SLS 15RS-979 ORIGINAL 2015 Regular Session SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 56 BY SENATOR BROOME LEGIS POWERS/FUNCTIONS. Recognizes April 28, 2015, as Healthy Start Day at the Louisiana Legislature and commends the city of New Orleans, Family Road of Greater Baton Rouge, Crescent City WIC Services of Gretna, and Family Tree Information Education Counseling Center of Lafayette for contributions in improving the health of Louisiana moms and babies. 1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION 2 To recognize Tuesday, April 28, 2015, as "Healthy Start Day" at the Louisiana Legislature 3 and commend the city of New Orleans, Family Road of Greater Baton Rouge, 4 Crescent City WIC Services of Gretna, and Family Tree Information Education 5 Counseling Center of Lafayette for their contributions in improving the health of 6 Louisiana moms and babies. 7 WHEREAS, it is appropriate for the Louisiana Legislature to commend the city of 8 New Orleans, Family Road of Greater Baton Rouge, Crescent City WIC Services of Gretna, 9 and Family Tree Information Education Counseling Center of Lafayette for being awarded 10 a grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services to operate Healthy 11 Start programs in Louisiana; and 12 WHEREAS, the United States Department of Health and Human Services has 13 charged these local agencies receiving the federal grant with the task of improving access 14 to care, promoting quality services, strengthening family resilience, and improving program 15 accountability; and 16 WHEREAS, the goal of the Healthy Start Program is to give pregnant women the 17 resources they need to improve their own health and the health of their babies; and 18 WHEREAS, the Health Resources and Services Administration of the United States Page 1 of 2 SCR NO. 56 SLS 15RS-979 ORIGINAL 1 Department of Health and Human Services, which began funding fifteen Healthy Start 2 Initiatives in 1991, currently has over one hundred five such projects in thirty-nine states, 3 the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico; and 4 WHEREAS, the Healthy Start Program Infant Mortality Reduction initiative is a 5 valuable resource and intervention program made available to eliminate disparities in 6 perinatal health resulting from multiple factors including race, education, income, disability, 7 or living in a rural area and to reduce negative birth outcomes that directly affects the infant 8 mortality rate by providing home visitation, case management, outreach, health education, 9 and depression screening; and 10 WHEREAS, this free program, which is not based upon income, targets 11 African-American women, but services are provided to any eligible member residing in the 12 targeted parishes. 13 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby 14 recognize Tuesday, April 28, 2015, as "Healthy Start Day" at the Louisiana Legislature and 15 does hereby commend the city of New Orleans, Family Road of Greater Baton Rouge, 16 Crescent City WIC Services of Gretna, and Family Tree Information Education Counseling 17 Center of Lafayette for their contributions in improving the health of Louisiana moms and 18 babies. The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot. DIGEST SCR 56 Original 2015 Regular Session Broome Recognizes April 28, 2015, as Healthy Start Day at the Louisiana Legislature and commends the City of New Orleans, Family Road of Greater Baton Rouge, Crescent City WIC Services of Gretna, and Family Tree Information Education Counseling Center of Lafayette for contributions in improving the health of Louisiana moms and babies. Page 2 of 2