The Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) Project

FIMR is a county-wide effort whose goal is to better understand the issues associated with fetal and infant mortality and morbidity and to develop strategies that improve perinatal systems of care locally and statewide. Infant mortality is a complex issue that impacts everyone and has been widely used as an indicator of a community’s overall health for decades. There are several interrelated factors that influence infant mortality and each requires our attention as we work to improve the health of the women, infants, children and families in our community.

Who is part of FIMR?

Potential members include individuals and agency representatives who:

• • live in the community and use its resources
  • provide health and human services
  • set policy
  • rely on the community as a source for workers and a good place to do business

There are many reasons why professionals study fetal and infant deaths:

• • Health Care Providers: to implement peer review process
  • Institutions: to monitor overall compliance with policies and procedures
  • Medical Researchers: to develop insights into new medical treatments to prevent infant death
  • County and State Health Officers: to aggregate vital statistics to document and
     quantify causes of death.

FIMR enhances and complements all of the above listed efforts. It examines social, community and medical information in tandem; this is a combination of information not generally available through other efforts.