New moms benefit from Nurse-Family Partnership

By Cherry Sokoloski
Fossil Creek Current

A social program that has proven outcomes? What a concept, cynics might say.

Nonetheless, Larimer County has such a program, called the Nurse-Family Partnership. The program, free and voluntary, is a long-term, home-visit program whereby specially trained registered nurses visit families expecting their first child. The visits last until the child's second birthday.

The program started as a research project, and research has been ongoing since the program began 30 years ago. Follow-up studies have shown that both parents and children are much better off down the road when the parents participate in the program. The Nurse-Family Partnership is nationwide, and the goal is to eventually make it available to every first-time mother.

At first glance, one might suppose that this program involves nurses telling moms how to change diapers or how to feed and bathe a baby. While this is true, the program goes much beyond these nuts and bolts of infant care.

A nurse visits the first-time mother from her pregnancy until the child is 2 years old. Nurses teach mothers about good health habits during their pregnancy and the importance of regular prenatal care. They also help parents develop good caregiving skills and encourage them to plan subsequent pregnancies and reach their educational and life goals.

In cases where there are developmental problems with a baby, the nurse is able to spot them and arrange for early intervention. The ultimate goals of the program are healthy babies, successful first-time parents and a brighter future for both parents and child.

The Nurse-Family Partnership is not a welfare program and is open to a large part of the population, noted Carol Grine, a registered nurse who works in the local program. There are 17 Nurse-Family sites in Colorado, and they currently serve 1,950 families. In Larimer County, the health department operates the program with 11 registered nurses. Participants range from young teens to moms in their 30s, with a median age of 19. Many are single moms.

Colorado funds the program with tobacco settlement money. The only requirements in this state are being a first-time mom and having limited income. Even the income guidelines are not too restrictive, Grine noted, since they are based on only the mother's earnings. For a family of three in 2006, a first-time mom may earn up to $2,767 per month and still qualify for the program.

Tannii Ashbaugh can't say enough about the Nurse-Family Partnership program and Grine, her nurse partner. She credits the program with giving her the confidence she needed during her pregnancy and the critical first months of her daughter's life. The young mom, who just turned 20, graduated from high school in 2004 and was married in 2005.

"It's just an amazing program," said Ashbaugh, who considers her nurse to be her best friend. "It's good to have a woman to talk to, who knows what you're going through." She is comfortable asking Grine any and all questions.

Bailey, Ashbaugh's chubby, happy 3-month-old, has also benefited. She has a calm, confident mother, which translates to a calmer baby.

It's easy for Ashbaugh to list things she has learned from her nurse partner. They include recognizing different baby cues - including facial expressions, movements and cries - and learning what they mean. She can recognize Bailey's different sleep states, so she doesn't worry when irregular breathing occurs during the "active asleep" state. Ashbaugh and her husband, Jordan, also have learned that literacy starts at birth, and they regularly read and tell stories to their daughter.

Besides knowledge about babies, Grine also passes along information about community resources for young mothers - such as The Farm and the Stroller Fit exercise program. She also brings gifts such as toys and books for the family.

Grine describes the partnership as a strength-based program. "We help people find their own strategies for fixing the problem," she said, instead of spoon-feeding the answers.

Perhaps the main reason the program works so well is that a long-term friendship forms between nurse and mom. "It's all about relationships," said Grine. Ashbaugh is already sad that the friendship will end when Bailey turns 2.

Setting goals

One aim of the partnership program is helping new parents work toward positive goals in their lives. Setting goals is not something that comes naturally, and Ashbaugh said she used to live pretty much in the moment. Now, she and her husband are looking more to the future and setting their sights on lofty goals.

"Instead of settling for less, we aim for higher," she said. "It's changed the way I view my future."

Ashbaugh wants to pass on what she has learned to other young mothers.

Her major long-term goal is to form an educational support program for teen mothers, and she is now looking into grant possibilities for funding it. She plans to incorporate some of the things she has learned from the Nurse-Family Partnership. Ashbaugh especially wants to promote breast-feeding as "the best start you can give your baby."

Ashbaugh also wants to encourage other first-time moms to take advantage of the program. "It sounds like a long time," she said, "but it's just one hour every two weeks. It's nice to sit down and talk to someone who understands."

Twenty years of controlled studies have shown some remarkable outcomes of the Nurse-Family Partnership. Among them are:

• 79 percent reduction in rates of child abuse, from birth through the child's 15th year
• Two-year greater interval between births of the first and second children
• 25 percent reduction in cigarette smoking during pregnancy among women enrolled
• 83 percent increase in workforce rates among mothers in the program by their child's fourth birthday
• 69 percent fewer arrests among mothers after 15 years
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• 54 percent fewer arrests and 69 percent fewer delinquent adjudications among children who were followed until their 15th birthdays.

As Nurse-Family proponents point out, all these outcomes save tax dollars down the road.

For more information about the local Nurse-Family Partnership, call the health department at 498-6744.