Healthy Start chief Dixie Morgese announces retirement
After 14 years at the helm, Dixie Morgese, executive director of the Healthy Start Coalition of Flagler and Volusia counties, has announced that she will retire on Feb. 5, 2021.
Gabrielle Bargerstock was named her successor earlier this December. Bargerstock comes to the organization from the Nurse-Family Partnership, a nonprofit that sets up nurse home visits to low-income first-time mothers. When Bargerstock moved into the top position at Healthy Start, Morgese took the role of associate director to help ensure a smooth transition.
Healthy Start is a nonprofit that focuses on prenatal, parental and developmental services for children from birth through age three. Last year, the organization served 7,978 women, infants and children in the two counties.
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Before Morgese stepped down, she said she increased the organization’s prenatal screening rate from 58% to 98% and raised its annual budget from just under $1 million to $4 million.
“One thing that I never expected when I took this job was that advocating for pregnant women would ever be hard,” Morgese said. “When I was a little girl, when I saw a pregnant woman, my mother would say to me, ‘There’s a baby in there.’ It was such awe and wonder and reverence. I guess I didn’t expect that you would have to advocate so fiercely for the health of pregnant women.
“I took that really seriously when I took this job, that pregnant women deserve to have somebody in their corner. They should never be alone, trying to get through a pregnancy. They should have total access to whatever health care they need so that we have healthy residents in our community.”
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“As much a mentor as a friend”
Dr. Pam Carbiener, an obstetrician-gynecologist for Halifax OB/GYN Associates and a longtime colleague of Morgese, noted that the former Healthy Start leader always sought to help mothers access critical services without “having to jump through hoops.” She said Morgese understood that some mothers who would benefit from anger management or parenting classes had to obtain basic necessities first.
“She’s been a huge influence in my practice, and my philosophy, and how I interact with mothers and families of all socioeconomic levels,” Carbiener said. “She’s been as much a mentor as a friend. We’ve worked together for a very long time, and I just have the greatest affection and respect for her. Without trying to make comparisons, I do want to stress that her management of that organization and execution of her mission have been like no other I’ve ever been involved with.”
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Bargerstock said she intends to uphold the standard Morgese has left behind.
“I want to sustain the momentum that Dixie has built,” Bargerstock said. “She’s very humble, but the Healthy Start Coalition is a tremendous organization that has made incredible strides here in this community, so I don’t want to lose that. As we continue to move forward, I want to look at how we can prioritize particular communities to ensure that we’re working to narrow gaps and ensure that everyone gets the services and the health care provision that we should all receive.”
Sharing with other communities
With retirement on the horizon, Morgese has future plans to share what she has learned over the course of her career with nonprofit leaders across the United States. But first, Morgese plans to set some time aside for herself.
“I have an herb garden that has my name written all over it, but I have some opportunities to do some national work,” Morgese said. “Some of the work that I’ve been involved with on the ground, I think it’s nice to be able to share with other communities across the United States, so that there’s lessons learned.
I think when you’ve been around a long time you know what hasn’t worked, too. I think it’s real important to be able to share those successes and those challenges with other communities across the United States. I’ve been connected to the National League of Cities and the Center for the Study of Social Policy and other national entities and I want to continue doing that work.”
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