About Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of GA

History - HMHB: The seeds that turned into grass roots.

From 1962, when President John F. Kennedy asked the states to focus on ways to treat and prevent mental retardation, to Georgia's subsequent 1965 initiative that included "A Proposed Plan to Prevent Mental Retardation Through Improved Maternal and Infant Care" by a committee chaired by J.D. Thompson, MD Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Grady Memorial Hospital, Emory University School of Medicine, there were strong efforts around the state to educate Georgians about the issues surrounding maternal and infant health. In fact, this report recommended that the governor appoint a Maternal Health Council to serve in an advisory capacity to establish and maintain standards of perinatal health. However, it would be well into the next decade before this group was established by law.

In 1968, Jewish Women International, led by Charlotte Wilen and the March of Dimes, established Operation Stork: an outreach and educational program for pregnant women at the South Fulton Clinic. Free layettes and maternity clothes were offered as incentives for women who visited that clinic for prenatal care. Soon, these efforts expanded to Grady Hospital's prenatal clinic, and through a consortium of women's organizations ­- including Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, Jewish Women International, Georgia Federation of Women's Clubs, the Service Guild and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority/Epsilon Chapter ­- many other focused educational projects were born; programs that ensured the continued dialogue between the professional and advocate groups. Two doctors were particularly instrumental in making these advocate groups aware of the high costs and consequences of low birth weight and infant mortality on the citizens of Georgia: Dr. Dan Thompson and Dr. W. Newton Long of Grady/Emory.

By 1972, the women's consortium had been formally established as Better Infant Births ­ March of Dimes and there had been a major state-wide conference calling for legislation to create a Maternal Council of Georgia. This legislation, House Bill 1044, was introduced by the late Representative Sidney Marcus, passed by the General Assembly, and signed into law by then Governor Jimmy Carter. Just two years later, its mission was expanded to include the infant, and the body became the Council of Maternal and Infant Health of the State of Georgia.

One of the first actions of the Maternal Council was to call for a state-wideconference/workshop focusing on the quality of life in Georgia. The title of this event was Continuum. The co-sponsors would be the Council and The National Foundation ­ March of Dimes, in cooperation with forty professional, voluntary and governmental agencies.

Continuum Alliance for Human Development was incorporated by the end of 1973, and continued to be led by Charlotte Wilen for many years, aligning with the Council and other advocacy groups to carry out its mission. In the late 1980s, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Organization designated this group as their official affiliate in Georgia, and the Continuum name was officially changed to the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia in 1992. The mission of the organization has never changed.