FIMR Visit

I attended a FIMR meeting last week, and it was terrific. This is a federally funded program designed to decrease infant mortality. The case review team (which I attended) is made up of various maternal child health professionals that review actual cases of infant deaths in areas (by zip code) that have the highest number of infant deaths. The FIMR coordinator conducts an interview with the mother, and gathers medical data from hospitals and doctor's offices. She brings her reports to the meetings and we discuss them case by case. The goal of the group is to provide recommendations to close any gaps in services that may have impact on decreasing future deaths. These recommendations go to the community action team to enact. Most of the cases we heard at last week had a lot of the same sad factors, young moms delivering prematurely. What I found heartening about the whole thing was that someone somewhere was addressing the problems, analyzing the issues, seeking potential solutions. I'd like to continue attending just to keep an ear to the ground.