Community Health Programs
Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital’s community health programs range from disease prevention and early detection to educational programs that help individuals and families maintain healthy life styles. Saint Joseph Hospital Foundation’s support is essential to these programs.
Mobile Mammography
The Foundation partners with Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Denver Metropolitan Affiliate to offer a mobile mammography program. The program has been a community success increasing access for low-income, uninsured women who receive these needed services. In 2007, more than 2,500 women received screening mammograms for a total of 4,500 since the launch of the program. Through a generous grant from the Safeway Foundation to the Komen Foundation, the mobile mammography van was updated to provide digital mammography.
Baby Bootique
The Baby Bootique encourages expectant parents to seek early prenatal care, participate in pre-natal and parenting education and adopt healthy life-style changes. The program focuses on low-income parents from the Hospital’s two clinics offering obstetrical services, the Seton Women’s Center and the Family Medicine Center. The goal is to encourage healthy behaviors and healthy babies. Participants receive coupons that they can exchange for clothing, diapers, car seats and other necessities. Among babies born to participants in the program, only 6.1 percent of babies were low birth weight (less than 5 pounds, 9 ounces). Among clinic non-participating patients, 10.2 percent of babies were low birth weight. The Colorado average for low birth weight is 9 percent. Low birth weight infants are at greater risk for health problems than their normal birth weight peers.
Baby’s First Ride
Baby’s First Ride program offers families giving birth at Saint Joseph Hospital a free safety seat inspection to ensure that seats are installed correctly. Parents are educated as to correct installation procedures. If defective seats are found (for example, over-used hand-me-down seats), parents are informed immediately. If parents cannot afford to purchase a new seat, one is provided at no cost. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for all children. Independent studies indicate that as many as 70 to 90 percent of all safety seats are installed incorrectly. In 2008, 2900 seats were inspected. Slightly more than 90 percent were found to have problems of varying degrees that would negatively affect the performance of the seat in a crash. Approximately once a year the program manager hears from grateful parents who were involved in a serious automobile crash. The parents credit Baby's First Ride with preventing their child's injury in the crash.
Boot Camp for New Dads
Urging by expectant mothers is often the reason that first-time-expectant fathers sign up for Boot Camp for New Dads, but post workshop surveys indicate that rookie dads are glad they attended. Another indication of the value that new dads perceive in the program is that nearly one-third return as "veterans" after their babies are born to help teach a new class of rookies. The program emphasizes the important role that fathers play in their children’s healthy development, teaches basic child care and child safety techniques and provides a sense of what to expect of newborn babies. Boot Camp is open to all first-time expectant fathers. To serve fathers in the community who most need support, the program partners with a variety of human services agencies, including Catholic Charities,The Conflict Center, Denver and Jefferson County Social Services and Jefferson County Family Court.