Teen Clinic enters homes to improve lives of mothers, babies
By Dana Benson
The Baylor Teen Health Clinic – which already offers innovative programs for young men and women at its seven Houston locations – is now part of a new program aimed at improving the health of low-income, first-time mothers and their babies through home visits.
The Nurse-Family Partnership is a consortium of Houston public and private institutions, including the Baylor Teen Health Clinic, that will provide home visits by registered nurses starting early in a woman's pregnancy and continuing through the first two years of the child's life.
Collaborative program
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission funds the program through a $1,615,341 grant. Houston-based Healthy Family Initiatives is the lead agency, coordinating services to be delivered by the Baylor Teen Health Clinic, Texas Children's Health Plan and the City of Houston Department of Health and Human Services. The home visits will be conducted by 12 nurses, four from each service provider.
At the Teen Health Clinic, the nurses have already been hired, along with a nurse supervisor who will coordinate services. Each nurse will have a caseload of 25 women. The program is open to first-time mothers, who must be at least 17 and be U.S. citizens with no history or evidence of domestic abuse in their household.
Health and education
"We're very excited to be involved in this program, because we know that we still have a large number of women that are not getting prenatal care in the first trimester," said Peggy Smith, Ph.D., director of the Baylor Teen Health Clinic and professor – obstetrics and gynecology at BCM.
The nurses will provide in-home education to the women on such topics as what's happening to their fetus and their body during each trimester, preparing for delivery, breastfeeding and readying the home for the arrival of the baby.
Follow-up during the first two years of the child's life will ensure that both the mother and child's medical, social and psychological needs are being met.
Proven results
"Our goal is to improve the health of the baby at birth, improve child health and development through better parenting and reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect," Smith said.
The nurse-family program was developed in the 1970s in New York and has been replicated throughout the country, Smith said. Evidence has shown it has numerous benefits for both mothers and babies. Benefits to the child include improved prenatal health, fewer childhood injuries, improved school readiness and, later in life, fewer arrests. Mothers who participate in the program have experienced increased intervals between births, improved employment rates and fewer arrests and convictions.
