By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-823427.mp3
Dallas, TX – Parkland Hospital has cut the number of premature births in half over the past 15 years.
Dr. Kenneth Leveno, at UT Southwestern, says that's remarkable considering the national pre-term birth rate has been rising. And he credits Parkland's success to a "good" public health program.
Leveno: It's a seamless program, administratively and medically. What it means is that women can enroll for pre-natal care at a neighborhood access, community based. And they can move thru a health care program that is organized and has a lot of features directed at the care of those women.
Dr. Leveno says most of those women are minority, and uninsured - the most vulnerable for premature births. The Parkland study appears in the March issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology.