Children’s Medical Services Southeast Region VII, which includes Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Ft. Pierce, joined forces with the Sickle Cell Foundation of Palm Beach County to increase awareness of education opportunities and counseling services for parents of newborns found to have the sickle cell trait or sickle cell disease.

Following routine newborn screening tests at Department of Health laboratories, parents of newborns with the sickle cell trait are notified by letter from the Department of Health. With the new partnership, the Southeast CMS office medical director sends parents contact names and other information for the local Sickle Cell Foundation. A flyer from the Sickle Cell Foundation also is included.

This new partnership has resulted in 20 percent of the parents contacting the foundation for information, education and counseling. Prior to this, telephone calls to the Sickle Cell Foundation as a result of newborn screening were minimal. Services are provided to Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties. And other partners in the project include the regional Hematology/Oncology centers at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital (Hollywood Memorial) and Chris Evert Children’s Hospital (Broward General) in Broward County, and St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach.

The expanded Sickle Cell Program is funded through a grant from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of HRSA. It addresses Healthy People 2010 goals to provide early and continuous screening of children with special health care needs, and to identify culturally competent, comprehensive, community-based service systems for children enrolled in CMS Programs and their families.

 

This new partnership has resulted in 20 percent of the parents contacting the foundation for information, education and counseling.