Hearts You Hold is proud to welcome Healthy Start Coalition of Pinellas, FL. This organization was founded 28 years ago. The mission of this Healthy Start Coalition is to promote and support healthy pregnancies, babies and families by providing services and facilitating access to community resources. This organization supports immigrants, migrants and refugees by making sure they have access to medical care, medical insurance or affordable appropriate care, having a culturally competent staff, minimizing barriers, and offering services that include breastfeeding, childbirth, parenting and health education, smoking cessation, nutritional care, access to needed resources, counseling and safe sleep education.
Healthy Start Coalition has 30 home visitors and serves 970 families annually. When Michelle Schaefer, FIMR (Fetal and Infant Mortality Review) Coordinator, was asked about the challenges of her work, she wrote, "providing family basic needs as our state funding is very restrictive." When asked about the impact of her work, she wrote, "having a Healthy Start home visitor work with these families has proven to diminish toxic stress, improve birth outcomes and parenting skills. Many times, we are the only agency that can help. We see hope every time a healthy baby is born."
67% of Healthy Start participants have reduced or quit smoking, 81% of moms have initiated breastfeeding, 100% have received inter-conception counseling and have received referrals to mental health services as needed.