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March of Dimes / Department of Health
VitaGrant Project Information and Materials
Background
The March of Dimes Florida Chapter was awarded a $2 million grant from the Florida Attorney General’s Office as a
result of a settlement with multiple vitamin manufacturers. In June 2004, as a result of this grant, the March of
Dimes partnered with the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Folic Acid Coalition and the Florida Birth
Defects Registry to promote the use of folic acid in women of reproductive age throughout Florida. Folic acid,
when taken prior to and during the first few weeks of pregnancy can reduce the risk of certain birth defects of
the brain and spine, called neural tube defects (NTDs). To facilitate greater awareness and consumption of folic
acid in women of child bearing age, up to 450,000 multivitamins containing the recommended daily allowance of
folic acid (400 micrograms) will be distributed free to non-pregnant women. Recognizing the need and opportunity
to provide more comprehensive pre/interconceptional health education, the project promotes pre/interconceptional
issues awareness through training and by providing educational materials. The vitamins and materials are
distributed through multiple sites including Family Planning Clinics, WIC Clinics, Healthy Start Providers, Early
Head Start and Head Start Providers, Community Health Centers, faith-based organizations and other community
partners.
Vitamin and materials distribution began in January 2005 and will continue for three years or until all of the
vitamins have been distributed. Interim evaluation reports will be available each year, describing the project’s
implementation progress and progress towards meeting process measure goals. The final evaluation report will
include quantitative data on the ability to influence the knowledge and behavior of women of childbearing age in
consumption of folic acid through provision of free multivitamins. At least three sites are included in the data
collection for the project evaluation.
Training
For those sites who are participating in the distribution of the vitamins and materials, regionally located
VitaGrant Outreach staff are available to provide on-site training to staff on pre/interconceptional care, folic
acid and the VitaGrant project. In addition, sites may elect to review the training materials using the link
below. Additional resources on interconceptional care are also included below.
Provider
Training [900KB Microsoft PowerPoint
Presentation]
You may need to download the free Microsoft PowerPoint
Viewer to see the presentation.
Interconceptional
Resources [PDF, 78KB]
Vitamin Tracking
Non-Evaluation Sites
Provided below are the documents necessary for those sites that are distributing the vitamins but are not
participating in the evaluation component of the VitaGrant project. These include the following:
- Protocol [PDF,157KB] for distribution of the vitamins, including who can distribute, which women are eligible to
participate and where vitamins can be distributed
- Contact information and county
assignments [PDF, 76KB] for each of the VitaGrant Outreach staff
- Tracking
Log [PDF, 11KB]
(as well as a completed
log [PDF, 118KB] as a sample) for vitamins
distributed through a specific program,
clinic or entity
- Event Tracking
Log [PDF, 70KB] for vitamins distributed through a
community event
- Informational Sheet for participants (optional) in Spanish [PDF, 42KB], Haitian
Creole [PDF, 42KB], English [PDF, 42KB], Vietnamese [PDF, 20KB]
Evaluation Sites
Distribution sites chosen to participate in the evaluation component will need the following documents
(in addition to the ones provided above):
Other Information
If interested in obtaining vitamins and materials to
distribute or for any other questions related to the project,
individuals may contact the VitaGrant Project Manager, Elizabeth
Jensen, at 850-245-4465.
For more information about folic acid, go to:
Florida Folic Acid Coalition website at www.folicacidnow.net
March of Dimes website at www.marchofdimes.com
The Center for Disease Control website at http://www.cdc.gov
National Council on Folic Acid website at www.folicacidinfo.org
To view the presentation in PowerPoint you may need
Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer.
To view the presentation in PDF you may need Adobe Reader.
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