FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2017
Office: (973) 972-8761
Mobile: (973) 634-8298
MARCH OF DIMES NORTH CENTRAL
NEW JERSEY MARKET NAMES 2017 MARCH FOR BABIES CHAIR
Lynda Arnold, University Hospital Director of
Family Health Services, Will Serve as Chair for April 30 Walk
NEWARK – Today, University Hospital announced that Lynda Arnold, the
Hospital’s Director of Family Health Services, will serve as the Chair of the
Essex County 2017 March for Babies. The event is March of
Dimes’ largest annual fundraiser, with funds going to support research and
preventive measures that fight premature birth.
The three-mile walk will
begin at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield at 9:00 AM on April 30. Participants are encouraged to sign up
with a team and raise money that will go toward reaching a goal of $295,000. More
details about the walk event may be found here.
“I’m thrilled to be leading
the walk this April, having participated many times over the years and
witnessing the incredible power of the event,” said Lynda Arnold, resident of
Hillside. “We urge everyone in
Essex County to join us on that day, and to give what they can to support a
cause that is truly a life-or-death issue for many families. Sign up, join a team, donate, and come
out and march with us on what is sure to be a wonderful day for Essex County.”
Arnold and the entire staff
at University Hospital have made enormous strides in addressing premature
births. Just last month, University
Hospital became the first hospital in Essex County to achieve Baby Friendly USA's
“Baby-Friendly Hospital” designation, a distinction administered by the UNICEF’s US Fund for select
hospitals around the world that promote breastfeeding within the hospital and
the community as the healthiest choice for newborn children and their mothers.
-more-
The Hospital also recently
started a Preemie Parent's Club for parents of children
born prematurely. The program, funded
by a March of Dimes grant connects “preemie parents” with hospital staff and
other parents to help mentor and guide families through what can be a
challenging period.
Premature birth is the number
one cause of death in children under the age of five. The issue of premature
birth is of particular significance in Essex County, which received a ‘D’ grade
on the March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card last year. In 2016, 11.2% of
babies were born prematurely in Essex County, compared with only 7.3% of babies
in Ocean County. African-American women are especially prone to giving birth
early – in New Jersey the preterm birth rate for black women is 44%
higher than the rate among all other women.
To sign up for March for
Babies or to donate money to the March of Dimes, visit http://www.marchforbabies.org
Lynda
Arnold, MHA, RN, NE-BC
Director of
Family Health Services, University Hospital
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University
Hospital is one of
the nation’s leading academic medical centers, and is the Level 1 Trauma Center
for Northern New Jersey. Located at University Heights in Newark, New Jersey,
University Hospital is a principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Biomedical and
Health Sciences and a regional resource for advanced services across many
medical specialties. In September, the Hospital
announced a partnership with
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey to expand cancer services across
Essex County. The partnership will allow New Jersey residents to access
certain types of cancer treatment in Newark that was previously only available
for patients in New Brunswick. The Hospital also recently announced a new
policy change that prohibits smoking across the entire medical
campus. For more information about University Hospital, please visit www.uhnj.org.