March of Dimes, the leading nonprofit for the health of moms and babies, with support from EMD Serono, the biopharmaceutical business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in the U.S. and Canada, announced an innovative employee-based educational online wellness program called Healthy Babies, Healthy Business®. The program supports mother and infant health, and promotes a family-friendly work environment, and provides companies with a wealth of information to support their employees and dependents before, during and after pregnancy.
“With 74.6 million women in the workforce, there is much that employers can do to support employees throughout pregnancy and increase profitability at the same time,” says Stacey D. Stewart, President and CEO of March of Dimes. “For more than 80 years, March of Dimes has helped millions of babies survive and thrive, and we know that supporting moms at work is integral to the nation’s current and future business health.”
The program was created with the support of EMD Serono, the biopharmaceutical business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in the U.S. and Canada, as part of their commitment to the Healthy Women, Healthy Economies initiative. More information on EMD Serono’s involvement in Healthy Women, Healthy Economies can be found here.
Benefits of the Healthy Babies, Healthy Business® platform include:
- Personalized user dashboard based on stage of pregnancy or preconception, postpartum or loss status.
- Engaging activities including quizzes, games, and challenges.
- A series of courses to inform and educate.
- A library of more than 200 March of Dimes articles and videos.
- A community forum where women can ask questions and share their experiences.
- Live webinars and events.
- HR administrator access to reporting of program completion for incentives.
- Custom branding and portal entry by company.
- The ability to add company specific content and resources.
Resources for Human Resources professionals include the Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Policy Toolkit, Workplace Standard that Support Parent and Infant Health and a Cost of Prematurity Calculator.
Premature birth (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) affects about 380,000 babies born each year in the United States. Ms. Stewart says that the emotional impact of premature birth on families is high — and the cost to businesses is astronomical. Childbirth and newborn care are a big part of employers’ health insurance costs, representing the most expensive conditions billed to commercial insurers for hospital care.
“With EMD Serono’s leadership in the fertility space, it brings us great pride to help March of Dimes launch their Healthy Babies, Healthy Business® program,” said Cheryl Schwartz, Senior Vice President of Fertility and Endocrinology at EMD Serono. “Our deep heritage in family-building has uncovered the importance of giving people the tools they need to successfully manage work and family responsibilities. The Healthy Babies, Healthy Business® program is an important step toward fostering positive work environments for women, which is in line with the objectives of Healthy Women, Healthy Economies.”