{"id":540052,"date":"2010-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-21T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloomingtonhospital.org\/WhatsNew.asp?PageID=WTN001023"},"modified":"2010-04-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-21T04:00:00","slug":"texting-teen-moms-proves-to-be-a-convenient-source-for-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/540052","title":{"rendered":"Texting Teen Moms Proves to be a Convenient Source for Support"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bloomington-based teen parenting group sees benefits of texting new teen moms<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bloomington, Ind. (April 21, 2010) \u2013 Nearly half (47%) of US teens say they can text with their eyes closed. That\u2019s how vital texting has become in their lives.<\/p>\n

This trend sparked the new text4baby campaign, a free health education program from the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition that sends pregnancy tips directly to expectant mothers\u2019 cell phones. The new service will send weekly text messages, timed to the mother\u2019s due date or their baby’s birth date.<\/p>\n

The messages, written by government and nonprofit health experts, deal with nutrition, immunization and birth defect prevention, among other topics. To sign up, mothers-to-be can just text “BABY” to 511411.<\/p>\n

While the national text4baby campaign is new, Bloomington Hospital has already seen the benefits of texting to communicate with new moms.\u00a0 Bloomington Hospital\u2019s Gina Forrest began integrating texting into her Teen Parenting Group in 2008. Forrest sends tips and reminders directly to her teen mom\u2019s cell phones through text messages.<\/p>\n

\u201cI communicate with the mothers through texting because that is the easiest and fastest way to do so. Texting has helped me build a relationship with them. They know that they can text me and I will answer,\u201d says Forrest<\/p>\n

For Natalie Wineinger, one of the teen moms in Forrest\u2019s group, having texting as a communication option has been really beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a teen mom, I don\u2019t really have time to pick up the phone. Texting is much more convenient for me,\u201d says Wineinger.<\/p>\n

Monroe Smart Start Birth to Five Coalition, a local group dedicated to coordinating existing resources to help children in their earliest years, also sees benefits in using texting to communicate with expectant and new moms.\u00a0 Lois Hutter-Pishgahi, director of Monroe Smart Start, is happy to see this new communication method being used nationally and on a local level because of its effectiveness in sharing information about pregnancy and early parenting with young parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe it makes sense to utilize existing services rather reinventing them. We realized that this is a very effective way of sharing information about pregnancy and early parenting,\u201d says Hutter-Pishgahi.<\/p>\n

Because four out of every five teens have a mobile device, Forrest and Hutter-Pishgahi know texting is an effective means of reaching teens like the ones in the Teen Parenting Group.<\/p>\n

Forrest texts the mothers to send them reminders about upcoming appointments or meetings. This keeps them updated and less likely to miss appointments. Members of the Teen Parenting Group agree that texting is a convenient way for them to receive information.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I don\u2019t know the date for my next appointment, I just text Gina and she can look it up for me. It\u2019s as simple as that,\u201d says Wineinger.<\/p>\n

Text messaging represents an enormous yet unused channel for delivering vital health information to those who need it most. Over five billions text messages are sent daily, with texting use higher among women of childbearing age.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime they might have a question, they can just text me. And I can text back quickly with an answer for them,\u201d says Forrest.<\/p>\n

Forrest says she also often sends out simple messages such as \u201cGood Morning!\u201d just to let the mothers know someone out there is thinking about them.
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\n\u201cSometimes I ask Gina things through text message that I don\u2019t feel comfortable discussing them with my mom. I know that she\u2019s there for me and she always has a quick response,\u201d says Wineinger.<\/p>\n

Hutter-Pishgahi says Monroe Smart Start hopes more parents take advantage of the exciting new service.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the beauty of this service is that it pertains to all parents \u2013 class, culture, and income don\u2019t matter \u2013 we can all use more information when it comes to having a healthy pregnancy and caring for an infant,\u201d says Hutter-Pishgahi.<\/p>\n

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About Bloomington Hospital<\/span>
Bloomington Hospital, a Clarian Health Partner, has been innovative in providing quality care to south central Indiana communities for more than a century. Offering a comprehensive continuum of care, Bloomington Hospital is a not-for-profit organization and has a patient base of 413,000 in 10 counties (Brown, Daviess, Greene, Jackson, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen and Washington). Bloomington Hospital currently operates\u00a0two hospital campuses (Bloomington and\u00a0Orange County)\u00a0with regional specialty offerings for Heart and Vascular, Behavioral Health, Cancer, Women and Children, Neurology and Orthopedic services.\u00a0 As a leading hospital in Indiana, Bloomington Hospital enhances health by advancing the art and science of medicine through the use of new technologies, procedures and care.
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Bloomington-based teen parenting group sees benefits of texting new teen moms\u00a0 Bloomington, Ind. (April 21, 2010) \u2013 Nearly half (47%) of US teens say they can text with their eyes closed. That\u2019s how vital texting has become in their lives. This trend sparked the new text4baby campaign, a free health education program from the National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-540052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}