The UTMB Regional Maternal and Child Health Program recently hosted a special dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting for the Regional Maternal and Child Health Clinic in Orange County.

“When the clinic in Orange County was nearly destroyed after Hurricane Ike, we saw first-hand the importance of the health care services that it provided to women and children in the community,” said Carolyn Nelson-Becker, director of UTMB’s RMCH program. “We want to honor the Orange County officials, especially County Judge Carl Thibodeaux, for helping us bring the clinic back.”

The RMCH program provides quality community-based health care services to women and children who might otherwise not receive them. The Orange clinic offers pre-pregnancy counseling, family planning, pregnancy testing, prenatal care, prenatal ultrasounds, well-woman and well-child exams, breast and cervical cancer screening, pediatric exams, immunizations, screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.
 
Members of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce performed the ribbon cutting, and speakers included County Judge Carl Thibodeaux and UTMB’s Dr. Gary Hankins, chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology.
 
The UTMB RMCH program is a network of 32 community-based clinics serving low-income and uninsured women and children from more than 100 Texas counties. Telemedicine connects many of these community clinics to UTMB’s main campus in Galveston. The RMCH program serves more than 125,000 women and children annually, with approximately 115,000 of those visits addressing prenatal care.