March Of Dimes Organizational Analysis

“You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.” This quote by Bob Marley describes how every parent feels when their child is born (Ringly, 2014). Having a child challenges every inch of your mind, body and soul. It pushes you farther than you ever thought imagined. This is especially true for parents of premature babies or babies born with a birth defect. The non-profit organization March of Dimes’ mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. March of dimes was originally founded by President Franklin Roosevelt under the name The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. In 1938, he founded this organization to establish aid polio patients and

help fund the research by Jonas Salk, MD and Albert Sabin, MD to develop a polio vaccine. These vaccines ended the polio epidemic in the Unites States and in 1958 the organization shifted its focus from polio to preventing birth defects and infant mortality. (March of Dimes, 2015)
The March of Dimes organization has supported research the genetic causes of birth defects, promote newborn screening, and educate not only the public but also medical professionals about the best practices for health pregnancy.

They also helped start the system of regional neonatal intensive care for premature and sick babies and have supported research for surfactant therapy to treat respiratory. Not only is there a March of Dimes chapter in every state, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico but the organization is also reaching out globally to help babies and families worldwide. In 1998, the Global Programs was established and has partnered with 33 developing counties on four continents. They service women and their families across the globe to help improve maternal and child health in their communities. (March of Dimes,

2015)
One of the main missions of March of Dimes is to educate women about proper prenatal care to help prevent premature birth.

According to the CDC, “In 2012, preterm birth affected more than 450,000 babies—that's 1 of every 9 infants born in the United States. Preterm-related causes of death together accounted for 35% of all infant deaths in 2010, more than any other single cause. Preterm birth is also a leading cause of long-term neurological disabilities in children. Preterm birth costs the U.S. health care system more than $26 billion in 2005” (Preterm Birth, 2014). These statistics are alarming, but with the proper prenatal care and education, premature birth rates can be reduced. The student nurse’s health promotion project focused on educating women and their families about proper prenatal care. According to the journal “Prevention of Premature Birth: Do Pediatricians Have a Role?” there are many secondary and tertiary preventions related to premature birth. Some secondary preventions are utilized scoring systems for identifying high-risk factors, bed rest, decreased strenuous physical activity and stress, smoking cessation programs, and nutritional supplementation programs. Tertiary prevention is directed at stopping the progress of labor with tocolytic drugs while enhancing lung maturation with steroids, and to also treat premature rupture of membranes and premature labor with antibiotics. Prenatal education is the primary prevention to help decrease the risk for birth

defects and premature birth (Hall, 2000).
The student nurse’s goals were to educate the community about proper prenatal care. She wanted to come up with a way to educate women and their families in a fun way that encouraged learning. The health promotion project level of prevention is primary because it is educating the public. The student nurse researched the many factors that play a part in birth defects, low birth weight and prematurity. She used these factors as the main focus of her teaching. Some of these factors included nutrition, smoking and alcohol cessation, fetal development, vaccinations, and women’s health. All of the information the student nurse used was from March of Dimes website and pamphlets. There are a lot of websites, pamphlets and educational tools out there to teach women about prenatal care. The student nurse wanted to come up with a way to educated people in a fun way. She came up with a jeopardy style game where a person would pick a point value and coordinating color in that column to determine which question they would have to answer.
The student nurse was able to present her game at a health fair. Many people at the fair enjoyed playing the game and were surprised at the questions they got right and the ones they got wrong. Women who had numerous children and grandchildren who thought they were expects on prenatal care still would get question wrong. They were very interested in the correct answers. People were wanting to answer several questions and came back to the March of Dimes booth to play the game several times. In addition to the physical game that people can play at events and health fairs, the student nurse thought that the game content could also be made available online as a fun game for baby showers. She thought that a baby shower party would be the perfect population to educate women about proper prenatal care.