Healthier Moms and Babies (HMB) honored St. Joseph Community Health Foundation Executive Director Meg Distler with its Founders Award, recognizing her role in co-founding the organization in 1996.  From the beginning, St. Joe Foundation has prioritized supporting the health of pregnant women, infants, and young families. 

Distler, as the Executive Director for the past 27 years, has provided leadership and a personal commitment to numerous strategies addressing maternal and infant health.   During this period, the St. Joe Board of Directors also chose to award and facilitate 60 grants to HMB totaling $985,000 to improve the health of the most vulnerable local moms and babies.

Paige Wilkins, CEO of HMB, announced the Founders Award at their November 7 “Fighting for Firsts” fundraiser and celebrated Meg for her role in founding HMB, an organization born in response to the local infant mortality crisis. Meg facilitated the Allen County 1995 FIMR (Fetal Infant Mortality Review) team to identify preventable causes of local infant deaths: poor prenatal care, low birth weight, and unsafe sleep, calling for action in service of the common good.

In 1996, Distler, as a part of the St. Joseph Medical Center leadership team, secured a state grant to launch a demonstration project. By 1997, it became Healthier Moms and Babies and was positioned under the Fort Wayne Medical Education Program. The Healthy Start model was adopted in 2019, and 501(c)(3) independence was achieved in 2021.

Today, more than 500 families are served by HMB each year through home visits, mobile outreach (including over 600,000 diapers delivered via the 2023 Hopper van), and the Every Birth Network, driving better birth outcomes and preventing dozens of sleep-related deaths.

The Foundation is honored to be part of HMB’s history and extends warm congratulations on this well-deserved recognition of Meg’s lasting impact on Fort Wayne’s mothers, infants, and families.