ewnc's blog

Although I am relatively new to the March of Dimes NC Preconception Health Campaign (NCPHC), I have learned through both my work and personal experience that most women need to be encouraged to be their own best advocate when it comes to their health care. Our campaign provides trainings to both health care professionals and consumers on the best practice areas of preconception health–one of them being the importance of non-pregnant women establishing a medical home and having a primary care provider.

Show Your Love is a new national campaign developed by the Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative (PHHCI) in partnership with the March of Dimes North Carolina Preconception Health Campaign (NCPHC), to help women prepare for healthy pregnancies. Launched today, Valentine’s Day, the campaign’s message points out that if a woman chooses to have a child, she can show love for her child by first loving herself by adopting healthy habits well before becoming pregnant.

Nine years ago, former March of Dimes Director of Program Services, Sarah Verbiest, picked up a $3 million check from the North Carolina State Attorney General’s office. This money was awarded to the March of Dimes North Carolina Chapter as a result of a multi-state settlement with several vitamin manufacturers for price-fixing. The purpose of this one-time award to the March of Dimes was to improve the health and nutrition of North Carolinians and it was intended to expand the statewide Folic Acid Campaign. The primary goal of the Campaign was to increase the number of women of childbearing age in North Carolina who routinely take multivitamins prior to pregnancy.

Last month, one of our long-time staff members, Leslie deRosset, MPH, left our Campaign to pursue higher education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Leslie was our Latino Campaign coordinator who worked tirelessly across the state since 2005 to provide folic acid education and other preconception health messages to the Hispanic community in North Carolina.

Leslie is now working toward a PhD at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in the Maternal and Child Health Department with a minor in Epidemiology. She plans to continue to focus on preconception health and life course issues related to Hispanics/Latinos and their birth outcomes. Additionally, she is working as a Trainee for a national reproductive, perinatal, pediatric epidemiology grant. 

This guest blog post was written by our former Triad Regional Coordinator, Stacie Turpin Saunders. Stacie has joined Alamance County Health Department where she serves as the Health Education Supervisor. Her time spent working with us was brief, but exceptional, and we know she’ll be fantastic at her new position. Best of all, she remains a dedicated advocate for and partner with the March of Dimes NC Preconception Health Campaign.