addition of community paramedics will increase home-based services for our communities most at-risk pregnant women and infants. Such efforts aim to decrease varied access and social obstacles,” Crowder said.
Project Swaddle provides Paramedic visits to a mother's home, with virtual visits available as a compliment. Paramedics will also check in via phone, and participants can call anytime with questions. Using paramedics for these visits is a cost-effective alternative to nurses at a time when there is a significant national nursing shortage. It also complements Nurse-Family Partnerships’ nurse home visits around LaPorte County, which address a wider array of topics for a more limited population.
The personalized relationships created by Project Swaddle have been shown to help participants stay engaged in monitoring their and their baby's health since the program began in Crawfordsville, Ind., in 2018. Participants are more likely to follow through on medical appointments, keep a safe environment at home and be confident as a parent.
Crowder said the Safety PIN grant comes with an additional $50,000 award from the Indiana Rural Health Association (IRHA). United Healthcare Foundation provided funds to IRHA with the opportunity to project manage community paramedicine efforts across the state and assist organizations that are adopting Project Swaddle.
The Safety PIN grants underline the need for further resources to address medical causes of infant mortality in LaPorte County. The county's infant mortality rate rose to 9.4 per 1,000 live births in 2019, the third highest in the state and highest in the region. LaPorte County has the eighth-lowest rate of prenatal care in the state – only 57.5 percent vs. 68.9 percent for the state – and lowest in the Region.
