March of Dimes Foundation

(318) 869-0400 1120 South Pointe Parkway, Building D Shreveport, LA 71105

Jessica Lowe Hall serves as the Executive Director of March of Dimes of Louisiana. For more than 75 years, the March of Dimes has worked to improve the health of babies. March of Dimes-funded researchers created the vaccines for epidemic polio. And they haven’t stopped defending the health of babies since. About 4 million babies were born in the United States last year, and the March of Dimes helped each and every one through research, vaccines, education, and breakthroughs.

Prematurity remains the biggest public health threat facing our children today. “We are working to change that and help more moms have full-term pregnancies and healthy babies. There is still a lot to learn about premature birth so it’s not always possible to explain the causes and why it happens. The prevention of premature birth is still in need of extensive research. Without knowing the causes of premature birth, finding a treatment is difficult,” said Hall.

Hall has a personal connection to March of Dimes as her two children were both born premature. Hunter, 16 and Hannah Beth, 10 faired differently. While Hannah Beth had no long term complications, Hunter has Autism as a result of his prematurity. “As a mother I can’t think of a more important cause than our babies. In Caddo and Bossier Parishes one in six babies are born prematurely, and that is just not acceptable. It takes our communities working together to ensure moms have healthy pregnancies.”