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McMillen Health app 'Healthy Tomorrow' aims to reduce infant mortality

MCMILLEN HEALTH

McMillen Health’s Healthy Tomorrow app is helping pregnant women and new mothers keep their babies safe, healthy and cared for.

Healthy Tomorrow was developed originally to offer women resources and support for neonatal abstinence syndrome, but has grown to include many problems or questions women may encounter during and after pregnancy.

MCMILLEN HEALTH

Nicole Fairchild is the executive director at McMillen. She and McMillen director of curriculum development, Megan Wilkinson, serve on the Fetal Infant Mortality Review Committee for Allen County.

“We continue to hear about babies losing their lives before their first birthday," Fairchild said. "We have been taking note of educational resources that these women could have used that would have made a difference in changing that outcome.”

Allen County’s infant mortality rate has been consistently higher than the national average over the years. Fairchild said the app could offer those much-needed resources to women who may not know where to get help otherwise.

The app also allows women to get in touch with professionals and chat with other mothers in moderated chat rooms. If a woman is struggling with a specific part of pregnancy or motherhood, the app will help connect her to an expert in that area. It also has resources for professionals to better help their patients.

Fairchild said that, while the app was developed in Allen County, they hope to see it have a wider spread than that. She says they’ve seen downloads in New York, California and even Spain.

Ella Abbott is a multimedia reporter for 89.1 WBOI. She is a strong believer in the ways audio storytelling can engage an audience and create a sensory experience.
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