Safety PIN
Safety PIN – Protecting Indiana’s Newborns Grant program
From 2005 until 2015, Indiana had one of the worst infant mortality rates in the Midwest and the entire country. To combat the trend and help stop preventable infant deaths, Indiana passed the Safety PIN – Protecting Indiana’s Newborns Grant program, IC Section 16-46-14. This legislation allowed non-reverting, state-appropriated funds to be granted to organizations in the efforts to reduce infant mortality.
Throughout the life of the Safety PIN grant, there have been different types of programs utilized including doulas, home visiting programs, tobacco cessation, statewide hospital requirements, safe sleep education, staff education, parent education, etc. Every organization has its own target population and programmatic layout, which could span regionally, multi-county-wide or single county-wide, or only organization-wide depending on the reach and needs of the community.
Request for Application Information
When a request for application is released, it is for a two-year grant period during which the Indiana Department of Health can provide up to 60 percent of a potential four-year grant request. The remaining percentage can be released as a performance award for an additional two-year period. The performance award will be based on a reduction in the IMR in the defined region the grantee identified in their application.
Grantee Award Summaries
- 2022 Safety PIN Grantees
Columbus Regional Hospital Foundation
The Columbus Regional Hospital Foundation and its partners will expand and enhance preconception, prenatal, and postpartum clinical care and services and resources for underserved, uninsured or underinsured women of childbearing age in Bartholomew and Jennings counties to reduce the infant mortality rate in the Southern Region. The program will have a special focus area on prenatal, birth, and postpartum care in the Latino community in Bartholomew County and maternal substance use disorder treatment in both counties.
Region: Bartholomew and Jennings County
Parkview Health Systems
Parkview Health Systems will utilize OB Nurse Navigators and Community Health workers to implement their Home Visiting program in the northeast region specifically in Allen County with special attention to the 46806-zip code. OB Nurse Navigators in the Allen County PPG OB/GYN clinics will screen pregnant patients at their initial visit. They will provide education on a variety of topics, including smoking cessation, folic acid, and the importance of regular prenatal care, and refer clients to community resources and home visiting as needed.
Region: Allen County
St. Joseph County Department of Health
The St. Joseph County Department of Health will have a team of 2 Community Health Workers (CHW) to serve at 4 Women’s Care Center (WCC) locations in the northern region specifically St. Joseph County to increase access to pregnant patients. There will be 3 main partnerships between the St. Joseph County Health Department (SJCDoH) HOPE (Health, Outreach, Promotion, and Education) unit, the SJCDoH HEED (Health Equity, Epidemiology, and Data) unit, and the Women’s Care Center. These staff members will provide insurance navigation, connection to prenatal care, and connection to community resources.
Region: St. Joseph County
Vanderburgh County Health Department
Vanderburgh County Health Department (VCHD) will continue to deliver their Pre to 3 home visiting programs for parents and families starting with pregnancy (first trimester) to the child’s 3rd birthday in the southwest region in Vanderburgh, Gibson, Posey, and Warrick Counties. Services that will be provided include nurse support visits, health care access through referrals, lactation counseling, postpartum screenings, safe sleep classes, car seat checks, and connections to other services. Pre to 3 uses the evidence based GGK curriculum and client access is not limited by typical factors.
Region: Vanderburgh, Gibson, Posey, and Warrick County
Wayne County Health Department
Wayne County Health Department will implement The Life Program. This program will encompass several aspects of programming to develop the most effective resources for individuals afflicted by social determinants of health in Wayne County and Fayette, with expansion plans into Randolph, Rush, Henry, and Union. The Wayne County Health Department plans to provide three client-driven programs to best address infant mortality in the regional area: the Life pregnancy screening program, a home visiting program for assessing and educating clients, and a Fetal Infant Mortality Review and Community Action Team (FIMR/CAT). The Wayne County Health Department will work with each of the County Health Departments within the service area to identify infant mortality records to be reviewed by a committee of service providers in the region to identify gaps in services.
Region: Wayne and Fayette County
Franciscan Health Foundation
Franciscan Health (FH) will adapt its Project Swaddle – which sends Community Paramedics to the homes of expectant and new mothers to provide regular check-ins and clinically based education – to its new Michigan City Prenatal Assistance Program. For this expansion, program participants will receive four to eight visits with Community Paramedics trained to monitor and respond to perinatal needs before and after a baby is born. The Community Paramedics will provide a range of health screenings, including weight and blood pressure checks, pulse oximetry, and fetal Doppler.
Region: La Porte County
Indiana Minority Health Coalition- Cass County
The Indiana Minority Health Coalition (IMHC) will use their Community Doula Services (CDS) to provide doula services to pregnant patients who are at higher risk of infant mortality because of their race, ethnicity, age, or socioeconomic status. The program focuses on serving communities of color in Cass, Howard, and Miami County during the prenatal, birthing, and postpartum continuum to support healthy birth outcomes among program participants. The program will provide advocacy, assistance, and support to program participants through doula services that include home/telehealth visits, education, resources, and referrals. Services that will be provided include early and adequate prenatal care, birthing support and postpartum care, mental health support and tobacco cessation, safe sleep awareness and practices, parent-infant bonding, and breastfeeding.
Region: Cass, Howard, and Miami County.
- 2021 Safety PIN Grantees
Beacon Health System – Memorial Hospital of South Bend
Beacon Health System will expand existing home visiting programs using a Community Health Worker (CHW) model in collaboration with social workers to provide support and education and reduce barriers to care for pregnant participants in four counties (St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall, and LaPorte). Beacon will also collaborate with partners to ensure standardized care across programs and counties, increase capacity, combine outcome data, and improve integration of existing home-based programs at all community touch points for pregnant participants.
