DC Healthy Start
825 N. Capitol Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002

DC Department of Health

Anticipated Project(s): Develop a Web based Maternal and Child Health  Resources Guide
Prenatal Resources Web team will assist in developing a Website for the Perinatal and Infant Health Bureau (design, layout, and some content--no coding skills or knowledge is required). This interactive Website will assist residents in navigating through and accessing a variety of health and social services and resources for women infant and children. Thus, students on the team are expected to learn about the different maternal and child health services and resources in the District. Students should be available some time between: Mon-Fri. 8:00am- 4:00pm (see expectations for frequency and amount of time needed).

Expectations of Team Members:
Team members are expected to attend and actively participate in ISCOPES’ team meetings, functions, and program events, as well as be committed to the team’s projects and the team process. In addition, each project has particular expectations as listed below:
Accessing DC Healthy Start Prenatal Resources on the Web
1. Interact with program staff to get back ground information about project
2. Conduct two (2) focus groups with community residents to develop needs assessment.
3. Conduct two (2) community site visits to interact with residents to gauge literacy levels that would insure site is user friendly to all residents.
4. Present findings to community group and agency staff.

Past Projects:
The 2008-09 Perinatal Mobile Health Unit DC Healthy Start team developed a policies and procedures operation manual for the Department of Health Community Health Administration Healthy Start Project's Maternity Outreach Mobile (MOM). The project was carried out by researching best practices on how to coordinate medical mobile unit services, assessing the needs of the community served by the mobile unit, the needs of the MOMS employees and community outreach workers, and the resources available to compile the manual. The team provided the completed manual to the mobile unit to help improve the care by Healthy Start, thus indirectly assisting in decreasing health disparities in DC.

The 2008-09 Prenatal Resources Web team assisted in developing a website for the DC Healthy Start Project. In order to identify the needs of community and gather content for the website, the ISCOPES team attended DC Healthy Start Community Consortium Meeting, SIDS training sessions, and the DC-DOH staff meeting, Male Outreach Meetings and visited the Maternity Mobile Outreach Unit. The website was geared towards prospective community members looking for services through DC-Healthy Start, instead of health and family service providers. Website content was checked for appropriate literacy level and cultural competency.

The 2007-08 DC Healthy Start team focused on maternal and child mental health. The team hosted a Pregnant Mothers Workshop. This workshop included a powerpoint presentation focusing on: education on stages of fetal development and awareness of how social/emotional health, actions, stress level, and daily activity affected fetus, an interactive learning experience, and a brief discussion about the women’s thought and feelings regarding mental health during pregnancy.  The team also created a mental health and pregnancy educational brochure. Brochures were created to reach women who were unable to attend the workshop. Moreover, the team assisted with advocacy by conducting research for the development of community assessment tools. The advocacy department at DC Healthy Start used these tools to train community members and track progress.

During the 2006-07 academic year, the DC Healthy Start ISCOPES team addressed two needs identified by the community advisor which included: dental care in pregnant women and increasing awareness of depression among men in the communities. Once these needs were established, the team divided into two smaller groups to work on these areas.

Members of the dental group had the opportunity to actually go on the mobile van visits where team members were able to provide the residents with information on dental care. The residents were very receptive to each group member and showed interest in the information.  The dental team also produced an information flyer and met with a focus group to review and finalize this document. The flyer is to be distributed to community advocates. In addition, new toothbrushes and toothpaste were collected throughout the year at various locations. These supplies were donated to the van so they could be distributed to community members.

The mental health group members developed a fact sheet about depression among men. Information sessions were held at the community center to provide this information and resources to residents of the community. The team introduced the topic to community members by developing an activity where community advocates sculpted “play-doh” according to their views on both the causes and effects of depression. The community advocates actively participated and engaged in a rich dialogue that should inform the next ISCOPES team. 

Site Description
The DC Healthy Start Project is a federally funded program that focuses on the needs of pregnant and postpartum women and parents with infants. The goal of these efforts is to reduce infant mortality in Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the District of Columbia. Special initiatives funded by this project include the Patient Incentive Program, Case Management, Facilitating Services (transportation), and Education and Training. The project also sponsors two Maternity Outreach Mobile (MOM) Units and the H.D. Woodson Senior High School Adolescent Wellness Center.