PROGRESSIVE COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS AND FOOD FOR HEALTH PARTNER TO IMPROVE MATERNAL AND INFANT ADVERSE BIRTH OUTCOMES THROUGH FOOD IS MEDICINE
Wisconsin Eagle/10245255

MILWAUKEE, Sept. 14, 2023 ~ On Food is Medicine Day, Progressive Community Health Centers (PCHC) and Milwaukee-based non-profit Food For Health (FFH) have joined forces to reduce the rates of maternal and infant adverse outcomes for high-risk women in Milwaukee's vulnerable communities.

The nearly year-long demonstration project will provide Medically Tailored Meals, nutrition education, and personalized well-being coaching to three quarters of PCHC's prenatal patients who are considered high risk due to diet-related conditions such as type 2 Diabetes, acquired gestational diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and preeclampsia.

Dr. Allison Kos, Chief Medical Officer at PCHC, said that while PCHC provides strong maternity care to Milwaukee's vulnerable communities, healthcare is just one aspect of ensuring healthy pregnancies and births. She added that the partnership with FFH is aimed at addressing structural aspects such as living in food deserts and lack of access to healthy foods.

Kathy Koshgarian, President and CEO of FFH said that the meal plans are tailored specifically to recipients' medical needs by registered dietitians. She added that the made-from-scratch meals are just one aspect of an entire wraparound continuum of care model supported by technologies, biometric screenings, and personalized coach-directed nutrition and lifestyle education. The goal is to help PCHC patients manage or even reverse the negative impact of diet-related diseases and improve the delta for women of color regarding maternal health in Wisconsin.

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Data collected between 2014-2020 indicates that 11 percent of all Milwaukee County births and 16 percent of births to Black women were low birthweight compared to 8 percent statewide. Preterm delivery accounted for almost 50 percent of all infant deaths and 52 percent of Black infant deaths in Milwaukee County during 2016-2018.

Funding for the joint program comes from a federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant directed to the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to administer.

Today marks an important milestone in Progressive Community Health Centers' mission to ensure equitable access to medically tailored food and personalized programming which can improve maternal health outcomes in Milwaukee's vulnerable communities. With support from Food For Health's meal plans tailored specifically for medical needs by registered dietitians as well as other wraparound services such as nutrition education and personalized well-being coaching, this joint effort aims to reduce racial disparities in preterm delivery rates, low birthweight rates, infant mortality rates among other adverse outcomes associated with diet related diseases like obesity or gestational diabetes.

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