BACKUS-Director of Public Health Nursing Jamie Richter outlined for the county board Tuesday some of the programs Cass has undertaken to bring the county up from the bottom of Minnesota's health rankings.
The health department and family centers offer home visits for new mothers to give counseling and support for moms and babies to be healthy before and after the child's birth.
There also are programs to encourage healthy eating and exercise, she said. There are programs to help people enroll in insurance, to discourage smoking and controlled substance use and to access health care, she added.
Cass has a higher number than the state average of children living in single parent households and of children living in poverty, the state report shows.
Richter reported Cass has received an extended grant to offer family planning services at a clinic in Wadena County like the joint program among those counties and Todd have previously offered in Cass County at Walker.
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Mahube-Otwa Community Action Partnership Inc. provides the service under contract to the three counties.
Cass County commissioners Tuesday approved a $25,000 special projects grant to Cass's three family centers through the Pillager Family Center to continue nurse home visits to expectant first-time mothers and to their children through age 3.
The program has been available the last eight years. It is expected about 36 new mothers will be served by the program this year.
