Sen. Carper Congratulates Delaware Partners on Winning Text4baby State Enrollment Contest

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) congratulated the Delaware partners of Text4baby on winning first place in the Text4baby State Enrollment Contest. The contest encouraged expecting mothers and fathers in each state to sign up for Text4baby, a free text-messaging service that provides prenatal advice and healthy lifestyle tips.

“The Text4baby program is a proven tool that helps accomplish one of my top health care priorities – helping patients get better health outcomes for less money,” said Sen. Carper. “Text4baby works by providing patients with the information they need to have a safe, healthy pregnancy in an inexpensive, easy to use format that is delivered regularly to their cell phone. This simple tool can help ensure healthier pregnancies and reduce health care costs that stem from a lack of access to important information about prenatal health. I congratulate the Delaware partners of Text4baby on this award and commend their work to encourage better health by helping to provide moms and dads with the information they need to have the healthiest pregnancy possible. I encourage expecting parents who have not done so already to look in to utilizing this helpful tool.”

Numerous Delaware health organizations partnered with Text4baby to encourage enrollment, including the University of Delaware Center for Disabilities Studies, Westside Family Healthcare, Delaware’s Head Start Programs, and Delaware Division of Public Health. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware recently awarded a $10,000 grant to the partners to promote Text4Baby.

The contest awarded the top three states with the highest number of enrollees per 100 births between May 20 and October 20. Delaware will be nationally recognized with a press conference for Text4Baby partners in Delaware.

About Text4baby

Text4baby is a free text-messaging service that provides prenatal advice and healthy lifestyle tips to expecting mothers and fathers. The advice is tailored to the woman’s projected due date and tips are sent three times a week in English or Spanish until the baby reaches one year of age.

Comprehensive prenatal health care is critically important in helping to reduce infant mortality rates and in improving the health of mothers and their babies. Unfortunately, many new parents without adequate health insurance or Medicaid cannot afford or easily obtain prenatal care. However, since over 85 percent of Americans own a cell phone and 72 percent use text messaging, Text4baby is an effective way to disseminate critical health information to underserved communities.

Text4baby was launched in 2010 by the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition and partners with over 400 national and state organizations, including the White House Office on Science and Technology Policy, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Johnson & Johnson, and the March of Dimes. Over 200,000 people around the country have signed up for Text4Baby since the program began.

For more information, please visit www.text4baby.org.

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