St. Vincent’s HealthCare was established by the Daughters of Charity in 1916 to provide care for those who were sick and underserved. We continue that mission today, spreading excellence in care to the five county region of Northeast Florida through St. Vincent’s Medical Center Southside, St. Vincent’s Medical Center Riverside, St. Catherine Labouré Manor and coming in 2013, a new St. Vincent’s Hospital Clay County.
St. Vincent’s is a not-for-profit, Catholic Health Care system that provides acute, preventive and tertiary medical care in Northeast Florida with special attention for the poor and vulnerable. As a community leader in health care, St. Vincent’s provided more than $56 million in charity care and community benefit last year.
Brighter Beginnings is designed to reduce infant mortality by providing educational programs on healthy pregnancy, healthy births, infant safety and the lifelong benefits of breastfeeding to pregnant women and new mothers in Jacksonville. Our goal is to reach out to young women in areas where access to information and care may be limited.
St. Vincent’s Seton Center for Women and Infants will offer monthly classes especially designed to reach out to expectant women or new mothers, particularly those living in poor neighborhoods such as the New Town Success Zone where access to information and care may be limited.
The Chartrand Grant has enabled St. Vincent’s to extend services already promoted at the Seton Center into the community; providing education and support to the women who need it the most. We have seen that women are eager to benefit from education on basic nutrition, healthy choices, newborn care and safety practices. In fact, all 132 women who have fully participated in Brighter Beginnings have safely delivered healthy full-term babies and more than half have breast fed their little ones. This education has made a difference in their lives and the lives of their infants and young children. St. Vincent’s partnership with the Chartrand Foundation has also made it possible to respond to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Call To Action to better inform young women of the benefits of providing breast milk to their babies.
Since St. Vincent’s began Brighter Beginnings in November 2009, we have provided instruction for 340 class attendees. Every one of these young women has delivered a healthy, full term infant according to self-reports.
In 2011, 58 (43 percent) of the 132 attendees with infants were breastfeeding. By April of 2012, 21(72 percent) of the 29 attendees with infants were breastfeeding.
St. Vincent’s has provided care for the poor in our community for over 95 years.
Duval County has the highest infant mortality rate in the State of Florida. The death rate for African American infants in Jacksonville is almost double that of Caucasians.
St. Vincent’s Seton Center for Women & Infants’ Health is the only hospital program in Jacksonville to offer community outreach at no cost to women who need assistance with learning to breastfeed.
The mission of Brighter Beginnings is to provide knowledge and support to mothers so that they can more fully support the healthy development of their children.
I do not know what I would have done without attending this class. I believe that with continuing this program it will help future mothers in learning how to protect their child and also help prevent SIDS in future generations."
- Single mother
It helps a lot of women with their first experience with child raising and I thank the class for helping me."
- Teen mother
The most important thing is you being healthy as a mother because if you’re healthy, your baby’s healthy."
- Young mother
