Price Hill initiative focuses on prenatal, childhood health

Four years ago, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital helped launch a national program to ensure that every child was prepared for kindergarten. From that, Children’s turned to East and Lower Price Hill to look for a holistic approach to that goal and teamed up with Santa Maria Community Services for the Block by Block program.
 
The initiative utilizes residents from the community to help identify and support the most at-risk families in East and Lower Price Hill. A team of 11 Block Captains — mothers who have been successful in other Santa Maria programs — go out and talk with other mothers within five blocks of the two neighborhoods.
 
“They’re looking for ways to support other moms through their pregnancies or with their young kids,” says Chellie McLellan of Santa Maria. “This program is about building a community and finding moms who live in the community who have had the same experiences as other moms.”
 
This year, the goal is to have 15 blocks participating in the program with 15 Block Captains. Block by Block recently received a $40,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which was made possible through a presentation at Children’s.
 
Block Captains take Change Packages on their walks and hand them out to other moms. The packages contain things like children’s books and information about sleep safety for infants. The Block Captains also check to make sure that soon-to-be-moms are attending their regularly scheduled doctors visits and following up with their postpartum and well-child visits.
 
Currently, about 87 percent of the five blocks have received the packages and are implementing the materials in their homes.
 
McLellan says the most important thing about Block by Block is that the program goes out into the neighborhood rather than requiring people to walk through a door in order to utilize its services.
 
“We walk when it’s warm and the weather is nice, but in the winter we host community engagement events,” McLellan says. “We want to do more events this winter and get people more involved.”  
 
Block by Block also puts time and resources into its Block Captains, who receive training from a variety of organizations that helps prepare them for a future in the community health field if they wish.
 
“If the Block Captains are thriving and their families are thriving, it’s a great testament to the program,” McLellan says.