VIDALIA,&160;La. – A program designed to give Concordia infants a Healthy Start is off to a rocky start of its own due to funding problems.

But Project Coordinator Cassie Mangel said that doesn’t mean the Healthy Start Concordia program is giving up on its mission — to get expectant and new mothers in touch with the resources they need to keep themselves and their infants healthy.

Not receiving about $150,000 in funds from the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau for the 2000-01 fiscal year does mean that Healthy Start will not be able to start its outreach program just yet.

&uot;Outreach means recruiting (expectant mothers) to use the services that are out there — helping them apply for Medicaid and social services funds, getting them in touch with child care and transportation and educating them on the importance of prenatal care,&uot;&160;Mangel said.

Mangel, an employee of the Central Louisiana Area Health Education Center in Alexandria, also said the group plans to push to recruit a pediatrician to Riverland Medical Center.

Such services are important because 25 of every 2,000 babies born in Concordia in 1995 did not make it to their first birthday — one of the two highest infant death rates in the state. The reason, say health care providers, is that many of Concordia’s mothers-to-be seek prenatal medical care too late.

In fact, Administrator Vernon Stevens of Riverland Medical Center has said that when some women arrive at the Ferriday hospital’s emergency room, it is the first time in their pregnancies they have seen a health care professional.

Undaunted, the Central Louisiana Area Health Education Center and a committee of 45 local people helping it run Healthy Start Concordia will use the time to seek other funding sources and plan its outreach programs.

In fact, the group plans to apply by mid-October for a $150,000 grant from the non-profit Rapides Foundation to continue its work. And there is always a chance that the federal government could restore funding from Healthy Start Concordia, Mangel said.