The three-year program, run by the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing, graduated its first set of participants Monday night. They are 25 women from low-income areas who had at least one child.

About 70 additional women are in the first two years of the program, which has an 85 percent retention rate, said Su An Phipps, program director.  It is financed by the George Kaiser Family Foundation.  Participants take classes on nutrition, learn about available health resources, take yoga and Zumba classes and receive information on family planning, Phipps said. 

 

"It's a very comprehensive program and we're really trying to meet the holistic needs of the participants," she said.  The women who participate all have a child enrolled at Robert Frost Elementary, Skelly Elementary School, McClure Elementary School or Tulsa's Educare schools. They have fun, particularly at the exercise classes, and often develop close friendships, Phipps said. 

 

"They like that coming together and sometimes that brings them back each week," she said.  The focus of the program is women's health, with a particular emphasis on prenatal health, she said.  Tulsa County has an infant mortality rate of 8.1 deaths per 1,000 people, well above the national rate of 6.8 per 1,000, according to the Oklahoma State Health Department. 

 

Less than 70 percent of Tulsa County mothers receive prenatal care during the first trimester of pregnancy, compared to about 83 percent nationally, according to the department.  Phipps said women who are taught proper nutrition and healthy habits before pregnancy are more likely to have a health baby. A mother's health during the first trimester is crucial to the baby's development. 

 

"The body systems have already formed and it may be too late to interfere already," she said.  Fran Trujillo, a nurse educator who works for the program, said the classes show women how to look for resources in the community and encourage them to spread their knowledge to others. 

 

Ruisanchez, speaking through a translator, she said she has learned a lot about nutrition and where to get medical help for her and her family.  "Becoming a participant is the best thing that could happen to me," she said.