Providing prenatal vitamins to expectant moms

Folate is present in enriched breads and grains.

Folate is a B vitamin essential to healthy pregnancy and yet 40.8 percent of women of reproductive age in Arizona don’t know that consuming it can prevent birth defects, according to statistics from the Arizona Family Planning Council.

Awareness is even lower among low-income women. And with recent cuts to health care, many expectant mothers do not have access to essential prenatal vitamins.

AFPC has launched a new community outreach program designed to provide prenatal vitamins to women who might not otherwise get them. For just $30 you can provide a year’s worth of prenatal vitamins with essential folic acid (folate’s synthetic form) to an Arizona woman who is getting ready to start a family.

According to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements, folate helps produce and maintain new cells, which is why it is especially important during periods of rapid cell division and growth, such as infancy and pregnancy.

Since 1996, the Food and Drug Administration has required the addition of folic acid to enriched breads, cereals, flours, corn meals, pastas, rice and other grain products. Folate is also found in leafy green vegetables (like spinach and turnip greens), fruits (like citrus fruits and juices) and dried beans and peas.

AFPC is a Title X provider of reproductive life planning, birth control, healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies, counseling and education, physical exams, pregnancy testing, infertility screening, long-acting and permanent birth control, limited testing and treatment for STDs and emergency contraception.

Emphasis is given to those most in need because of low income and other barriers to service. Learn more.

Race for Maggie’s Place

Pregnancy can be one of the scariest milestones in a woman’s life. It is hard for me to imagine going through the hormonal and physical roller coaster, and impossible for me to fathom taking that journey alone, without resources or a safe haven.

That’s why I’m glad there is such a place as Maggie’s Place.

Maggie’s Place is a nonprofit organization that provides houses of hospitality for expectant mothers who are alone or living on the streets. Maggie’s Place communities and the stories of the women participants were featured in the November issue of Raising Arizona Kids magazine.

This Sunday (Nov. 8), the second annual Race for Maggie’s Place will take place at Temple Town Lake. The race is nine-kilometers in length (5.6 miles), which represents the nine months of pregnancy. There is also a three-kilometer walk/stroller push, as well as a 1,500-meter sprint race. So there is something for all types and levels of runners!

The registration fee for the 9K/3K is $30 through race day. For those wishing to participate in the 1,500-meter sprint, the fee is $18.

Perhaps you despise running, like myself. Or maybe you are out-of-town. Maggie’s Place has an option for you! You can participate as a shadow runner, either mapping out a route to walk/run wherever you are located or simply just thinking of Maggie’s Place the day of the race.

At the very least, all runners/walkers need cheerleaders. Come out with a whistle/bull horn/bunch of pots and just cheer on the donors. This place deserves your support.