TTUHSC News
Support the InfantRisk Center
Vote for the InfantRisk Center in the Pepsi Refresh Project contest and support mothers and babies.
TTUHSC at Amarillo has established the InfantRisk Center, under the direction of Tom Hale, Ph.D., professor of Pediatrics and assistant dean of research.
The InfantRisk Center is an affiliate of the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health, and will serve as a national source of information safeguarding mothers and their babies from medications during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Operators at the center will accept phone questions from women, physicians and other health care providers about the use of specific drugs in pregnant or breastfeeding women.
More than 4 million mothers give birth annually, and more than 3 million of these mothers go on to breast feed their infants. In many instances, women ask their health care providers questions about the medications they need.
Unfortunately, many providers are unsure about the risk posed by specific medications and decide to forgo treatment of the mother, advise the mother to discontinue breastfeeding, or advise the mother to terminate her pregnancy.
The goals of the InfantRisk Center are to:
- Provide a national hotline for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers
- Reduce unnecessary lactation and pregnancy terminations
- Develop new pregnancy registries for the pharmaceutical industry
Your vote could help the center raise $250,000 to fund the salaries of two InfantRisk Center call counselors and a a senior manager, as well as marketing projects.
Hurry! Voting ends Aug. 31.
Currently there is no central source of information in the U.S. that can help women sort out their options on which medications they can safely use while pregnant and/or breastfeeding.
