About Us

Cradle Kalamazoo’s goal is to reduce infant death and promote respect for families, women and their children. We plan on doing this by:

1. Ensuring health equity of programs, policies, and providers
2. Building a perinatal home visitation network
3. Promoting and educating about infant safe-sleep programs
4. Providing reproductive health education and support

Cradle Kalamazoo would not have been possible without the dedication and support of many individuals and the following organizations

• Aetna Better Health
• Borgess Health
• Bronson Healthcare
• Catholic Charities Diocese of Kalamazoo – Caring Network
• City of Kalamazoo
• Douglass Community Association 
• Eliminating Racism Creating/Celebrating Equity (ERACCE)
• Elizabeth Upjohn Community Healing Center
• Family Health Center
• Gryphon Place
• Interfaith Strategy for Advocacy and Action in the Community (ISAAC)
• Kalamazoo Community Foundation
• Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
• Kalamazoo County Department of Health and Human Services
• Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services
• Kalamazoo Regional Educational Services Agency (KRESA)
• The Links, Inc.
• McLaren Health Plan
• Meridian Health Plan
• Molina Health Plan
• NAACP – Metropolitan Kalamazoo Branch
• Northside Ministerial Alliance
• Planned Parenthood of Michigan
• Priority Health Choice
• Rootead
• Savior’s Home Healthcare
• Seeds for Success
• Twenty Hands
• United Healthcare Community Plan
• United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region
• Western Michigan University Department of Psychology
• Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
• YWCA Kalamazoo

Thank you to our funders! Without them, the work of Cradle Kalamazoo wouldn’t be possible.

• Irving S. Gilmore Foundation
• Kalamazoo Community Foundation
• Kalamazoo County Health Plan
• Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), Health Disparities Reduction and Minority Health Section (HDRMHS)
• Michigan Health Endowment Fund
• United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region

Through continuous data collection and evaluation of key indicators by Cradle Kalamazoo partners, together we strive to identify and assist at risk pregnancies and infants in Kalamazoo County. This information will guide us in updating and evolving programs to better serve our community.

Here is some of the research Cradle Kalamazoo is using to support our work —

Cathy Kothari, PhD with the support of Kalamazoo County Healthy Babies Healthy Start, performed an Infant Mortality Trend Analysis. In this study, Dr. Kothari found:

• In Kalamazoo, babies of color are 4x more likely to die before their first birthday than their white neighbors.
• Babies of color are affected across income. Babies of color from higher income families are twice as likely to die before their first birthday than their lower income white neighbors.
• Although infant mortality is high among all infants of color, the reasons infants die varies based on their family’s income. Many lower-income infants of color are dying from sleep-related causes and higher income infants of color are dying largely due to prematurity.
• The race of the infant affects infant mortality risk more than their family’s socioeconomic status.
• Most infant deaths are preventable. Through specialized interventions, racial disparities in infant death can be reduced and eventually eliminated.

 

Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services and Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine are leading Kalamazoo’s Fetal-Infant Mortality Review (FIMR). FIMR is conducted monthly in order to understand and improve the factors that contribute to infant death in our community.

For more information visit the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services’ FIMR page. 

Cradle Kalamazoo understands that pregnancy and raising children can be difficult. It takes a village to raise a child. Cradle Kalamazoo is coordinating care and services offered by Family Support Programs that are dedicated to providing support services for pregnant/expectant mothers and infants. These programs offer resources for parents and infants both inside and outside the home. Our Family Support Programs are family-focused and work with all members of a family to ensure mothers have a healthy pregnancy and infants have a healthy start in life.

Families who participate in home visiting programs benefit from improved maternal, infant, and child health. Services promote positive parenting techniques, healthy child development, and school readiness. Home Visitors provide referrals to other support services for families in need. Family Support Programs work together to ensure that you are receiving the best services possible and the concerns you identify together are resolved.

For more information or to enroll in a program, please contact 269-888-KIDS (5437) or visit our resources page.

Cradle Kalamazoo believes that health equity is a key component needed by organizations to effectively provide services to pregnant/expectant mothers, infants, and their families. Health equity is the “attainment of the highest level of health for all people.”

Cradle Kalamazoo is striving towards educating community members and creating policies that empower individuals, programs, and institutions to become more culturally competent. Our partners learn about the history and environment that have contributed to the high racial disparities in infant death. They are also encouraged to make changes within their institutions that can facilitate understanding, communication, and access to services for mothers, expectant women, and their families. By bridging the cultural norms of service providers and clients/patients, we as a community will help reduce infant deaths.

For health equity resources, visit our resources page. 

Cradle Kalamazoo is providing the community with Reproductive Health Education to promote spacing between births and healthy planned pregnancies. Unplanned and rapid repeat pregnancies can lead to infant death. Rapid repeat pregnancies can result in babies that are too small and/or born too soon. Through education, families can better plan for their pregnancies. Our approach is to be respectful of everyone’s religious and cultural beliefs, preferences, privacy, and personal circumstances.

To learn more about Reproductive Health Education visit our resources page. 

Cradle Kalamazoo is working to ensure that every baby has a safe sleep environment. Unsafe sleep environments are a leading cause of infant death and are completely preventable. Sleep Safe is a nationally recognized program to help protect your baby from sudden unexpected infant death syndrome (also called SUIDS), suffocation, and other sleeping related dangers.

We recognize the importance of culture and individual preferences for child bearing and child rearing. We also recognize that safe sleep education is an on-going conversation and not a lecture. Cradle Kalamazoo uses innovative ways to communicate with parents, grand parents, caregivers, health care providers, child care providers and everyone helping with caring for a baby.

Safe Sleep Tips:

• Safe Sleep ABCs: babies should sleep Alone, on their Back, and in a Crib.

 

• Always put your baby to sleep on their back on a flat, firm surface, like a crib mattress covered with a tightly fitted sheet.
• Use only the mattress made for your baby’s crib.
• The mattress should fit snugly in the crib so there are no spaces between the mattress and the crib frame.
• The mattress shape should stay firm even when covered with a tightly fitted sheet or mattress cover.
• Keep cribs empty of bumpers, pads, toys, and blankets.

To learn more about Safe Sleep visit our resources page.