St. Vincent recognized for infant, maternal health
Officials say the hospital has been recognized by the Indiana Hospital Association (IHA), in partnership with State Health Commissioner Lindsay Weaver, M.D., FACEP, for its commitment across all of its delivering hospitals to infant and maternal health at the fifth annual INspire Hospital of Distinction recognition program.
Southwestern IN towns to receive new Main Street designations
Ascension St. Vincent officials say INspire, funded by the Indiana Department of Health's Safety PIN grant, was developed to implement the delivery of best practice care for Hoosier moms and babies and recognize hospitals for excellence in addressing key drivers of infant and maternal health.
Bud's Rockin' Country Bar & Grill named in nationwide lawsuit
Ascension St. Vincent's Evansville location, alongside the Women and Infants Hospital, earned an INspire Hospital of Distinction recognition based on implementing 'best practices' in key areas, including infant safe sleep, breastfeeding, perinatal substance use, social drivers of health, obstetric hemorrhage and maternal hypertension.
'We are incredibly proud to receive this award from the Indiana Hospital Association,' said Kevin Speer, JD, Senior Vice President, Ascension and Chief Executive Officer, Ascension St. Vincent Indiana. 'As a vital community resource, this hospital further expresses our commitment to the health and well-being of our communities and responding to the needs of individuals. This recognition highlights the dedication and hard work of our entire team in implementing best practices and providing exceptional care to all we serve.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Indianapolis Star
6 days ago
- Indianapolis Star
Lead can present a danger to Hoosiers. Here's how to reduce your exposure
Lead poisoning can affect any Hoosier, but children are most at risk of exposure because there is no safe amount of lead that can enter a child's body. Experts say there are ways to reduce exposure. Michelle Del Rio, professor at Indiana University, is working to prevent low-level chronic lead exposure in children and her work has led her to understand how people can avoid lead. 'Indianapolis has historically been impacted by smelting operations and industry and some vulnerable populations can still be at very high risk of exposure,' Del Rio said. Del Rio is researching how to better categorize non-traditional sources of lead in Indianapolis, especially in high-risk neighborhoods, and says the most effective way to reduce exposure is knowing where the sources are and covering or removing it from the environment. When someone ingests or inhales lead particles, the body confuses them with other minerals, Del Rio said. This can mean lead will follow calcium being sent to bones or zinc to red blood cells and invade important biologic functions in the body. 'In very young children, when lead binds to zinc and goes into red blood cells, it circulates throughout the body and literally passes through the barrier meant to protect the brain from toxicants,' Del Rio said. 'Lead in the brain can be confused with calcium, which can then interfere with normal development of the brain.' Gabe Filippelli, also at IU, has worked on lead issues and exposures for more than two decades and said poisoning in children can inhibit impulse control and show up as behavioral symptoms as a lack of focus and poor language. Getting ahead of those issues by working to reduce exposure is why Filipelli and Del Rio do their work. The good news is that the U.S. has worked to remove lead from a variety of sources including paint and gasoline, Filippelli said. There also are stronger controls on lead emissions from factories and this all leads to national blood-lead levels plummeting. While this is a public health success, there are still pockets of underserved neighborhoods in cities like Indy where Del Rio and Filippelli's work is needed. The main source of lead exposure today, Del Rio said, is through contaminated dust and soil. Household dust is contaminated by unmaintained lead-based paints, typically in homes build before 1978. Soil can be contaminated from exterior paints as well as emissions from different industries — like the American Lead facility in the historic Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood. Contaminated dust and soil sticks to clothing and can settle on a home's floors and furniture. Karla Johnson, administrator of an environmental health department at Marion County Public Health, said children are usually at higher risk because they are crawling on the floor and putting things in their mouths. 'So, a lot of people think about lead in the water, but that's not really the issue,' Johnson said. 'The home is really where the child is going to be exposed more often.' One of the first things Del Rio recommends for people who might be exposed to lead is to clean their home regularly. She said using wet wipes on hard surfaces and mopping hard floors once a week is a good start. Using a HEPA filter to vacuum rugs and carpets can help pick up any contaminated soils tracked in from outside. That cleanliness mentality can also be used to monitor for lead paint. This source of lead is really only a problem when it starts shipping or cracking. Del Rio said this is usually a small area and can be fixed by covering it with lead-encapsulating paint found in most hardware stores. 'If there are big visible chunks of paint, I recommend picking those up with a wet disposable towel first and let the area dry before using that lead-encapsulating paint,' Del Rio said. Lead paint becomes a larger issue during renovations and large projects in the home. If a homeowner is contracting that work out, Johnson with the health department said they need to follow training and licensing requirements. These include practices like using plastic to cover a room or having wet or damp towels outside the area so workers can wipe their feet, she said. If homeowners find lead in the yard, Johnson said it's best to make the soil inaccessible to children so they're not tracking it in. This can mean covering it in a think layer of mulch or gravel. Indiana law currently says that any children ages 1 and 2 need to have a blood-lead level test. Those results are sent to Johnson and her department at Marion Health who will work with families that have lead exposure above certain levels. 'We work with the family to make sure the child is receiving services and provide developmental and nutritional screens to find any vulnerabilities,' Johnson said. While the program typically deals with very young children, Johnson said her department will not turn anyone away. The health department, in partnership with Del Rio at IU and other groups are kicking off the Lead-Free Indy Road Show this year. Residents can bring in household items to be scanned for lead. The group will offer small take home test kits for residents to collect water, soil or dust and also offer blood screening for any children under the age of 12, Del Rio said. The Marion County Public Health Department's Facebook page and other social media accounts will post updates on upcoming locations for the event. IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.


