Crouse Health receives $250K grant to help prevent preterm births

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Central New York Care Collaborative (CNYCC) has awarded Crouse Health a grant of $250,000 to help prevent preterm births.

A baby born before 37 weeks is considered a preterm birth.

The organization will use the funding to develop strategies for hospitals and physicians in CNYCC’s program area to “increase the use of proven effective actions” to prevent preterm birth in Onondaga and several surrounding counties, Crouse Health said in a news release issued Tuesday.

Crouse’s Baker neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) cares for more than 1,000 premature and critically ill infants annually.

The project will begin with a survey of the eight regional birthing hospitals and all providers in the region to gather information on how they currently care for women who may not be able to carry their baby to 37 weeks, the “normal” gestation time.

Based on survey results, Crouse will develop and share educational materials on “best practices” for use by providers.

It’ll upload education materials to a website for discussion at one-on-one meetings, webinars and community forums. As the initiative progresses, Crouse will solicit feedback from participating physicians to determine if project interventions have had an effect on the number of babies born prematurely.

The CNYCC is a “partnership that connects” more than 2,000 healthcare and community-based service providers in six counties across Central New York, according to its website. The counties include Onondaga, Cayuga, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, and Oswego.

The collaborative’s primary goal is to “serve the population by improving the coordination of health-care services, enhancing the quality of performance outcomes, and creating an overall better system of care for patients,” the website says.

Work with Upstate

Crouse will work on the initiative with Upstate Medical University obstetricians and gynecologists (OB/GYNs), Joan Dadey, Crouse’s director of women and infant services, said in the hospital’s news release.

“Crouse and Upstate have had a unique partnership to provide services as the regional perinatal center (RPC). Crouse is the clinical site of the RPC and provides the expertise required by the most acutely sick or at-risk pregnant women and newborns, while Upstate houses the outpatient program,” said Dadey.

Crouse has worked with Upstate Medical’s OB/GYNs on matters pertaining to pregnant patients “for over 40 years,” according to the news release.

The RPC is responsible for support, education, consultation and improvements in the quality of care for pregnant women and their babies in the 18 hospitals that make up the RPC region. It stretches north to St. Lawrence County and south to Broome and Tioga counties.

“This long-time collaboration makes Crouse and Upstate Medical University OB/GYNs highly qualified to begin this new program and, over time, we look forward to reducing the number of preterm births in the region,” Dr. Robert Silverman, chief of Crouse’s department of obstetrics and gynecology, said in the news release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com