ABSTRACT: Improving Prenatal Care Rates through the March of Dimes Sponsored Stork’s Nest and the Annual Community Wide Stork’s Nest Baby Shower

High rates of preterm births, low birth weight babies, neonatal complications, infant mortality, and decreased prenatal care plague Texas. One West Texas community has many community-level, adverse, maternal-child health risk factors, including those listed above. Research has found that one of the challenges for the medically underserved pregnant population is starting prenatal care during the first trimester. Early prenatal care can improve pregnancy outcome, prevent many of the risk factors that cause poor birth outcomes, and help to identify health complications for both mother and baby. The March of Dimes has developed an incentive program called the “Stork’s Nest” to entice pregnant women and teens to start prenatal care early in exchange for new baby items. In one West Texas community, approximately 1000 pregnant individuals are assisted annually by this program. In order to have enough new baby items for the “Stork’s Nest Store,” students from a local School of Nurse plan and hold the “Annual Stork’s Nest Baby Shower” where the community is invited to donate money or baby items. To date these nursing students have collected over $133,000 in new baby items. This presentation will explain how the program was established, and how any community in the country can set up a similar program.