![]() And that person don’t care.” Poster for an upcoming event for moms in Pitt County. ![]() “It told me I had to step back or something serious was going to happen to me. “I went through a situation like that with my last baby’s father,” she said. One support group meeting that really struck home for Hopkins was during domestic violence awareness month. “As I go through this program, I learn more and more.” “There were a lot of things I really didn’t know about being a parent, even though I already had one,” Hopkins said. “Like Jasmine’s story… now she has her own place. “The main joy of it is being able to see them move from one level of self-sufficiency to the next,” she said. “When I met her, I cried,” Brown said, wondering if every participant’s story would be so sad. When Brown started working with Healthy Beginnings in the summer of 2016, her first home visit was with Hopkins. I have seen my mother raise four kids… And experiencing all of that helps me work with the women I serve.” Healthy Beginnings staff L to R: Dionne Dockery, Beltina Brown and Kiera Clemmons. Everybody has a story to tell,” she added. ![]() “Just because we got a badge and drive the county car doesn’t mean we don’t have a story to tell. “I know a lot of the barriers that I had to overcome when I was trying to be a teenager but also be a mom at the same time,” Clemmons said. Each woman has two children and both were teenage mothers themselves. Being relatableīeltina Brown and Kiera Clemmons follow up with all of the mothers in the Healthy Beginnings program. Now, she has her own three-bedroom apartment and is enrolled in a career training program. She’s a mother to three little boys, the oldest is almost 5 and the youngest is 4 months old. The county health department runs the program and holds monthly support group meetings with classes on topics such as breastfeeding, safe sleep practices and healthy eating.Īdditionally, two Pitt County program workers (called resource moms) conduct at least six home visits a year and help participants meet their goals.įor example, Hopkins wanted to find housing, get back in school, and live a healthier lifestyle. The Healthy Beginnings program works with moms with multiple children who need additional support through the first two years of their youngest child’s life. Between 20, the five-year average infant mortality rate for African-American babies born throughout North Carolina was 13.0, while in Pitt County, it was 16.8 deaths per 1,000. Mandy Cohen previously has pointed out that this rate puts the black infant mortality rate in the state on par with Mongolia. North Carolina Health and Human Services Sec. But African- American infants were 2.7 times more likely to die than white infants in that first year. In 2016, North Carolina’s infant mortality rate was 7.2 deaths per every 1,000 babies overall, meaning that seven of every 1,000 infants in the state died in their first year of life. I just needed a little more support and help,” Hopkins, 25, said.Ī social worker referred Hopkins to a state-funded program called Healthy Beginnings, which is designed to reduce the infant mortality rate in the African-American community. ![]() “At that time, I was going through some personal things. Two years ago, Jasmine Hopkins was living out of her vehicle with a toddler and a newborn in Pitt County.
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