Hub planned to aid in prevention of infant deaths
Dayton program to coordinate with health workers through grant.
A state grant will provide seed money for the creation of the Dayton Regional Pathways HUB, which will be a program designed to reduce the area’s high rate of infant deaths.
The Pathways Community HUB model is a model already in use in other cities, such as Cleveland and Toledo, and is a model where there’s a central hub connected to a network of agencies that coordinate holistic care.
Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association said in a statement that the Dayton Regional Pathways HUB will coordinate a network of community partners that employ community health workers.
The initial grant is for $463,800 over two years from the Ohio Commission on Minority Health. The hub is not going to be a physical location but a model of care coordination.
The hospital association stated that the initiative serves all at-risk women, but will focus efforts on
African American women due to the disproportionate impact that poor birth outcomes and infant mortality disparities have in that specific target population. Montgomery County’s infant mortality rate was 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 births overall in 2018, though the rate was 10.5 deaths per 1,000 births for black infants.
Community health workers will work with women every day to ensure that the necessary resources and services are in place to support a healthy pregnancy. The funding will also provide support for hiring a HUB director and provide training, technical assistance, data analysis, outreach services, and project management for the HUB network.
“Bringing the certified HUB model to our region has been a community-wide collaboration that will ensure mothers and their babies receive holistic, culturally competent, family-centered care coordination,” Sarah Hackenbracht, president and CEO of the hospital association, stated.