JOHNSON - A little over a week ago, something remarkable happened to Dr. Scott Bailey.
He delivered four babies in one night, all of whom were born to mothers who had received prenatal care through the Community Clinic’s Prenatal Pathways program. That meant they had all benefited from the Beau Foundation, a nonprofit organization Bailey helped found close to a decade ago.
The next afternoon, Bailey says that evening was as busy as it was joyous.
“That’s great,” says Bailey, a member of the Beau Foundation’s board of directors since its inception. “You see they’ve come in, had their prenatal care, and everything’s good. Everything’s all lined up. They’ve seen doctors, and they had uneventful deliveries. You love that.”
The Beau Foundation strives to promote and improve prenatal health in Northwest Arkansas. To date, it has raised more than $1 million for uninsured and low-income women in the region.
The foundation is named after Beau Matthews, who was born to Terry and Gwen Matthews and diedafter 11 days. Beau’s death was due to Trisomy 18, also known as Edwards Syndrome, which is a chromosomal defect that is almost always fatal, usually prior to birth.
After the death of their baby boy, the Matthewses asked Bailey, a friend, how they might help the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital where Beau was born. They were thinking about contributing a fetal heart monitor, but Bailey suggested they think bigger.
Specifically, he said they should find a way to help pregnant women who struggle to pay for qualityprenatal care.
“Before then, people went to the Health Department for prenatal care [when they couldn’t otherwise afford it],” Bailey explains. “They were doing what they could, but it wasn’t enough.”
Area obstetricians and health-care providers said they wanted to help. So did Kathy Grisham, director of the medical clinic then known as St. Francis House NWA Inc.
And so, in July 2004, the Beau Foundation held a golf tournament, raising nearly $100,000. That provided seed money for the Prenatal Pathways program in March 2005.
Some 50-60 patients were expected the first year, Bailey says, but the total ended up being closer to 250. Last year, Prenatal Pathways served roughly 1,700 women in Northwest Arkansas.
“Who doesn’t love a baby?” Bailey says. “It’s as simple as that. When you start thinking about the fact that so many babies are being born in our community, you want them to get the best start they can. The Beau Foundation hastruly helped all these mothers and their babies get the best start.”
Focusing on early prenatal care makes sense because that’s when potential problems can most easily be dealt with, Bailey says.
For example, a diabetic mother who gets her blood sugar under control has virtually the same chance of delivering a healthy baby as a mother without diabetes. If the condition isn’t treated by the end of the first trimester, the risk of significant birth defects goes as high as 1 in 3.
The foundation also has always made it a priority to provide prenatal vitamins to women in the early stages of their pregnancy, as the folic acid in the vitamins significantly reduces the rate of birth defects. The foundation also provides funding for things like early ultrasounds and screenings like the one that revealed Beau Matthews’disorder.
“As soon as someone has a positive pregnancy test, they can come in [to the Community Clinic’s Prenatal Pathways program],” Bailey says. “Many times you can identify problems early, so our real drive was, ‘Let’s get people in so they can get prenatal careearly, and if they have problems they can be taken care of.’”
Most of the money raised by the Beau Foundation comes from the golf tournament, the Beau Classic. This year’s edition will be July 8at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers.
Entry fees start at $1,000 per team, and include lunch at the country club and goodie bags.
“It’s a great event, a lot of fun,” says Bailey, who hasplayed in every tournament but one. “Pinnacle Country Club is a great venue. We have so many businesses that come out and support us.” For more information about the Beau Classic, call (479) 254-3696 or visit beaufoundation.org.
Northwest Profile, Pages 33 on 06/30/2013