Nov. 30--Where Eloida Reynoso lived in Guatemala, women don't go to the doctor for prenatal care, sometimes not even to give birth, she said.
When she had her first baby three years ago in Chattanooga, the only thing that changed was that she gave birth in the hospital. But by the time her second son, Clemson Reynoso, was born last month, she was a lot more prepared.
"I think my baby is a lot healthier because I took care of myself more," said Mrs. Reynoso, who participated in the Promotores de Salud program of La Paz de Dios.
In 2008, La Paz de Dios, a local Hispanic community advocacy and services agency, received a $200,000 grant funded under the Bureau of TennCare aimed at reducing the number of low-weight births and the infant mortality rate in that community.
One of the goals of the Promotores de Salud program is to include 225 pregnant Hispanic women during three years. As of this month, the program has served 118.
A promotora de salud, or community health worker, and an assistant promotora make home visits, provide interpretive services during prenatal visits and track their medical appointments.
"I think the program has benefited the health of the mothers and the babies," said Sylvia Rangel, a promotora de salud, after a home visit with Mrs. Reynoso to help her with medical correspondence. "We haven't had many babies with low-weight births. Out of 50, only two were born with low-weight birth last year."
The infant mortality rate for Hispanics in Hamilton County was 9.4 per 1,000 births from 2004 to 2007, about a 10 percent decrease from the years of 2000 to 2003, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
For that same period, 8.4 percent of Hispanic births were low weight, a 25 percent decrease from 2000 to 2003, the department's figures show.
"There are many reasons why people don't access health care, (but) with the help of our promotores, we work so that language, culture, fear and/or lack of knowledge of the system will not hinder our clients from getting the care they need," said Stacy Johnson, director of La Paz de Dios.
The majority of the participants are from Guatemala or Mexico, and many speak only Spanish or a Guatemalan dialect.
The importance of prenatal care cannot be stressed enough, said Dr. Daniel Schubert, director of gynecology for the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga, where at least 50 percent of the patients are Hispanic.
"Especially to a community where they may not have had prenatal care in the past, yet had a safe outcome," he said.
Despite surpassing the goal for the first year, Mrs. Rangel said she still faces many challenges in convincing potential participants of the benefits of prenatal care.
"I think through word-of-mouth there's a lot more approval from the community, but there is still a lot more work to be done," she said.
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