Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health services available in Jasper County

Quarterly numbers for Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health services (MCAH) for Jasper County were presented to the Jasper County Board of Health during its meeting Thursday. Based out of Marion County, the services aim to promote access to regular preventative health care services for children.

From January to March, services provided include 81 contacts made with parent/guardian-newly Medicaid eligible children. There were 208 initial informs and 419 inform follow up calls made for the newly eligible children.

Two caregiver depression screen were given along with 71 developmental screenings. No hearing screens were administered by seven vision screens were completed. Care coordination was completed 163 times for the county.

For material services, six pregnant women received care throughout the quarter with two prenatal risk assessments, six domestic violence screening, six depression screenings and one psychosocial service given. Nursing education was given to six women and postpartum nursing assessment was completed once.

The program also has fee prenatal vitamins for any expectant others and new baby kits for mom’s participating in the Maternal Health program.

In other business, representatives from the 1st Five program participated in the PCM Mental Health Fair March 7 and also took park in the Jasper County Schools round table discussion.

Along with providing access to preventive health care services, MCAH works to foster age appropriate growth and development by promoting early identification of children’ health concerns and referral for diagnosis and treatment along with assisting families to establish medical and dental homes for their children. It targets low income families-children on Medicaid and those who are uninsured and under-insured and strives to meet family needs and remove barriers to accessing health care by linking families to community based, culturally appropriate services.

For pregnant women, MCAH provides services to improve birth outcomes and maternal and infant health, helps pregnant women establish medical and dental homes and work to improve health care by linking women to community based, culturally appropriate services and supporting their ability to get the services they need. MCAH also recognizes the values of psychological support in promoting healthy pregnancy.

For more information about MCAH for Jasper County, contact Venessa Stalter at vstalter@marionph.org or 641-828-2238.

Public Health Coordinator Kristina Winfield also updated the board on the measles outbreak that has now reached Iowa.

“One of the big issues we have been dealing with is measles,” Winfield said. “There have been two reported cases in the state of Iowa so we have been fielding a lot of questions about that.”

Winfield said the best advice she gives is for people to consult their primary doctor. She said it is all individual on whether a person has records of their immunizations and it can get complicated with different recommendations given based on the year of birth, exposure history among other factors.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com