news release

After an extensive national and local search, the Board of Directors of Indian River County Healthy Start Coalition (IRCHSC) has announced the appointment of Megan McFall, B.Ed., RN as the new Chief Executive Officer of the organization. McFall assumed her new role June 2, replacing Andrea Berry who served as the nonprofit’s leader for the past seven years.

McFall comes to IRCHSC from Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital (CCIRH). She joined that organization in 2009 as a bedside nurse in Labor & Delivery and held many different leadership positions, including the Director of Professional Development, Surgical Services, Inpatient Cardiovascular Services and the Clinical Decision Unit. Most recently, she served as the Director of Women’s Health and has had the joy of running maternal and child health since 2015.

McFall has spent most of her life in Vero Beach, after her family relocated to the area in 1985 from New York. She graduated from Vero Beach High School and then pursued her first undergraduate degree in education at Middle Tennessee State University, graduating with honors. She quickly realized that she was being called to a different field and moved back to Vero Beach to attend the nursing program at Indian River State College where she was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Nursing with an emphasis in Leadership.

McFall has been practicing nursing for over two decades. Twenty years of her career have been managing teams, building relationships, and developing compassionate caregivers. She has an extensive background in Women’s Healthcare and Leadership and has served as the chair of Leadership Development for CCIRH.

“Megan is a proven leader with a passion for maternal and child health,” said outgoing CEO Andrea Berry about her successor. “Although it is difficult to leave, it’s the right time to step away and allow the next leader, Megan McFall, to catapult Indian River County Healthy Start Coalition to the next level.”

Under Berry’s seven-year leadership, the 32-year-old organization flourished, tripling its budget by deepening philanthropy and creating multiple revenue streams, allowing for the expansion of programming to ensure families are supported, connected, and cared for from pregnancy and beyond. One of the most significant programs founded during Berry’s tenure is the renowned G.R.O.W. (Guidance. Resource. Openhearted. Wisdom.) Doula program. What began in Vero Beach in 2017, specifically designed to improve local maternal and child health systems of care, has been replicated throughout the state of Florida. In fact, IRCHSC has not only been a leader in developing Doula programs throughout Florida, but Berry also presented the G.R.O.W. model on a national level at the National Mom and Baby Action Network Summit, held last October in Atlanta, Ga.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1991, the mission of Indian River County Healthy Start Coalition is “to establish and support a local system of care that optimizes the health of moms, babies and their families living in Indian River County.”  IRCHSC provides support from prenatal to childbirth to the first years of life—for mothers, fathers, babies, and families. To learn more about the programs offered, visit irchealthystart.org or call 772-563-9118.