NURSE-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP – WAY TO HEALTHY BABIES

(Article published in HWW Dec 2009)

Carmen Roman has lived in a foster home. She’d run away to a friend’s house, even slept on a roof with her boyfriend, and was still a child when she discovered she was pregnant.

“I was 14 and it was so scary for me,” she says. ‘I had family but I don’t have a real bond with my family. My ACS worker said she wanted to refer me to this program Nurse-Family Partnership. I was avoiding it. It was close to Christmas and I was staying at my sister’s. But when this lady from the program named Maria came, she was so nice. She didn’t judge me. She asked me about my goals. I told her I wanted to get my GED and go to a four year college to become a nurse. Then when I said ‘but I don’t think that’s possible,’ she said, “Don’t say that. Anything is possible if you really want it.”

The Nurse-Family Partnership Program, now operating in many states, has proven to be good for the health and safety of first time moms and their babies. Registered nurses make home visits to low income, first time mothers. Visits are weekly at first before they are 28 weeks pregnant and taper off to monthly until the child is two.

Maria Applewhite, the visiting nurse from the program, made her first visit to Carmen on Christmas Eve 2008. Following Carmen as she moved from one borough to another, Maria helped Carmen prepare for baby Gabriel’s birth on March 19, and in many visits since then has helped her develop parenting and life skills she needed.

Carmen and her baby are living with her mother now, and getting along better than they did before.

Asked what one thing she learned in this program that she didn’t know, Carmen says “SIDS – Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Before he was born, I had wanted to sleep with him . They told me about SIDS and made me watch videos.”

But after thinking, she adds, “I’ve learned I could accomplish anything if I put my mind to it.”

For information about the NURSE-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP in NYC, call:

TCI (Targeted Citywide Initiative)

NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene at (646) 672 2855.

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The WELFARE RIGHTS INITIATIVE is a student activist and community leadership training organization located at Hunter College. WRI advocates for increased access to education and training for people receiving public assistance, and offer training and assistance to low-income

students around the City, mostly by helping to educate people about their rights and how to represent themselves at hearings. To date WRI, in close collaboration with CUNY Law School, has advised and assisted more than 3000 students who were at risk of being forced out of college.

CALL WRI TODAY TO ATTEND THE NEXT “KNOW YOUR RIGHTS TRAINING” (212) 650-3592. TRAININGS

ARE HELD THE FOURTH WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 1-3 PM. THE NEXT TRAINING IS DECEMBER 23

AT HUNTER COLLEGE – 68th Street/Lexington Ave, NYC