Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. - Omicron Phi Zeta Chapter

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Stork's Nests Deliver for Healthy Babies

Through a unique national program, Storks Nest, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., is working to give babies a healthy head start by ensuring the delivery of vital prenatal care services to more than 28,000 low-income expectant mothers in 175 communities across the nation including Washington, DC each year.

Launched in 1972, the Stork's Nest is a collaborative effort between Zeta Phi Beta, the March of Dimes and local clinics, neighborhood health centers or other health care facilities that serve pregnant women.

Expectant mothers are referred to the Stork's Nest by medical agencies. Members of the sorority and trained volunteers provide services through a planned program to promote prenatal care and also provide incentives to patients who meet certain attendance and participation requirements.

The Stork's Nest Program is designed to promote prenatal care participation and healthy behaviors during pregnancy through two components - incentives and education.

Stork's Nest patients "earn" points toward incentives through a variety of positive, health-promoting activities such as attending prenatal care appointments, participating in prenatal education classes, keeping appointments for well-baby visits. With earned points, patients can redeem them for incentives such as: prenatal vitamins, maternity and baby clothes, diapers, and breast pumps for those opting to breastfeed.

The Stork's Nest prenatal education sessions provide information, educational materials, and a variety of other resources and referrals that help patients take good care of themselves and their babies.

Women who receive prenatal care have healthier babies, are less likely to deliver prematurely, and are less likely to have other serious problems related to pregnancy. But, more importantly, if there is a problem, it can be identified and addressed early on, thereby improving the pregnancy outcome.

March of Dimes statistics tell the critical need to educate minority women about the importance of early prenatal care. Nationally, nearly 89 percent of white women receive early prenatal care compared to nearly 76 and 75 percent of Hispanic and African American women, respectively. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Healthy People 2010 goal is 90 percent.

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority has partnered with DHHS through the Office of Minority Health, to help reach this goal, but it is an up hill climb. In Washington DC alone, the number of African American women who receive early prenatal care is just below 70 percent. To help address this urgent need, Zeta will soon have three established nests in the Metropolitan Washington DC area.

On March 1, 2006, Zeta opened a second Nest in Washington, DC at George Washington University Hospital. In addition to promoting the prenatal care component, the Nest will offer a literacy component to teach mothers-to-be that it is never too early to begin reading to their babies. Each mother will receive a bear and a bear book to encourage her to read early and often to her baby. Omicron Phi Zeta Chapter members will sponsor this Nest, which is expected to reach approximately 200 women each year.

Email comments regarding Omicron Phi Zeta's site to Ronda A Williams