Wednesday, April 30, 2003

First Steps program gets award

Southern Regional's volunteer program First Steps recently received the Champions for Immunization award from the Immunize Georgia's Little Guys project for its efforts with Healthy Families of Georgia Prevent Child Abuse Georgia. The IGLG project is a partnership of Georgia Department of Human Resources' Georgia Immunization Project and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. This year marks the first time that the honor has been awarded to a community partnership.

As a part of Healthy Families Georgia Initiative, First Steps has helped the state achieve a 22 percent increase in immunizations for babies and small children. Southern Regional Medical Center's First Steps program is one of 44 First Steps sites in the state of Georgia.

"On behalf of the volunteers, I am pleased to receive this honor," said Tyiska Demery, Southern Regional's First Steps coordinator. "We have all worked extremely hard this year on emphasizing the importance of immunization to our new parents."

In addition to a full-time coordinator, Southern Regional's First Steps program has four volunteers. Created by the Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, its goal is to help new mothers and fathers with basic parenting skills. After training, volunteers provide parent education and refer parents to community agencies. Southern Regional Medical Center is the only hospital in the Southern Crescent that has this program.

For more information or to explore volunteer opportunities with First Steps, call 770-991-8338.