Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infant Mortality topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rutherford County wellness council report urges local action to reduce infant mortality
Summary
County health director presented a new infant mortality report showing 2024 rates below regional, state and national averages but identifying a 2021 spike and racial disparities; the work group offered four prevention-focused recommendations and a public resource map.
Sydney Butterfield, director of the Rutherford County Health Department, presented an infant-mortality report developed by the Rutherford County Wellness Council and state and local partners to the Health & Education Committee on July 28. The report highlights a large spike in 2021 (the presentation did not identify a cause) and shows that, as of 2024, Rutherford County’s infant mortality rate is below the regional, state and national averages.
"As of 2024, Rutherford County is below the regional, state, and national averages," Butterfield said, urging the committee to treat the report as a tool for local prevention and advocacy. The report calls attention to racial disparities: Black communities in Rutherford County bear a higher share of infant deaths and a larger proportion of deaths classified as external injury than statewide averages.
The wellness council identified four broad recommendations: establish stronger regular education and provider-family relationships around safe-sleep practices; expand venues for safe-sleep education (including a planned safe-sleep workshop at a community baby shower); increase the number of community voices sharing prevention messaging (hospitals, community health workers and other partners); and adapt outreach to local cultural norms. Butterfield pointed the committee to a public asset map and QR code in the report that links families to maternal and infant resources and local WIC vendors.
The presentation included a list of external causes that the report flagged as preventable drivers of infant death in the county: drowning, asphyxia, motor-vehicle or other transportation incidents, assault, poisoning/overdose or acute intoxication. A committee member read that list and noted the county’s share of such deaths is roughly double the statewide share, though absolute counts may be small.
Butterfield said the full report and slides are uploaded to the county SharePoint and offered to connect commissioners to the work-group chair (Susanna Wilson) for follow-up. The wellness council plans public outreach, including a community baby shower on Aug. 15 at Patterson Park that will include safe-sleep demonstrations and an information table.
