Fetal Infant Mortality Review team at Parkland analyzes factors in deaths
Interviews with mothers provide personal perspective
When the most recent Dallas County Community Health Needs Assessment was issued in December, it identified a new top goal – reduction of infant mortality countywide.
That’s because, even though national infant mortality rates have been on the decline for the past several years, Dallas County rates have actually increased and remain high when compared to the state and nation. The assessment found that Dallas County’s infant mortality rate had increased from 6.53 per 1,000 live births in 2012 to 7.43 in 2014. Nationally the infant mortality rate was 5.82, about the same as the state of Texas.
The highest rates of infant deaths in Dallas County are in southern Dallas, Cedar Hill and Grand Prairie.
Determining which factors may contribute to the higher rates of infant mortality and how to turn those numbers around is the focus of Dallas County’s Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) team, based at Parkland Health & Hospital System. It is the task of the FIMR team, one of the components of Parkland’s Healthy Start program, to not only gather data, but also interview women who have lost a child. The ultimate goal is to reduce fetal-infant mortality and to assist grieving mothers in the healing process by offering women an opportunity to share their stories.
The loss of a child before or shortly after birth can have a devastating effect like no other, said Rebekah Mitchell of Irving, whose second child, Jonathan, was stillborn in 1995.
“When you suffer a loss like this, there is such grief and such loneliness that you feel the only ones who can really understand you are women who have gone through this as well,” Mitchell said. “That’s part of the grieving process, to be able to tell your story.”
More than 20 years ago, Mitchell founded M.E.N.D. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death), a non-profit that seeks to provide comfort to women who have suffered the loss of a child. She also serves on the FIMR team, working with other organizations and individuals to learn more about factors that may affect fetal and infant mortality.
“I joined the FIMR team because I hoped my experience could provide a different perspective, and many times my heart is heavy when I hear the stories of these women,” Mitchell said. “But also through my work with M.E.N.D., I feel I can bring the experience of literally thousands of women who have gone through this and perhaps not only reduce infant deaths, but also to develop resources for women dealing with their grief.”
Alexea Collins, BA, CHW, Assistant Program Coordinator for Dallas County’s FIMR, emphasized that while the FIMR team is based at Parkland and several Parkland staff members are involved, it is a countywide effort that includes other hospital systems, organizations and entities. In addition to the FIMR coordinator, Parkland staff on the team includes maternal interviewers, a Community Action Network Coordinator, health educator, mental health counselor, family support nurse and neonatologist.
“There are so many reasons for this high rate of infant mortality,” Collins said. “By talking to mothers who have experienced the loss of a child before or after birth, we can find out more about the factors that may have contributed to that loss.”
By the time records and medical information reach members of the FIMR team, all identifiable information has been removed to protect the women’s privacy. And every month the team, which includes not only medical experts but also community members, reviews the data and discusses how individual, systemic or policy factors may have played a role in the loss of a child.
Their review focuses on issues such as housing, family support systems, education, language barriers, transportation, mental health and access to healthcare.
“This is a multidisciplinary, multi-agency approach to looking at all the issues that may be factors in the loss of a child,” said Karla McCoy, RN, BSN, MS, Community Programs Administrator, Women & Infants Specialty Health at Parkland. “We want to make sure we are doing our part to lower the infant mortality rate in Dallas County.”
Later this spring, the Dallas County’s FIMR team will present a report on its findings, which McCoy hopes will be used by the entire community to address the issue of fetal and infant deaths. The project is supported by a grant from Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
McCoy, who also is a member of the FIMR team, stressed the importance of the personal interviews team members conduct with women.
“We could look at data all day long, but when you have that perspective from the mothers who have gone through this, it makes a big difference in understanding what is going on,” she said.
Mitchell agreed, stating, “FIMR team members learn that these women are not just numbers.”
For more information about services available at Parkland, please visit www.parklandhospital.com. To learn more about M.E.N.D., please visit www.mend.org.
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