EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) Two Indiana women are aiming to improve maternal and infant care across the state with the creation of the Little Timmy Project.
Katie Kirkhoff lost her son, Timmy, at just 5 weeks old to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. After his death, Kirkhoff dove into research, discovering that Indiana ranks 47th in maternal death and 43rd in infant mortality.
Additionally, 33 of Indiana’s 92 counties are what they call maternal care deserts or a county in which access to maternity health care services is limited or absent, either through lack of services or barriers to a woman’s ability to access that care. Posey, Gibson, Spencer, and Pike counties are all deemed maternal care deserts.
Kirkhoff and her best friend Steffany Stoeffler used this data to create the Little Timmy Project, aiming to support women’s health and improve the maternal crisis in Indiana, especially in these counties.
The project’s first goal is to create The Little Mom Stop, a mobile maternal care unit that brings education and care directly to moms across the state.
“Education is power, and women who are not able to get education because they can’t afford it, that’s really tragic. We know how important these would be for rural communities, for communities that don’t have any sort of maternal care, so that is our ultimate, ultimate goal,” said President and Co-founder Katie Kirkhoff.
For more information on the Little Timmy Project or how to get involved, visit Littletimmy.org.
