(Tuesday, February 6, 2024) —Bridges to Wellness, a program of Access Tusc, has recently been granted $340,000 by Ohio Commission on Minority Health marking the fifth time this grant has been awarded since January 2020. Bridges to Wellness is a Care Coordination Agency that enrolls pregnant women in the counties of: Belmont, Carroll, Coshocton, Guernsey, Monroe, Muskingum, Tuscarawas, Washington, and adding Harrison and Noble in 2024. Our Community Health Workers (CHW’s) employed through our contracted care coordination agencies will meet with a pregnant individual and assess all needs to improve health and wellness during their pregnancy. Access Tusc now supports 28 CHW’s throughout our region with the goal to combat infant mortality in Ohio. Per the Ohio March of Dimes report in 2020, 865 infants died before reaching their first birthday, an infant mortality rate of 6.7 per 1,000 live births.
Our CHW’s will work with families to ensure they have access to all the services they need including securing health insurance and baby supplies, finding an OBGYN or stable housing, and applying for utility assistance. While answering pregnancy and parenting questions the family might ask. The CHW’s will continue to meet with the family up to a year after delivery to ensure the baby is healthy and well. Our Community Health Workers are dedicated to providing services in one place and will come to a family’s home, listen to their needs, and work with them to create a plan to meet those needs.
“As a previous medical social worker on the maternity floor at a local hospital, I saw the need for more wrap around services for mothers and babies in the communities that we serve. This program allows for a peer like support system as many of our Community Health Workers are mothers themselves and are dedicated to support and elevate their participants in our program.” -Paige Dugan, LSW, Bridges to Wellness HUB Director
Bridges to Wellness originally received funding for this initiative in 2020 and has continued annually to receive this funding stream. At the start of this funding the program was only deployed in five counties, Bridges to Wellness is happy to announce that they are now serving all certified counties.
About Access Tusc
The counties Access Tusc serves are home to a broad network of social service and health organizations. These organizations exist to provide support to the citizens of their respective counties, but sometimes it’s difficult to navigate all of those resources and individuals struggle to find the help they need. Access Tusc was formed for this purpose. Approximately 24 partner organizations united in late 2014 to provide a common resource to our community. As a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, we are passionate about connecting community members with the services they need.
For more information or to learn how to refer a client to Bridges to Wellness, contact us at: (234) 801-8010 or email: coordinator@accesstusc.org.
Media Contact:
Kayla Dyer, Administrative Assistant for Public Relations, and Programming
kayla@accesstusc.org
1-234-801-8010