Coweta County ends prenatal program because of costs

NEWNAN - Coweta County health officials have decided to end their prenatal program because they have too many clients - most of them Hispanic. <br> <br> The county health department nearly closed the program four years ago - but that was because so few women were using the program. <br> <br> The department&#39;s nurse manager - Alice Jackson - says the needs have outgrown the services the department can provide. <br> <br> The county&#39;s Board of Health decided last month to phase out the popular prenatal program, which is funded primarily through the state&#39;s Babies Born Healthy program. The program offers periodic counseling and exams for women throughout their pregnancy. <br> <br> Women visit the program&#39;s doctors and nurses an average of ten times during pregnancy but only pay what they can afford. <br> <br> The current participants in the program reflect the shifting demographics of the county located south of Atlanta. Nearly all the clients are Hispanics, who are not U.S. citizens. <br> <br> The county&#39;s Hispanic population has skyrocketed, going from 385 in 1990 to nearly 28-hundred in 2000. <br> <br> Women currently in the program will finish their terms, but no new clients will be taken. The Health Department will instead refer new clients to area physicians.

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