Infant Mortality Program

History of the Program

The Infant Mortality Program began in 1986 by the communities of religious women that Sponsor Catholic health care institutions in Michigan. It was formally known as the Michigan Catholic Health Systems - Infant Mortality Project (MCHS-IMP). It was hoped by the founders that the Infant Mortality Program would demonstrate collaboration in addressing a critical health care problem in Detroit, an infant mortality rate that was then receiving national attention because it far exceeded rates of developing countries. The Infant Mortality Program (IMP) provides comprehensive services that reduce the high infant mortality rate among babies being born to women at-risk residing in Detroit and Wayne County. We accomplish this by promoting literacy, greater access to health care and a heightened sensitivity to our constituency. The programs offered by the Infant Mortality Program which help to serve at-risk pregnant women and their families in an effort to produce healthy birth and maternal outcomes. The IMP also focuses on other issues such as illiteracy and lack of parenting skills: Read Write Now, Jubilee Parenting Support Groups and Parent Infant Partner.