FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: March 14, 2007
Contact:
Vivian Muzyk
(919) 828-1819
Women Take the Pledge to Become Healthy
N.C. Healthy Start Foundation Offers New Tool to Get Woman Healthy Before Pregnancy
(Raleigh, NC) - The North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation is asking women to take the pledge to set and maintain health goals! From going for a walk to eating right and taking a daily multivitamin with folic acid, the new Mom’s Pledge Cards encourages N.C. women of childbearing age to stay healthy for themselves and for their babies should they become pregnant.
Used in conjunction with the Foundation's Next Step for Women Training, a project supported by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, the new pledge cards aim to increase women's knowledge and practice of healthy behaviors before becoming pregnant and to decrease the likelihood of unplanned pregnancies (currently half of all pregnancies are unintended). The campaign promotes healthy lifestyles among all women, especially Medicaid-eligible women, a segment greatly affected by infant mortality.
The Next Step for Mom"Mom’s Pledge Card" is a lavender, double-sided card divided into three segments.
Top segment is for mom to sign and keep and lists healthy suggestions such as "Be Smoke-Free" and "Keep Stress in Check"
The middle segment asks women to list three things someone could help them do to "take the Next Step"
The bottom section is a receipt and should be returned to the North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation.
"It gives us great pleasure to provide women with tools that reinforce their individual commitment to personal well-being," says Janice Bailiff, Next Step for Mom program coordinator. "We encourage women to share the middle portion of the Pledge Card with someone who will support and/or join them as they strive to keep their pledge."
Agencies can order the free pledge cards in bulk and women can receive a pledge card by contacting project staff at
The N.C. Healthy Start Foundation, a
nonprofit organization established in 1990, conducts
ongoing public education campaigns, advises state and
local policy makers, and provides technical assistance
and professional training focused on reducing infant
death and illness and improving the health of women
and young children in N.C.
