by Robyn Shelton - Sentinel Medical Writer

Medical clinics that serve the poor in Florida are being overwhelmed by illegal immigrants and other uninsured women needing prenatal services, creating a looming crisis that already has forced at least one health department to close its doors to pregnant patients.

Two groups that serve the poor in Orange County say they are booked to capacity for prenatal services, with women waiting up to five weeks to get an initial appointment at the busiest locations.

That's the good news.

Mark S. Williams worries that local women may not get care in the future because providers do not have the staff, money or ability to meet the rising need. In Orange County, the number of women seeking prenatal services from these groups has climbed 65 percent since 2002.

"We are at our limit; we have to begin to look at how we can just maintain what we have or reduce the number of patients that we see for prenatal care," said Williams, chief executive officer of Community Health Centers Inc. "If the growth in the region continues -- and we have no reason to believe that it won't -- there will be patients who just aren't going to be seen."

Delivering Healthcare Services to Central Florida’s Neediest Mothers

Orlando, FL – December 19, 2006 – The Birth Place, a unique birthing center and midwifery practice, today announced funding from the Winter Park Health Foundation, an organization dedicated to making a positive difference in people’s lives by creating healthy communities. The mission of Jennie Joseph, Clinical Director of The Birth Place, is to improve birth outcomes through quality prenatal care in Central Florida. The funds will help The Birth Place continue to offer uninsured and under-insured pregnant women access to maternity healthcare improving overall well-being for both the mother and the unborn child.

Midwife Jennie Joseph teaches mothers 'how to grow a healthy baby.'

by Darryl E. Owens - Sentinel Staff Writer

"So you're going to do it again?"

The thin girl with a gentle bulge in her belly nods, smiling. Intended or not, Jennie Joseph's question is a double-entendre. First, Jamie Pettway is pregnant again. Second, just 15 months have passed since she delivered her daughter, Daviona, in a softly lighted room down the hall at The Birth Place Birthing Center in Winter Garden.

With Pettway seated on the exam table, Joseph straps a blood-pressure sleeve on her arm and reviews her chart.

"You feeling well?"
"I'm sick this go-round, a lot."
"Make sure you're getting whole grain. Make sure you're getting proteins. That's the important thing."

Pettway nods, as the advice sinks in. Now 18, the Orlando woman was a typical pregnant teen: by turns fascinated and flummoxed, but mostly unsure of what to do with a baby, let alone how to nurture its prenatal growth. Then, someone gave her Joseph's name