Click here to download our 2010 Mom's Club meeting schedule.
What is RE: START - Baby Basics?
RE: START - Baby Basics combines prenatal health education with appropriate literacy training and community support for expectant mothers.
How and why was RE: START - Baby Basics created?
The What to Expect Foundation created RE: START - Baby Basics for the purposes of providing quality and effective prenatal health education to women with low health and literacy levels. By having more knowledge about their pregnancies, these women will have fewer emergency room visits, call their physicians less frequently with questions and have healthier full term babies. It also means future mothers will have an increased sense of empowerment, and through continuing education will be equipped to engage their children in literacy for life. Overall, creating educated mothers means a future generation of healthy, more educated children who will have greater opportunities for successful futures, thus breaking the current cycle of hopelessness and poverty.
What is the main source used to teach the RE: START - Baby Basics information?
The book used is called BABY BASICS: Your Month by Month Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. It is written to a third to fifth grade reading level. The book is also available in Spanish and Chinese translations. The book takes into account the special social, economic, cultural, health and literacy needs of women and families.
What are the goals of RE: START - Baby Basics?
- Enhance communication and build effective relationships among participants, health care providers and the social service community.
- Improve the literacy skills of RE: START - Baby Basics participants and teach women and their partners the importance of reading to their children at an early age.
- Achieve healthier pregnancies.
Why is RE: START - Baby Basics needed in our community?
In the State of Tennessee, Hamilton County is ranked second for the highest percentage of low birth weight, which is partially the consequence of poor education and low literacy rates. As a result, many expectant parents do not have the reading, writing and language skills necessary to understand or seek proper prenatal health care. RE: START - Baby Basics represents the first time that literacy educators and service providers will have joined forces to help underserved individuals make better use of health information while also improving literacy abilities.
For more information, please contact Judith Miller at 423.855.4443 or judithmiller@restartchattanooga.org
To make a referral, please use our Baby Basics Referral Form.