The HEALTHY MOMS = HEALTHY BABIES campaign features a HAIKU and SHORT POEM CONTEST (Deadline: May 10th, noon) and a VIRTUAL BABY SHOWER on Amazon.com. First prize is a $100 Macy’s Gift Card.
“LSA wants to honor Moms this Mother’s Day with the HEALTHY MOMS = HEALTHY BABIES HAIKU and SHORT POEM CONTEST,” said Gary Carter, Executive Director of LSA Family Health Service, “to remind us all how special and valuable moms are—and how important it is that they get the care they need to stay healthy. Because healthy moms are more likely to have healthy babies, and healthy lives, too.”
“But right now LSA can’t reach them all in time.” Carter added. “The agency's nurses need help from our neighbors everywhere.” Little Sisters’ home visiting nurses have been bringing skilled care to families in East Harlem for over 50 years.
Little Sisters launched the HEALTHY MOMS = HEALTHY BABIES campaign, contest and virtual baby shower so that all residents of NYC might know that their neighbors—the most vulnerable mothers and newborns— are suffering. New Yorkers are encouraged to honor a mom with a poem, donate to the Virtual Baby Shower, or donate to help moms get the routine but critical care they need.
In addition to the 1st Prize $100 Macy’s Gift Card, prizes include brunch at the Kings’ Carriage House (for 2), and a Spring Bouquet from Kathy Flowers & Gifts.
“Little Sisters strongly believes that the lives of moms and newborns should not be undermined or lost simply because poverty or crisis prevents them from getting proper care,” said Sr. Suzanne Deliee, a home visiting nurse who has been at the core of LSA’s Maternal Outreach and Infant Mortality Program for decades, and also runs breastfeeding and mother’s groups at LSA’s center in El Barrio.
More than half of East Harlem children are born into poverty, making it one of the poorest neighborhoods for children in the entire city. Not coincidentally, infants born in El Barrio/East Harlem bear 8x the risk of dying than do infants born in the Upper East Side, just blocks away. Approximately 11% of newborns suffer from low birth weight in Harlem, and 8.2% of women get late or no prenatal care. East Harlem has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Manhattan, pregnancies that generally bear a higher risk.
LSA Family Health Service’s home visiting nurses have been bringing skilled pre-natal, post-natal and newborn care to El Barrio families for over 50 years, regardless of their ability to pay. With regular care and monitoring, serious and life threatening conditions like pre-eclampsia, thyroid dysfunction, low birth weight, poor nutrition, and gestational diabetes can be caught and treated in time – avoiding needless suffering, delays, chronic health issues, or even loss of life. Last year LSA nurses made 471 post-partum home visits and 247 Infant Mortality Reduction Initiative visits.
Mothers and newborns in neighborhoods like the South Bronx and the Lower East Side also suffer dramatically in comparison to those residing in wealthier NYC neighborhoods.
About LSA Family Health Service (“The Little Sisters”)
Since 1958, Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service, Inc. (LSA), a neighborhood-based, non-profit organization, has been delivering a holistic array of health and human services to East Harlem families with young children to help them thrive over time.
LSA's highly skilled home-visiting staff, including nurses, social workers, community health workers and clinicians, bring care right to families at home as well as at our East Harlem center. Our programs focus on preventing and treating the effects that poverty, instability or chronic crises can have on health, resilience and development – including asthma and high infant mortality.
INTERVIEWS
To arrange an interview with:
Gary S. Carter, LCSW LSA Executive Director
Sr. Suzanne Deliee, LSA Nurse
Please contact Rosemary Siciliano by calling 207.332.9008 (cell)
