Context
Project Baby Springfield is committed to making Springfield a community where all are informed and engaged in everyday practices that lead to healthy babies, healthy mothers, and healthy families.
Goals
- Reduce the number of infant deaths and premature births in Springfield.
- Bring education and awareness to mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, and caregivers about healthy pregnancies and safe infant sleep.
- Ensure that all mothers, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, or income level can access excellent pre- and post-natal care.
- Work with all health care and social service entities to provide culturally and linguistically competent services.
The major drivers of infant mortality/poor birth outcomes- in addition to congenital malformations (which are less in our control) are low rates of prenatal care, stress, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, smoking, alcohol/drug use in pregnancy.
Resources
Saturday:
- 10:30am at TechSpring booth - Office Hours with Dr. Andy Balder, Project Baby Springfield
- 8am-11am at TechSpring booth - Office Hours with Jill McCormick, Innovation Manager @ TechSpring Project Baby Springfield
- 8am-1pm, 6-7pm at TechSpring Booth, Jacob Lindeman, Project Advisor and Mentor @TechSpring, Valley Venture Mentors, Worcester Polytechnic Ins.
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11am at TechSpring booth. - Jen Gallant, Director of Operations at Valley Venture Mentors , serves on Massachusetts Perinatal Quality Collaborative and the Perinatal Committee at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Jen would be helpful in sharing her knowledge about regional resources and the ecosystem devoted to perinatal care and eliminating disparities.
- 1pm-2pm at TechSpring Booth, Alice Fiddian-Green
Sunday:
- 8-10am Jacob Lindeman (see above)
Site will be updated with new office hours throughout the weekend.
Solution
Deliver a platform the enables underserved families to be embraced by the community to promote healthy pregnancies and babies.
Inspiration
100 Acts of Intentional Kindness Towards Pregnant Women is an awareness campaign developed in Los Angeles, that helps to build social and reproductive capital for families. With 100 Acts, we are seeking input from the community about what actions friends, families, strangers, and the community at-large can do to support healthy pregnancies.
Criteria
- Solution statement (also, what is the specific problem you are solving)
- Solution addresses the needs of the most vulnerable populations (are the needs in the 100 intentional acts representative of Springfield's needs?, do the people most at risk for infant mortality have access to technology?, what languages do they speak? where do they hang out? what do they do? why would they want to do this? why would they not want to do this?, what cultural and social pressures do they face, what belief and culture structures may be in place, are there privacy and security concerns?)
- Solution supports the community in being able to ensure healthy pregnancy, births and infant wellbeing
- Solution is a multi-person application and user interface to enable community impact
- Solution is actionable and will influence change that is measurable
Prize
- A three month (dates of your choosing) resident membership and workspace at TechSpring's world-class facilities in Springfield, MA to all members of the winning team!
- Opportunity to be a summer technology intern with Project Baby Springfield
- Opportunity to present solution at Tap into TechSpring monthly meeting that includes 60+ healthcare professionals, Springfield community developers and technology innovators
- Opportunity to present solution to Project Baby Springfield Leadership Team
- Team and solution featured in professional video
- Certificate of Acknowledgement