UnitedHealthcare Community & State is working with the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) through UnitedHealthcare’s Community Collaborative Partnership Program to address family health needs across the U.S. This program aims to promote sustainable, community-centered solutions to reduce infant mortality and improve maternal and child health outcomes.
Sharon Gutu, MPH, Senior Project Manager for NICHQ’s Community-Centered Hospital Initiative (CCHI) and Respectful Maternal Care Resources for Perinatal Quality Collaboratives, shares her professional goals and career journey thus far.
Jenna Paritee: My name is Jenna Paritee, and I am the Communications Coordinator for the Healthy Start Technical Assistance and Support Center, also known as Healthy Start TASC. Here at Healthy Start TASC, we provide training and technical assistance to support Healthy Start, Healthy Start – Enhanced, and Catalyst grantees in improving their service delivery,…
Community-based maternal and child health initiatives are transforming how we approach care. Yet, across more than a decade of working with states and communities to improve maternal and infant outcomes, one truth continues to surface: physicians are often missing from the table.
Healthy Start is the only federal program focused explicitly on preventing infant mortality. Launched by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, it has worked in communities with infant mortality rates at least 1.5 times the national average, tailoring services to local needs—from mental health support after disasters to prenatal education and postpartum care. Today, 115…
Shalonda Coleman, MSEd., CHES, Lead Community Engagement Coordinator for NICHQ’s Community-Centered Hospital Initiative (CCHI), shares her professional goals and career journey thus far.
Kirsten Klatka, MSW, an associate project director for NICHQ’s Family Engagement and Leadership in Systems of Care (FELSC) and Hemoglobinopathies National Coordinating Center (HNCC), shares her professional goals and career journey thus far.
Isabel Zuckoff, MPH, a project director for NICHQ’s National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (NNPQC) and Maternal Health Action & Resource Center (MHARC), shares her professional inspiration and goals.
Within that tenet, many public health professionals, including me, have championed the importance of bringing “uncommon partners” to the table: the people and organizations that may not first come to mind, but whose perspectives broaden and deepen our discussion. NICHQ and our partner organizations have worked hard to expand these voices and perspectives to ensure…
Full name and title: Karen Chustz, MSW Job Title: Senior Project Director (Supporting Healthy Start Performance Project) Time with NICHQ: 1.5 months (Joined NICHQ October 2024) How has your background led you to join a children’s health organization? My journey to join NICHQ has been influenced not only by my professional training and experience as a macro-focused…