Lowcountry
AHEC has partnered with Palmetto Health Richland Perinatal, the University of South
Carolina (USC) Arnold School of Public Health and Low Country Healthy Start to
plan a “Train-the-Trainer” program to improve the interconception health of Low
Country Healthy Start clients. The interconception period refers to the time
between pregnancies, including, but not limited to, the postpartum period. Palmetto
Health Richland Obstetric Outreach Educator Michelle Flanagan, RNC, BSN, and USC
Arnold School of Public Health doctoral student Kaleea Lewis have been working
with Lowcountry AHEC and Low Country Healthy Start to design modules that would
complement and improve the education already being implemented by Low Country
Healthy Start.
The first
module, Nutrition in Pregnancy and
Postpartum, addresses this important time in a woman’s health and was
presented in February at the Low Country Healthy Start office in
Orangeburg. The 1.5 hour program provided
skills and information to the Healthy Start client navigators to enable them to
instruct clients about improving their health during the time between pregnancies. The importance of a healthy diet and physical
activity to manage weight gain were discussed along with instruction of food
diary use for clients.
This program
is the first in a series of Interconception Education Project programs, which will
seek to ultimately improve the health and care of women during interconception.
Future modules will include Obesity in
Pregnancy and How to Prevent It, and Diseases
Affecting Pregnancy. The first phase of the project will educate Low
Country Healthy Start client navigators, First Steps staff and other
paraprofessionals that provide home visits to women. The client navigators will
then teach the nutrition curriculum to 100 of their 400 clients. This client group
includes women in Allendale, Bamberg, Hampton and Orangeburg counties.