In the Greater Hartford area, as well as in other communities around the country, race and ethnicity correlate highly with disparities found in infant mortality statistics. Infant mortality statistics are solid indicators of a community’s social and economic strength as well as a measure of the health disparities within a community.

Solution
Improving the underlying conditions

Central Area Health Education Center, Inc. has initiated the FIMR program since 1998. FIMR is a process where each record of information on fetal and infant death is reviewed as an individual case in order to identify the factors associated with each death, determine if they represent system problems that require change, develop recommendations for change and assist in the implementation of change.

The FIMR program exists to enhance the health and well being of women, infants and families in the Greater Hartford area.

Success

• Collaborations with a wide range of public, private, and community groups
• Nearly half of all cases in 2007 were reviewed by the Case Review Team and their recommendations were put into action by the Community Action Team. Greater Hartford FIMR was able to implement the recommendations through community based grants.
• Greater Hartford FIMR was awarded a community grant from the March of Dimes to implement a preconception/interconception health education program. The H.O.P.E. (Healthy Options for Pregnancy Empowerment) program includes three interventions:
  • Case Management
  • Educational Support Groups
  • Community Outreach Workshops

Goals for 2008

• Expand collaboration with public, private and community groups in an effort to provide and implement continuous quality improvement of the health care delivery system that impacts women, infants, and families in the Greater Hartford area
• Increase the number of maternal interviews conducted in order to form a comprehensive understanding of all the factors that contribute to mortalities.