Infant Mortality Executive Committee Announced to Oversee Plan Implementation
For Immediate Release
August 8, 2014
For More Information:
John Ivanic, City Council, 645-6798
Amanda Wurst,
224-8114
Columbus City
Council President Andrew Ginther announced the creation of an eight-member executive
committee to oversee the implementation of the Greater Columbus Infant
Mortality Task Force’s community plan to reduce infant mortality in Franklin
County by 40 percent and cut the rate of racial disparity in infant deaths in
half by 2020.
“The Greater
Columbus Infant Mortality Task Force’s plan sets ambitious goals that our
entire community will work together to achieve,” said Council President
Ginther. “The creation of the executive committee begins the next phase of our
community’s response to this public health crisis.”
Former Task Force
co-chairs Michael Fiorile, president and CEO of The Dispatch Printing Company,
and Donna James, managing director of Lardon and Associates and chair of the
Center for Healthy Families, will serve on the executive committee. They will
be joined by six additional members of the Task Force, including:
- Steve Allen, MD, CEO of Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Charles Booth, D.Min., pastor at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church
- Yvonne Hunnicutt, executive director, Human Service Chamber
of Franklin County
- Nathan Hurd, parent and founder of BabyWill.org
- Teresa Long, MD, health commissioner, Columbus Public Health
- Anthony Trotman, director, Franklin County Department of Job
and Family Services
Council President Ginther
formed the Greater Columbus Infant Mortality Task Force in November 2013. The
Task Force completed its work on June 25, 2014, with the release of its
comprehensive plan to address the community’s infant mortality rate. The
final report includes a multiyear plan with overarching strategies:
Strategies for implementation during the next year include:
safe sleep, smoking cessation and prevention, systems improvement in prenatal
care, and reproductive health planning. Eight lead agencies are currently
developing resource assessments and work plans to implement these strategies.
Those work plans will be finalized in late September.
About the Greater Columbus Infant Mortality Task Force
In 2013, Columbus City Council President Andrew
Ginther – with the support of Columbus City Councilmember Michelle Mills, Mayor
Michael B. Coleman, and Franklin County Commissioners John O’Grady, Paula
Brooks and Marilyn Brown – charged Columbus Public Health to partner with
Nationwide Children’s Hospital and other stakeholders to establish a Task Force
to address the community’s infant mortality crisis. The Task Force developed
eight recommendations and an implementation plan to reduce the infant mortality
rate in Columbus/Franklin County to the Healthy People 2020 goal of six deaths
per 1,000 live births, and reduce by half the number of infant deaths among our
most vulnerable populations. The
full report and implementation plan are available at gcinfantmortality.org.
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