With HHS Grant Minnesota Clinic Begins Program To Promote Women’s Health

The Hennepin County, Minn.-based Pilot City Health Center soon will begin a five-year program to foster earlier prenatal care, encourage preventive care for women and reduce domestic violence, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports (Brunswick, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11/28). In October, HHS named the center one of four new National Community Centers for Excellence in Women's Health. HHS will give each center $150,000 per year for the next five years to provide health and social services to women in their communities (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/2). The Pilot City Health Center is located on the north side of Minneapolis, which has some of the "highest poverty rates in the state and some of the greatest health disparities for women," the Star Tribune reports. For instance, 11.7% of teenage mothers in Minneapolis come from the north side neighborhoods. In addition, the neighborhoods have the state's highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases and an 11.1% rate of low birth-weight babies, compared with an overall city rate of 8.1%. The health center plans to use the HHS grant money to create a waiting area with educational materials and a breast-feeding suite; work with the Domestic Abuse Partnership to counter violence against women; develop initiatives aimed at reducing teen pregnancy, STDs, diabetes and heart disease; and encourage good nutrition and exercise (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11/28).