Viewpoint: I Loved My Job At The St. Joe County Health Department. Here's Why I Resigned.

In 2016, St. I joined the Joseph County Health Department and established the Infant Mortality Screening Program. MRIF's goal is to conduct in-depth studies of fetal and infant mortality to understand how social, economic, public health, educational, environmental, and safety issues relate to the tragedy of fetal and infant loss. MRIF teams use data and interviews with mothers and families to take action to prevent future deaths and improve care and resources for women, babies and families. In seven years, the IFMR team has grown to include more than 40 maternal and child health professionals and 40 organizations involved in recommended community action.

Data on nearly 300 infant and fetal deaths has prompted us to prioritize addressing racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities and achieving birth equity, as recommended by MRIF. Achieving birth equity requires creating optimal birth conditions for all people if we want to combat racial and socioeconomic disparities in the long term. These data prompted SJCDoH to work with the Women's Care Center to deploy community health workers at WCC sites to connect mothers with insurance, prenatal care, and resources; "Give your baby room to breathe" Create a safe sleep campaign; and hold an educational event for healthcare providers on maternal mental health.

During the first six years of my ministry, I sometimes forgot that I was in a government job. While each grant and contract application for the MRIF program requires approval from commissioners and allocation of city funds, it was a seamless process that involved paperwork and answering questions about the projects. Prepared monthly reports for the health worker and made presentations to inform the committee about the activities of the MRIF. After the November 2022 elections, everything changed.

Read more: Insight: Health equity is a goal worth pursuing. But somehow it turned into a four-letter word

In February 2023, five county councilors voted against renewing funds donated by local organizations. Ideas for improving health, pregnancy, childbirth and the first year with pregnant women and new mothers during our community discussions, formerly called health cafes. their babies. Before the vote, Councilwoman Amy Drake said the cafes were controversial and wrongly associated with promoting abortion. In response, I emailed all board members details about the cafes, including the questions we asked participants and the information mothers shared with us. I invited the Board members who voted against the funding to meet with me to discuss the matter, but no one responded.

On February 23, 2023, Drake attended our last coffee at the Women's Care Center. So you probably know that it is not true that cafes promote abortion. However, on June 20, SJCDoH employees said on Facebook that they were quitting because they did not support programs promoting abortion or critical race theory.

Contrary to your Facebook post, my last day at SJCDoH was June 20th because some politicians chose not to use the $7,800 to prioritize their political agenda over evidence-based solutions to care for pregnant women and prevent death and infant mortality. I resigned because it was clear that the Ministry of Health did not give the employees of the Ministry of Health the support we deserve. For example, a department board member reported that the board had concerns about grants with a health equity component. I resigned because the majority of the health committee did not come out in support of me or my colleagues as we faced unwarranted political and social attacks on our work.

40 years ago I went to nursing school to become a labor and delivery nurse. Since then, I have learned that examining the historical causes of child mortality, morbidity, and health inequities, such as addressing capital needs, is difficult and sometimes met with great resistance. While it will be sad to leave the work I love at SJCDoH, I look forward to continuing to support mothers, babies and families in an organization whose leadership values ​​evidence, welcomes discussion of difficult issues and pursues birth justice. just a priority

Sally Dixon St. She was the Maternal and Child Health Initiatives Coordinator for the Joseph County Health Department.

This article originally appeared in the South Bend Tribune: St. Joe County Health Department employee has resigned

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