Pinellas Healthy Start

The Healthy Start Program is a maternal and child health program available in all Florida counties. For Pinellas County, it is sponsored by the Healthy Start Coalition of Pinellas. The Pinellas County Health Department (DOH-Pinellas) is the lead agency for services. Healthy Start offers universal screening for all pregnant women at their first prenatal care visit and for infants at their birthing hospital.  The program ensures early preventive care to identify pregnant women and infants at risk for adverse birth, health, and developmental outcomes.

The goal of Healthy Start is to reduce infant mortality, reduce the number of low birth weight babies, and improve health and developmental outcomes in children. There are three Care Coordination Teams located at South, Mid, and North County Health Department Centers. Healthy Start Home Visiting Staff conduct a face-to-face visit and assess your specific needs. Healthy Start Home Visitors provide parenting education, breastfeeding education, childbirth education, tobacco cessation education, Interconceptional education and stress reduction education using the Mothers and Babies Curriculum.

Healthy Start services include: 

• Home visiting
• Information and referral
• Assessment of family needs
• Childbirth, breastfeeding and parenting support and education
• Interconception education and counseling