Success Stories

Teen Parent program: The Teen Mom program serves first time pregnant and parenting women age 18 and under. It is an 18 month long in-home program. 17 year old Crystal was referred to us by a social worker when she was five months pregnant. She was being abused at home by her mother who was an alcoholic. Crystal had made a suicide attempt. Division of Family Services had been notified and made the referral to Nurses for Newborns. The nurse assigned to Crystal helped her enroll in Childbirth classes and took her to the classes. She found her a safe place to live apart from her abusive home situation. The nurse also ensured Crystal's compliance with prenatal visits to the Obstetrician and a healthy diet during pregnancy. When Crystal delivered her baby, her nurse was there for the delivery as her only support person. Crystal delivered a healthy full term baby girl! She subsequently received 18 months of home visits from her nurse, learning parenting skills and how to break the cycle of abuse. At discharge from the Teen Parent program, Crystal was employed, had good parenting skills and was living in a safe environment with her baby. She was also integrated into community support systems and aware of how to access help when needed for herself and her baby.

Bridge to the Future:

Bridge to the Future is a program for special needs babies which begins at hospital discharge and is meant to be a "bridge" to long term community supports. Most babies enter this program in crisis, but are discharged healthy, thriving and integrated into long term support systems. Below is one example of how the program works.

The inspiration for the Bridge to the Future program was Michael.

Michael was referred by a local hospital when he was discharged at a weight of four pounds. He had a diagnosis of low birth weight and was small for gestational age. He was taken out of a hospital isolette and sent home without a pediatrician or follow-up care. When our nurse first visited Michael, his body temperature was only 96. His skin was mottled and he was only able to take in one quarter ounce of formula at a feeding. He had almost no abdominal fat or body fat. This was the first baby for his mother, Sherri, and she was lacking in basic parenting skills. The birth was via C-Section and she was having trouble recovering. The baby did not have a bed and Sherri had no transportation. When she called the local Medicaid pediatrician, he said he had no appointments for Medicaid babies for three weeks. When she called WIC, they said she must bring the baby in personally to get formula. She had no transportation and lived in a rural area. The home visiting nurse taught Sherri how to bundle Michael securely in blankets to get his body temperature up. Sherri was also taught how to take a temperature to be sure Michael was warm enough. She was also taught by the nurse how to feed a premature baby which takes extra time and patience and special techniques. The nurse visited daily, teaching parenting skills, weighing Michael and arranging for pediatric care and WIC for formula allotment. Basic baby necessities were provided by Nurses for Newborns. Visits continued over a period of months until Michael was growing and stable. When she left the program, Sherri was well integrated into community support systems and had accessed regular pediatric care. Michael was growing and thriving and doing well.

Bright Futures:

This program was created as a prevention program to decrease infant mortality. After caring for many premature babies like Michael, we decided to implement a prenatal outreach program to reach into the community to find women who were pregnant but not accessing prenatal care. It has rapidly become our largest program.

Betty was several months pregnant and in a high risk pregnancy when she lost her Medicaid coverage. Her obstetrician told her she was too high risk for him to see and told her find a high risk clinic.

Betty didn't understand; she thought she was going to die. (She had a problem with her last pregnancy which almost cost her life). She attempted to get into a clinic but was refused because she didn't have Medicaid. Her electric and gas were shut off at home. She referred herself to the Bright Futures program and her nurse took some immediate action. The nurse made several phone calls to Betty's obstetrician and the clinics who had refused to see her and even to Medicaid in an attempt to restore benefits. The nurse was able to arrange obstetrical care through a charitable local source and also help Betty navigate through the maze of paperwork to get her Medicaid benefits restored. She also found pediatric care for Betty's sick toddler. The pediatrician she had been seeing refused to care for the baby when the Medicaid was not in effect. This resulted in immunizations being behind and Betty was unable to access help when the baby had ear infections. The nurse was able to advocate for her patient with local sources and obtain care for the baby. Betty delivered a full term baby boy without any delivery problems. Her nurse continues to provide home visits on a schedule determined by Betty and the needs of her infant who has a digestive problem.