On The March For Healthy Babies
Wednesday - March 16, 2011 Share
The March of Dimes Foundation has been working to help Hawaii’s families since 1939. The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.
One Hawaii mom, Shannon, received a March of Dimes pamphlet titled “Signs of Preterm Labor” during a prenatal visit near her home on the Big Island. She considers this pamphlet the reason her baby, Kau’i, is alive today.
“I read the pamphlet, and I realized that what I thought were normal aches and pains of pregnancy were actually signs that I might be in preterm labor,” she says. Shannon contacted her doctor, and within hours she was on an emergency flight to Oahu’s Kapiolani Medical Center.
After an emergency delivery, Kau’i required specialized care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and Shannon once again came into contact with the March of Dimes through our March of Dimes NICU Family Support program.
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Each year in Hawaii, approximately 2,400 babies are born preterm, 1,500 are born with low birth weight and more than 100 die before their first birthday. The March of Dimes is working to reduce and eliminate these statistics through community grants, public and professional health education and our March of Dimes NICU Family Support program.
For more than 40 years Hawaii has helped raise funds to support the March of Dimes through its annual March for Babies. This year’s Oahu March for Babies will be held Saturday, April 23. March for Babies also is held on Kauai, Maui and in Kona and Hilo.
Walkers may sign up at marchforbabies.org or call the Hawaii Chapter office at 973-2155 for more information.
Hawaii charitable organizations may send requests for space in either Proof Positive or the free advertisement below to dchapman@midweek.com.
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