Program seeks to boost prenatal care for poor

A one-year pilot program, funded with a $750,000 grant, will seek to increase the number of low-income pregnant women who receive prenatal care in Los Angeles County, it was announced

Wednesday. The Prenatal and Obstetrical Access Project is design to recruit pregnant women to private hospitals, diverting them from obstetric services at the four county-run hospitals,

which operated at 112% of their capacity in 1989. An estimated 3,600 babies are expected to be delivered annually at private hospitals through the program. The three medical facilities

participating in the program are Bellflower Doctors Hospital, Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and Valley Presbyterian Hospital. The National Health Foundation will

administer the program, which was conceived by representatives from the National Health Foundation, the Hospital Council of Southern California, the County Medical Assn. and Rand Corp. MORE

TO READ