Text4Baby Now in Portland
Received this press release from Multnomah County about an interesting health information initiative for new and expectant parents:
Multnomah County announced today that they have become an outreach partner with text4baby–a free mobile information service providing timely health information to pregnant women and new moms from pregnancy through a baby’s first year. As an outreach partner, Multnomah County will share information about the service with clients in programs such as the Early Childhood Services and Women Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program.
Text4baby is a free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health. An educational program of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), text4baby provides pregnant women and new moms with information to help them care for their health and give their babies the best possible start in life. Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY to 511411 (or BEBE in Spanish) will receive free SMS text messages each week, timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth.
The program is meant to pass along critical health information via a commonly utilized technology. The infant mortality rate in the U.S. is one of the highest in the industrialized world. Locally, approximately 6.4 percent of babies are born with a low birth weight, a risk factor for infant mortality.
