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FEATURED
Prenatal programs in need of support
HUNTINGTON -- For more than 25 years, Right from the Start has been linking West Virginia's pregnant women to a wide array of prenatal services, including financial help, smoking cessation and depression screenings.
Jeannie Clark, director of perinatal programs in West Virginia, said the project is helping fewer women than it used to and is terribly underfunded.
"We haven't had an increase in our care coordination reimbursement rate since the beginning of the program," she said.
The project is part of the perinatal programs office in the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
It helps fund prenatal care for uninsured and underinsured women. Clark said women will see the doctor sooner if they know they have financial help, and physicians want to see them in their first trimester.
More than 50 percent of West Virginia births were paid for by Medicaid in 2003, according to the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
Right from the Start also offers to pay for the prenatal care of any teen whose parent doesn't have adequate insurance.
Clark said Right from the Start can also arrange transportation to appointments for pregnant women, and even reimburse women for gas mileage, bus tickets or cab fare.
Clark said Right from the Start also sends nurses and social workers all over the state for home visits and other services, but those employees often cannot be reimbursed for their gas mileage.
"We really need some financial support for this program," she said.
In 2007, the project provided in-home care coordination for 3,590 women in the state, Clark said. She said more than 300 women participated in other services, like parent education.
More than 20,300 home visits were made through the project in 2007, she said.
More information about Right from the Start is available by calling 800-642-8522 or visiting www.wvdhhr.org/rfts/.
