UIL Holdings Corp. Donates $50K For Fair Haven Community Health Care Center Program

The UIL Holdings Corporation Foundation today announced a $50,000 grant to support expansion of the Fair Haven Community Health Center’s midwifery program, enabling more women and their newborns to achieve a healthy start in life while reducing the risks of premature births.

For many years, the Fair Haven Health Center has been the “medical home” for people in New Haven and East Haven communities. FHCHC serves more than 15,000 individual patients a year in over 50,000 patient visits each year.

The donation from the UIL Foundation specifically supports Fair Haven Community Health Center (FHCHC) Birthing Partner Program, which is expanding to 50 Grand Avenue in New Haven. The Center’s nurse midwives deliver between 100 to 150 babies annually at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. FHCHC is the only one of the 15 federal health centers in Connecticut where nurse midwives accompany expecting mothers to the hospital and deliver babies.

“We are proud to make this donation to enable the Center to expand and support more women and families while contributing to better birth outcomes,” said James P. Torgerson, President and CEO of UIL Holdings Corporation.

The interdisciplinary team of certified nurse midwives, physicians, social workers, nutritionists, and outreach workers at FHCHC provide comprehensive family-focused care to expecting mothers. The Center’s prenatal program combines the prenatal check-ups with childbirth education, along with programs targeting the reduction of stress in expectant mothers as well as information on parenting and newborn care. Expecting mothers and their partners often have these health education sessions and a prenatal check-up all in a single visit.

“This gift from UIL Holdings Foundation in support of mothers and babies from the Fair Haven community is unprecedented,” notes FHCHC CEO Dr. Suzanne Lagarde. “This funding will allow us to expand our innovative and highly successful prenatal program to do more for even more mothers and their babies. Our goal is healthy and happy families. This gift will greatly assist us in that effort.”

One in eight babies born in the United States is born prematurely. Early and regular prenatal care can help reduce the risk of premature birth by identifying problems early, according to the March of Dimes.