Monroe County, FL – Dr. Melanie Youschak, and Sara Phillips, RN, have joined the Board of Directors of the Florida Keys Healthy Start Coalition. FKHSC is 1 of 32 Healthy Start Coalitions state-wide created by the Florida Legislature through the vision of Governor Lawton Chiles in 1991 to improve the lives of pregnant women and their babies. Each one operates on a local level to address the needs of their communities and provide community oversight and planning to improve maternal and child health outcomes. Florida Keys Healthy Start Coalition is an independent 501(c) 3 non-profit organization.

Dr. Youschak received her B.S. and M.D. degrees from University of South Florida, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a practicing pediatrician with Pediatrics Alliance in Key West. She lives in Key West with her husband Scott and their young son where they enjoy swimming, biking, fishing and diving.

Phillips received her RN degree from Florida Keys Community College, is Board Certified in Perinatal Nursing and is a Charge Nurse at LKMC in Labor and Delivery. She lives on Big Pine Key with her husband and their daughter. She loves photography and making jewelry and, as a lifelong Conch, her dad taught her how to drive behind the Key West airport in his 1949 Chevy Fastback.

Florida Keys Healthy Start Coalition is pleased to have these two new members joining long-time Board members Erin Muir, B.A., M.A., Christine Helms, R.N., Sharon Ward, M.D., Mary Williams, M.Ed., Cheryl Cottrell, R.N., B.S.N., M.S.-H.S.A., Nicole Manning, R.N., B.S.N., and Brynn Morey, B.B.A.