OHA’s Institute for Health Innovation, under a directive of the OHA Board of Trustees and the Board’s Clinical Advisory Committee, developed a multi-faceted set of initiatives to impact change at the hospital level and to support efforts of member hospitals working in their local communities to improve Ohio’s critical infant mortality issue. OHA launched the Good4Baby initiative in April 2014. The key focus areas of the initiative include safe sleep, early elective deliveries, breastfeeding, safe spacing, progesterone, access to care, disparities, tobacco cessation and neonatal abstinence syndrome.
To help align and coordinate Ohio hospitals’ support of safe sleep practices, OHA’s Safe Sleep is Good4Baby campaign positions hospitals’ health care workers and clinical experts as leaders and advocates of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Ohio Department of Health recommendations for safe infant sleep.
As part of OHA's comprehensive and targeted plan to reduce Ohio's infant mortality rate, hospitals are working to reduce Ohio's high rate of early elective deliveries. Scheduled delivery prior to 39 completed weeks gestation, also known as early elective delivery, is defined as scheduled vaginal delivery or cesarean section (C-section) between 37 and 39 completed weeks of gestation.
OHA and the Ohio Department of Health sponsor the Ohio First Steps for Healthy Babies breastfeeding recognition program. The program recognizes maternity hospitals in Ohio that are taking steps to promote, protect and support breastfeeding in their organizations.