Region: Northern
Community Health Network Foundation
The Community Health Network Foundation will use a multi-faceted approach to reduce infant mortality rates in the region by improving patient access and convenience of care. CHNF will deliver an empathetic, patient-centered experience to ensure patients have complete wraparound services. They will also strengthen referral networks to improve referral coordination and incentivize cross-service referral utilization. Community Health Network Foundation will also directly address health disparities impacting infant mortality in all programming.
Region: Central
Franciscan Health Foundation
Franciscan will expand their current home visiting program to address the barriers and needs of the communities served in their regions. Franciscan will provide bilingual, culturally appropriate doula and education services through established partnerships. They will also offer at-home, in-person, or telehealth visits for their home-visiting participants and will improve access to clinical care and mental health services. Franciscan will be expanding its services into more high-need areas of the region with obstetric deserts, including Jasper and Newton counties.
Region: Northwestern and Midwestern
Good Samaritan Hospital
The Grow Up with Good Samaritan Project will target at-risk pregnant and postpartum participants, including those with substance use disorder to reduce infant mortality. Good Samaritan Hospital will screen participants to ensure their needs are better documented and they can provide adequate resources for those needs. They will also add a Perinatal Peer Recovery Specialist to oversee pregnant and postpartum recovery, implement therapeutic groups for substance use, develop a coalition for maternal and child health, and provide Direct On-Scene Education (DOSE) training for first responders and paramedics.
Region: Central Southwestern and Southwestern
Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana
Funding will expand the current Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) programming in Marion, Hendricks, Johnson, Morgan, and Shelby counties. Goodwill will connect participants to early prenatal care, provide education and support for breastfeeding and smoking cessation, and promote safe sleep, immunizations, and developmental screenings. They will aim to improve the self-sufficiency of caregivers and their family members through continued home visiting support. Goodwill continues to target the high-need population living in poverty and those identified by their healthcare providers as being particularly high-risk.
Region: Central
Indiana Hospital Association
IHA will use systemized coding to screen and identify social determinants of health needs for patients across the state. This innovative approach will train healthcare workers to better understand health disparities and prioritize health equity. By targeting health disparities through data analysis, providers will have the ability to act on identified health disparities through local and statewide interventions prior to a crisis.
Region: Statewide
Memorial Hospital - Logansport
Memorial Hospital Logansport will address infant mortality by improving the well-being of caregivers, infants, and children through their home visiting program in Cass, Fulton, Miami, White and Carroll counties. Memorial Hospital Logansport will also utilize current and new partnerships to provide care coordination to ensure patient needs are being met. All existing and new partners will meet on a quarterly basis to share resources and identify gaps in services. Memorial Hospital Logansport will also develop and expand on educational offerings to ensure that pregnant participants or recent parents, families, caregivers, and the community have access to information to reduce infant mortality.
Region: Midwestern
Union Hospital
Union will utilize its established perinatal navigator program to improve support for pregnant and parenting patients by increasing access to necessary treatment in their region. They will expand current services to Vigo, Clay, and Sullivan counties. Union plans to combat rural issues such as lack of transportation, lack of prenatal and maternal care, substance abuse, and poor health outcomes. Union will increase access to family planning services; identity, screen, and assess risk for pregnant and new caregivers; increase substance use disorder and behavioral health treatments through telehealth; increase collaborative support for their population and improve community understanding of recovery pathways.
Region: Central Southwestern
Indiana Minority Health Coalition
The Indiana Minority Health Coalition will use its Community Doula Services (CDS) to provide doula services to pregnant patients who are at higher risk of infant mortality because of their race, ethnicity, age, or socioeconomic status. The program focuses on serving communities of color in St. Joseph County during the prenatal, birthing, and postpartum continuum to support healthy birth outcomes among program participants. Services that will be provided include early and adequate prenatal care, birthing support and postpartum care, mental health support and tobacco cessation, safe sleep awareness and practices, parent-infant bonding, and breastfeeding.
Region: Northern
- 2021 FIMR Grantees
The following are the Safety PIN-funded Fetal Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) teams:
East Central IN FIMR
Region: Fayette, Henry, Randolph, Rush, Union, and Wayne County
Good Samaritan
Region: Knox County
IU Health Community Health
Region: Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, Orange, and Owen County
Northwest Indiana Health Department Cooperative
Region: Lake County
Parkview Health Systems
Region: Allen County
St. Joseph County Health Department
Region: St. Joseph County
Tippecanoe County Health Department
Region: Clinton and Tippecanoe County
Vanderburgh County Health Department
Region: Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick County
Wayne County Health Department
Region: Wayne, Fayette, Randolph, Rush, Henry, and Union County
- 2019 Safety PIN Grantees
Indiana Hospital Association
IHA will create a recognition program for the successful adoption and implementation of best practices for maternal and infant safety. This recognition program is the Inspire Hospital of Distinction. There are five key areas for recognition including infant safe sleep, breastfeeding, tobacco prevention/cessation, perinatal substance use, and AIM Patient Safety Bundle: Obstetric Hemorrhage. IHA was awarded their bonus award in 2021 to continue their work.
Region: Statewide
Mental Health America of Northwest Indiana
Mental Health America will expand on its original Safety PIN award to create Best Beginnings 2. They will continue their home visiting programs, Parents as Teachers and Empowering Teens as Parents. MHA will expand services to reach more parents and infants. Mental Health America was awarded a bonus award in 2021 to continue their work.
Region: Northwestern
WeCare 2.0
IU WeCare will expand its current program to create IU WeCare 2.0. The expansions include reaching new zip codes, targeting both parents for preventative services, adding more community health workers, and expanding their network of partners. IU WeCare also plans to collaborate with public safety, and first responders to provide Direct On Scene Education (DOSE). IU WeCare was awarded their bonus award in 2021 to continue their work.
Region: Central
