Florida’s Healthy Start opens much needed prenatal center

Florida's Healthy Start program has opened a prenatal outreach center in Martin County, helping more than 75 pregnant women get the medical care they need. The staff helps the women get temporary Medicaid, schedules their first doctor appointments, answers questions and enrolls them in pregnancy classes. Martin County lags behind the state's record in prenatal care, according to statistics from the county Healthy Start Coalition. In Florida, 76.8 percent of pregnant women begin prenatal care in the first trimester, but in Martin County, that number is 56.8 percent.