About the Klamath Hub

The Nutrition Oregon Campaign is an opportunity to build off the work of the Blue Zones Project and Healthy Klamath to further improve community health. In line with the Nutrition Oregon Campaign vision of eliminating chronic disease, the Klamath Hub decided to focus on maternal and child health. By decreasing the number of low birthweight babies born in Klamath County, this will ultimately decrease the number of people at risk for developing chronic disease.

 

Our Partners

 
 

Goal.

We commit to Klamath County having the lowest rates of low birth weight babies in the state, decreasing the rate from 8% to 5%, or lower, by 2030.

Strategy.

Ensure that all organizations that work with women who are pregnant or have children under age three and have stressed income share unified messaging about how nutrition levels impact the health of multiple generations.

Shifts needed to meet goal

  • Invest in community health worker (CHW) staff at hospital and health clinic outpatient prenatal unit (Not started)

  • Unified data is collected and shared across all providers to assess barriers and how best to coordinate prenatal care and education. (In progress)

  • Centering pregnancy groups convened off-site of hospitals (Not started)

  • Convene organizations to support community campaign focused on the importance of nutrition (In progress)

Funding:

The work of the hub is currently supported through seed funding from the OHSU Moore Institute for Nutrition & Wellness, in-kind support from Healthy Klamath and Sky Lakes Medical Center.

More information:

To learn more about the Klamath County Nutrition Oregon Hub, or to join the team, contact Kelsey Mueller Wendt at BlueZonesProject@HealthyKlamath.org

Creating a Healthier Klamath County by Improving Maternal and Infant Health

The Nutrition Oregon Campaign is a statewide network of connected communities and like-minded organizations working to end chronic disease. 

The work of the Nutrition Oregon Campaign is grounded in the science of Developmental Origins of Health & Disease, or DOHaD. This field of research shows how the conditions we experience during pregnancy and in the first years of life impact lifelong chronic disease risk. Klamath County has one of the highest rates of low birthweight in Oregon. Low birthweight is considered a marker for later life chronic disease risk because it indicates how a baby grew and developed before birth.

The OHSU Moore Institute for Nutrition & Wellness initiated the Nutrition Oregon Campaign in 2016 and continues to serve as the backbone organization. Klamath County joined as a hub in 2019 with a focus on improving maternal and infant health in order to decrease the number of low birth weight babies born in the county.