Collaborating With Catholic Partners to Reduce Infant Mortality
The following is an Excerpt from an article in Today’s Catholic by Kevin Kilbane:
Two Catholic-based foundations in Fort Wayne, the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation and the Mary Cross Tippmann Foundation, invest significantly in organizations working to prevent infant mortality.
“We are involved because we want to love the mother and the baby,” said Meg Distler, SJCHF executive director, who said preventing infant mortality is the foundation’s No. 1 priority. Women shouldn’t feel so stressed they choose to abort a pregnancy, she said.
To help pregnant women and mothers get the array of support services they need, the foundation provides funding to a range of social service organizations working to prevent infant mortality. It also helped start the Prenatal & Infant Care Network in Fort Wayne, which has about 260 social service agency staff members on its mailing list. Quarterly network meetings provide an opportunity to learn from experts and to build collaboration among various agencies and their staffs.