SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Healthy Start program, which offers services and resources to families for healthy pregnancies and births, continues to help families during the COVID-19 pandemic but not without some challenges.
“It has been very difficult recently to enroll or to find pregnant women to enroll into the program,” said Amanda Ponton, senior management coordinator for San Antonio Healthy Start.
The program focuses on families living in 12 specific ZIP codes, which were identified based on the infant mortality rate.
“ZIP code 78242, which is in the South Side, District 4, that zip code has an infant mortality rate of 10.5.
So that’s to prevent or reduce SIDS so that the child is sleeping safe and not co-sleeping with a parent,” said Rita Pacheco, a health programs specialist for San Antonio Healthy Start.