By Jamie Shuster

Thanks to the hard work of our regional Public Health staff, I’m pleased to announce that South Carolina has moved into first place nationally among medium-sized states for enrollments in Text4Baby.

Earlier this summer, our four regional Public Health teams launched a twelve-week challenge to enroll our clients in this free cell phone text messaging service for pregnant women and new parents. Moms and dads can sign up by texting “BABY” to 511411. They then receive text messages three times a week with tips on how to have a healthy pregnancy and baby. The messages are timed to the pregnant woman’s due date or the baby’s date of birth.

Our public health teams across the state have been hard at work to help our clients sign up for this innovative health education service since the challenge kicked off on August 1. So far, our Midlands team is leading the overall challenge, but our Lowcountry team is moving up quickly, earning the most signups for the last two weeks in a row. Following close behind are our Upstate and Pee Dee teams.

Thank you to all of our Public Health team members who are helping connect new parents to this free health education service, and congratulations on moving our state to the top spot among our peers.