Syracuse Healthy Start

What is Healthy Start?

Syracuse Healthy Start promotes healthy pregnancies and healthy babies through community partnerships, community referrals, health education, case management and home visitation. Syracuse Healthy Start began as a collaboration of the Onondaga County Health Department and health and community-based agencies in 1997. Syracuse Healthy Start is now funded through 2009 by the Health Resource Services Administration with the goals of decreasing infant mortality and eliminating disparities in perinatal health. The target population is pregnant and/or parenting families with children under the age of 2 in Syracuse.

Syracuse Healthy Start is built upon five core services: outreach, case management, health education, depression screening and interconceptional care/continuity of care.

The major activities of the project are:

to conduct intensive outreach to minority women and women at high risk, to link them with health and human services
to provide integrated case management to enhance care coordination for identified risks
to increase provider competence in addressing risks faced by families
to empower women with information that they can use to enhance their own perinatal health
to reduce the behavior and medical risks of post-partum women
to increase the availability of timely psychiatric treatment

Syracuse Healthy Start works with community agencies to provide education for women and families on the following topics:

Smoking cessation
Prevention, early identification, testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS
Preterm labor
Back to sleep/safe sleep
Substance abuse prevention
Family planning
Other topics are available upon request

How Can You Get Involved?

The Syracuse Healthy Start Consortium needs you! The Consortium is a group of Healthy Start parents, professionals, community leaders and other concerned people who work together to guide the programs and services that are offered by Syracuse Healthy Start.

Contact Us

Commissioner of Health and Principal Investigator: Cynthia B. Morrow, MD, MPH
Project Director: Kathleen Coughlin, MPA
Obstetrical Advisor: Richard Aubry, MD, MPH
Syracuse Healthy Start Hotline: (315) 435-2000

Syracuse Healthy Start Publications

Syracuse Healthy Start Newsletter Spring 2007

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Safe Sleep & Sound

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Safe Sleep & Sound Brochure text