FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: November 24, 2008
Contact:
Christine Rogers
(919) 828-1819
New Director Joins North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation Board
Grandmother whose premature twin granddaughters died joins effort to reduce infant deaths
(Raleigh, NC) –The North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation announces the election of new board member Rita Robbins. Robbins is a Chapel Hill real estate agent and mother of four grown children. She became passionate about increasing public awareness for premature births after her twin granddaughters, Catherine and Elizabeth, died in September, 2007. "Losing a child is the worst loss," says Robbins. "Losing the girls at 25 weeks was so painful. If I can help reduce premature infant deaths, that's what I hope to do."
North Carolina has the fifth worst infant mortality rate in the nation. Premature births are the number one cause of infant deaths for children under one year of age. Those that survive often suffer from serious physical and mental challenges. Robbins believes the issue needs more attention. "We have a crisis. More work needs to be done to reduce the number of premature births."
This isn't the first time that Robbins has been motivated by personal tragedy. After watching her daughter Jennifer nearly die from anorexia nervosa, she launched a successful $1 million fundraising effort to recruit an eating disorders specialist to North Carolina. In 2003, the N.C. Neurosciences Hospital on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill opened the first comprehensive eating disorders program of its kind in the Southeast.
"We are delighted to have Rita join our board," says Janice Freedman, Executive Director for the North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation. "Her passion and her family's personal experience provide a valuable perspective that supports our agency's commitment to improve the health of women and infants across North Carolina."
For additional information about the North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation, visit www.NCHealthyStart.org.
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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.