Indianapolis Star
22-07-2025
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana sees first case of the West Nile virus in 2025. What to know and how to stay safe
The Indiana Department of Health announced Tuesday that the state's first case of West Nile virus for 2025 has been reported in a Vanderburgh County resident. Here's what to know about the reported case and how to protect yourself from mosquitoes. There is currently only one reported case of West Nile virus in Indiana, in Vanderburgh County. "The Indiana Department of Health expects to see additional West Nile virus cases as the mosquito season progresses," a news release states. "Taking precautions against mosquito bites can reduce the risk of disease caused by mosquito-borne viruses." In 2024, Indiana had 11 human cases of West Nile virus. Officials don't identify the affected residents due to privacy laws. State Health Commissioner Lindsay Weaver said with the large rainfall and high temperatures in the state, residents should take steps to remove mosquito breeding grounds from their property. Steps to prevent mosquito-borne diseases include: According to the IDOH, most people with West Nile virus will not have symptoms. But some could experience mild flu-like ailments including fever, headache, body aches, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea or a rash. From Courier & Press: Vanderburgh County resident reported as first West Nile case of the year for Indiana "A small number will develop a more severe form of the disease affecting the nervous system, including inflammation in the brain and spinal cord, muscle paralysis, or even death," the news release states. "People older than 60 years and those with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of severe West Nile virus disease.


Indianapolis Star
15-07-2025
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana's infant mortality progress at risk without sustained health funding
As a first-time mom, I took a deep breath of relief at my daughter's 1-year-old birthday party as she dug into a giant chocolate cupcake. A maternal health researcher and anxious new parent, I had lived the past year constantly checking for breath and movement while she slept, and her first birthday signaled an end to the anxiety of monitoring for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. But more than 500 Hoosier mothers a year never get to experience that sigh of relief; their babies don't make it to their first birthday. Although preliminary data suggests a decrease in Hoosier infant mortality, current trends in public health funding endanger this recent progress. The Indiana Department of Health has released provisional infant mortality data, showing infant deaths in Indiana decreasing from 6.6 out of every 1,000 live births in 2023 to 6.3 infant deaths out of every 1,000 live births in 2024. Assuming a birth rate similar to 2023, we can guess that about 16 fewer Hoosier babies died in 2024 than in 2023. Understandably, the dedicated public servants that comprise IDOH celebrated their hard work over the last decades, and especially since the inception of the pandemic, lauding the 'lowest infant mortality rate since the 1900s.' Opinion: Indiana misses out on good ideas by caring more about politics than results We won't know how Indiana ranks nationally until the CDC releases all states' 2024 data, but with a rate still well above the national average of 5.6 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, we can expect that Indiana has not solved the crisis that left us ranked 45th for infant deaths as recently as 2022. And while saving 16 babies should most certainly be promoted as a success of our state and local public health agencies, current public health funding in Indiana will not sustain these gains. When preventing infant deaths, many think of safe sleep practices, timely pediatric care and vaccinations. But, in reality, most infant deaths are due to prenatal influences. Almost 75% of infant deaths result from congenital conditions (like birth defects), conditions of preterm birth, low birth weight and maternal pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia. Some of these are unpreventable, like congenital conditions that disallow a baby from developing the organs needed to sustain life. Many others are preventable through early and consistent prenatal care, quick referral to specialists, and early medical intervention. IDOH and local health departments provide programs to new moms that offer these preventive measures. But the most recent state budget and a series of other legislative actions endanger these programs. Projected shortfalls attributed to economic uncertainty led to the decimation of historic public health funding supported by the Holcomb administration, leaving just $40 million for Indiana's 92 counties, down from $100 million in previous budgets. Opinion: Nurses are drowning while Braun ignores Indiana's health care crisis Add that to the nearly $40 million in federal public health dollars lost from cancellation of COVID-era funding for myriad public health programs, and programs that support healthy pregnancies and healthy babies are in grave danger. And when Hoosier babies do make it past infancy, public health funding clawbacks and policy changes in the last six months won't bolster efforts to Make Indiana Healthy Again. Cuts to programs such as Indiana Immunization Coalition in the midst of a (now-ended) measles outbreak and ongoing COVID threat, policies privileging business growth over environmental regulations that protect lung and heart health, and the elimination of critical reproductive health services across the state leave vulnerable Hoosiers in a state of precarity. To be sure, even one fewer Hoosier infant death should be celebrated. But when that celebration is not backed by sustainable policy, we will soon find ourselves seeking solutions that take years to rebuild. Now that my daughter is an energetic 6-year-old, my worries about SIDS and lethal respiratory viruses have been replaced by new concerns. But regardless of standard parental anxiety, I consider myself lucky to have to tackle these challenges as she grows. For years, Indiana has trended in the right direction for public health. Indiana should support the systems that allow all Hoosier infants to grow into healthy kids and adults.