Why Butler County? Why Now?
Births: 4,457
Neonatal Deaths: 32
Postneonatal Deaths: 7
Total infant deaths: 39
Butler County infant mortality rate: 8.8/1,000
Ohio infant mortality rate: 6.8/1,000
Source: 2014 Ohio Department of Health Data
* Rates based on fewer than 20 infant deaths are unstable and not reported
Butler County Efforts To Date:
In 2014, a kick-off fundraising event was held with 250-300 people in attendance. The event was held to raise awareness about infant mortality, the work of the Butler County Partnership to Reduce Infant Mortality, and generate funds to support the work.
A total of $5,000 was raised from individual contributors.
• In March 2015, Approximately 50 staff from other community partners such as Help Me Grow, Head Start, Early Head Start, Early Intervention, OAMI, WIC and Sojourner Recovery Services, were trained to provide the 5A’s smoking cessation program.
• In July 2015, the Butler County Partnership to Reduce Infant Mortality developed a webpage to promote their efforts to reduce infant mortality that included information about smoking cessation and centering pregnancy.
• In July 2015, OEI team placed 25 billboards throughout the county for 3 months, from April through July 2015. The billboards included the Baby and Me Tobacco Free number to call for smoking cessation support. The billboards have generated some referrals to the program.
• In August 2015, 15 clinic staff from the Center for Women’s Health were trained to implement Centering Pregnancy.
• ODH provided $30,000 to the OEI team to provide the Center for Women’s Health Clinic start-up funds to implement Centering Pregnancy.
What Can We Do To Help?
• The Ohio Department of Medicaid is taking a new approach to combating infant mortality across the state.
• Hands-on collaboration and partnerships in the communities that are most at-risk.
• Enlisting the expertise and resources of the five Medicaid managed care plans: Buckeye, CareSource, Molina, Paramount, and United.
• Increased funding focused on infant mortality efforts ($13.4 million annually over two years).
Source: Ohio Department of Medicaid.
Most infant deaths in Ohio in 2014 occurred when babies:
Were born too early.
Were born with a serious birth defect.
Died from sleep-related causes, including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), asphyxia and undetermined causes.
Source: Ohio Department of Medicaid.
STAYING WITH THE STORY
The Journal-News published a 3-part series in January that put a spotlight on the high infant mortality rate in Butler County, especially among black babies, which is among the 10 worst in the country. This news outlet will continue to follow local and state efforts and dialogues aimed at addressing this problem.
Local community and political leaders, along with representatives from the five Medicaid managed care plans, joined Ohio Medicaid Director John McCarthy Thursday afternoon to discuss ways to combat high infant mortality rates in Butler County and across the state.
The Journal-News reported in a three-part series last month that black babies in Butler County are dying before the age of 1 at twice the rate of white babies.
Before McCarthy took to the podium to address the crowded room at the Butler County Educational Center, that had nearly every available seat filled with those who are actively trying to find an answer to the high infant mortality rate, he addressed a few pressing questions.
“There isn’t going to be a one-size fits all solution, and in Ohio we are not seeing as much improvement with infant mortality rates as other states,” he said. “This is just like chasing Bigfoot.That is an interesting analogy, because you really can’t pinpoint one factor that is making the rates high and twice as high for African American babies.”
Once at the podium, McCarthy showed a map that revealed where the highest infant mortality rates are in Ohio. Butler County had two areas that were spotlighted.
“That is why we are here, because two areas in Butler County (a north and east location) were identified, and we want to find out how to lower those rates,” he said.
Ohio Medicaid is proposing to help the state deal with the problem by aiding dialogue with some funding. For this fiscal year, McCarthy said the organization put in its budget $13.4 million to help communities across the state deal with high infant mortality rates.
“What we did was identify women of child bearing age in those zip codes (on the state map) and then identified how many health workers would be needed to serve those women, and we plugged in a salary and health benefits so those workers wouldn’t need to be on Medicaid, and we ran the formula and came up with $13.4 million and put that into our budget for this fiscal year,” he said.
Identifying some existing problems
Getting and keeping the word out in the community about the problem was at the top of the discussion from several health workers as the microphone was passed around during a question -and-answer session.
Prematurity issues, transportation to medical appointments, especially for low-income women, and inadequate resources and personnel used in the lowest socioeconomic areas are problems that need to be addressed.
McCarthy said engaging parents and family about the issue — creating an awareness — is something that needs to happen. He talked about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, saying, “We have raised awareness on this issue, but people don’t talk enough about prematurity.”
Race is an issue
The audience didn’t want to abandon the issue that black babies in Butler County are dying before the age of 1 at twice the rate of white babies, and that statistic is true around the state and across the country.
Some of the health workers said that they found African American women suffered from racism not just from medical providers, but from those who were working in the medical offices as support staff.
“There is disparate treatment,” one worker said.
Faith-based problems
Many in the audience agreed that getting people of faith on board with addressing infant mortality, including pastors and their congregations, will be an important part of solving the problem.
“You need to approach the ministers and faith leaders and have an open discussion about this problem and get them to understand that this problem is not going away and ignoring it won’t help,” one of the health leaders said.
Moving forward
Finding more certified community health workers to get out in the community to help mothers was deemed a priority. In Butler County, Laura Theiss is chair for smoking cessation in the county. Nearly 70 percent of low-income pregnant women smoke. Smoking has been linked to prematurity, birth defects, asthma, SIDS and other health issues, said Jennifer Bailer of the Butler County Health Department.
Drug and alcohol addiction were also cited as issues causing the infant mortality rates to rise.
McCarthy said he would be visiting other high-risk area codes around the state. Ohio Medicaid wants to see a detailed plan on what the leaders in these area codes want to enact to combat the problem. The end result of a well-detailed plan could lead to funding in order to execute it.
Butler County has up to three to four weeks to submit its plan, and McCarthy said that he and his team could be back in town by mid-March.
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