“Partnering for Mother Power"
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Rachael N. Pine, J.D. Executive Director Fund for Public Health in New York |
Lisa Landau, J.D. Director, Nurse-Family Partnership Program NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene |
LATEST RESEARCH FINDINGS about the national Nurse-Family Partnership Program
The New Yorker's "Swamp Nurse," published in February 2006, is a fascinating account of NFP in the swamps of Louisiana. [This is a large pdf file but it is a 'good read.'
The Fund for Public Health in New York "fosters research and development of new approaches while assisting in efforts to scale up programs proven to work."
NFP in the News
"Early Childhood Interventions Proven Results, Future Promise" by the Rand Corporation identifies the Nurse-Family Partnership as a strong evidence-based program.
CBS News on the Nurse Family Partnership Program in Yakima County (WA). [A two-minute video]
The May 2008 episode of Future Choices features Rachael Pine and Lisa Landau who introduce us to New York City's Nurse-Family Partnership Program. This undertaking pairs first-time mothers from low-income families with skilled and caring nurses who serve as mentors to the young women from mid-pregnancy through the child’s second birthday. In “Partnering for Mother Power" we learn why this program has proven so successful in helping the new mothers take better care of themselves and their babies, and to break the stranglehold of poverty. It may well be a model which could be effectively replicated in Westchester County.
During the show we learn:
- NYC's Nurse-Family Partnership Program (NFP) is part of a a national nurse home visiting program for low-income, first-time mothers, their infants and families.
- As Director of the program in New York, Lisa Landau recounted that research has shown the NFP program to be effective in improving health of participating mothers and babies and enhancing in the long run their general social well-being.
- Thanks to special funding secured by the Fund for Public Health in New York, NFP has geared up to serve NYC communities beyond Queens, where it was piloted in 2003.
- NFP is currently available to first-time mothers in South Bronx, East and Central Harlem, Central Brooklyn, and Jamaica East.
- A further outreach in NYC serves teens in foster care, women and teens in homeless shelters, and women at Rikers Island jail.
- The benefits of the Nurse-Family Partnership in New York (as in other NFP communities) include:
- Improved Prenatal Health
- Fewer Childhood Injuries
- Fewer Subsequent Pregnancies
- Increased Intervals between Births
- Increased Maternal Employment
- According to the Fund for Public Health's website, "The goal is to eventually make NFP available to all low-income, first time mothers and families in NYC (approximately 28,000/year)."
- David Olds is the progenitor of the Nurse-Family Partnership Program, which he launched in Elmira, NY, in the late 1970s. "By the late 1970s, Elmira and the surrounding towns in Chemung County had been suffering from high unemployment for some time. The incidence of premature birth, infant mortality and child abuse at the time were among the highest in the state of New York, making the region a particularly (if sadly) appropriate testing ground for Olds’ model." |Read further.
Rachael Pine, as director of the Fund for Public Health, is working with NYC's NFP to scale up to reach needy first-time moms throughout the city. | More about Rachael.
The teamwork between Rachael and Lisa Landau is a symbiotic relationship which works to the benefit of New York. Lisa came to NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene from the New York Attorney General's office where she was Director of the Reproductive Rights Unit. | More about Lisa.
Is Future Choices on local access TV in your community? Check here.
This page last updated May 8, 2008 14:46 .