Rochester General Health System
Award-winning Rochester General Hospital Medical Center Expands Services to Hispanic Community
(2008)
Rochester General Hospitalﾒs Clinton Family Health Center will partner with the Perinatal Network of Monroe County (PNMC) to offer expanded OB/GYN services to the local Hispanic community. Officials from Rochester General Hospital, Clinton Family Health Center and the Perinatal Network celebrated the opening of Comienza Sano (Healthy Start) today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the center, located at 309 Upper Falls Blvd.
Comienzo Sano will provide pregnant women with both medical care and social/emotional support services, including birthing preparation. The Center is located less than 100 yards from Clinton Family Health Center, which serves the primarily Hispanic population of Rochesterﾒs northeast neighborhoods. Comienzo Sano will be co-located with the OB/GYN services that have recently been added in a second site in the Tops plaza. Comienzo Sano will provide case management, prenatal education, mental health therapy, and parenting support. Free on-site child care will be available while participants are in Center programs or medical appointments. Services will be available at no charge to women living in the nine zip codes surrounding the city center (the ﾓcrescentﾔ), regardless of where they receive medical care.
The Healthy Start program is designed to improve birth outcomes. Premature birth and low birth weight continue to cause life long health problems for hundreds of babies each year ﾖ problems including cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and lung disease. African American and Latina women are most susceptible to poor birth outcomes. Of the approximately 550 babies born to Hispanic women in Rochester's crescent area each year, the percentage of low birth weight infants has increased from 6% in 2003 to over 9% in 2006. Many of these poor birth outcomes result from pregnancies complicated by medical co-morbidities and behavioral health issues among young women who lack education or appropriate coping skills. The impact is felt throughout the community: if the rate of low birth weight were the same within the nine zip codes surrounding the city center as in the rest of the county, Monroe County would save over $6.5 Million each year in Medicaid costs alone. Ameliorating these conditions requires both social and medical intervention.
Clinton Family Health Center is a Community Health Center operated by Rochester General Hospital. The center sees patients without health insurance utilizing Federal grant monies through the Rochester Primary Care Network and has on-site grant enrollers to assist patients. All care is provided in English and Spanish in a culturally appropriate manner for the area it serves. In 2006 the center was one of only nine national recipients of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services ﾓInnovation in Prevention Award. In 2007 the center was the sole recipient of the Healthcare Association of New York State ﾓCommunity Improvement Award.
The Perinatal Network is a not-for-profit agency funded by the US Dept of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (funder of the Healthy Start program) and the New York State Department of Health. The agency provides health education, outreach, case management, and system support services.
