Programs for Pregnant Women Merge

posted 1/18/24 -- Melissa Carroll is joining LCCAA's Lorain County Pathways HUB (LCPHUB) as the Community Health Worker (CHW) Coordinator. Melissa, also an experienced CHW, had previously operated Head Start's Pregnancy Services program.

In her new role, she will be a mentor, program coordinator and advocate for the HUB’s CHWs serving in area hospitals and social service programs. She will also be working to move other Pregnancy Services functions into other LCCAA and outside social service agency programs.

The LCPHUB is a free program seeking to reduce infant mortality and improve the health of at-risk moms and infants in Lorain County. The LCPHUB is funded by grants from the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, the Center for Disease Control’s CHWs for COVID Response and Resilient Communities Initiative, and Lorain County Public Health.

"This is a very natural integration of two programs that have the same goals,” said LCPHUB Director Nina Brooks. “The women Melissa has been working with will continue to be served by the Pathways HUB and we are thrilled to have her overseeing this great work.”

In Lorain County, 13 out of every 1,000 Black or African American infants die in their first year of life. The rate for white infants is 4.5.

The HUB is a mechanism to fund Community Health Workers (CHWs) whose function is to connect people with services that address the social determinants of health. Social determinants of health include problems such as food insecurity, lack of access to prenatal care and other issues that can lead to health problems, especially for pregnant women.

Currently, five CHWs are serving over 300 women and children, Brooks said.

For more information or to make a referral for yourself or someone else please call 440-553-1711 or email [email protected].