The Make Your Date program, launched in May, already is delivering results. Daniella Page, one of the first women to enroll in Make Your Date, delivered her healthy, full-term baby boy Aug. 28. As a participant in the program, Daniella received cervical length screening and group prenatal care. 

She and her baby, Daniel, will be at Mama Palooza on Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. The event, which will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., is sponsored by Make Your Date, the citywide initiative launched by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to help Detroit’s expectant mothers deliver healthy full-term babies and reduce the rate of premature birth.

“We want mothers-to-be in Detroit to know that Make Your Date is here to help ensure their baby has the healthiest start possible in life,” said Sonia Hassan, M.D., associate dean for Maternal, Perinatal and Child Health at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, who leads the Make Your Date program with Detroit Public Health Director Vernice Anthony. “Mama Palooza serves as a day of hope, introducing the city’s women to this groundbreaking program and the vital resources they should all take advantage of through contact with our dedicated civic and health care partners, who are all passionate about lowering the city’s unacceptable pre-term birth rate.”

In Detroit, 18 percent of babies are born prematurely, a rate nearly 6 percent higher than the state average. Studies show that low birth weight accounts for almost 50 percent of the city’s infant mortality rate of 14 deaths in every 1,000 births, twice the national average.

The Make Your Date campaign provides a consistent approach among local health care providers in how they deliver support and care to expectant mothers.

Expectant mothers who sign on to Make Your Date have access to a range of support and evidence-based medical services made available at no additional cost through the Detroit Medical Center, St. John Providence and Henry Ford Health System, including connecting future mothers to prenatal care providers; preterm birth prevention education classes; regular ultrasounds for all pregnant women, which can identify the potential need for progesterone, a treatment that may reduce the risk of preterm birth by 45 percent in women with a short cervix; and group prenatal care for expecting mothers.

To learn more about Make Your Date visit makeyourdate.org or call 313-577-1000.

Photo: Dr. Sonia Hassan speaking during the Make Your Date press conference held on May 15, 2014.