Celebrate nurses this National Nurses Week

May 6 to 12 is National Nurses Week so let’s take the time to celebrate all of the nurses we have here at five Family First Health sites!

During the week-long celebration, we want to draw some attention to our Nurse-Family Partnership program, which connects qualifying first-time mothers with an at-home nurse who visits through the baby’s second birthday.

It’s a great program that’s proven to bring success. Three randomized, controlled trials demonstrate that Nurse-Family Partnership delivers against its goals of better pregnancy outcomes, improved child health and development, and increased economic self-sufficiency. These outcomes contribute to preventing child abuse, reducing juvenile crime, and increasing school readiness.

In 2015, our nurses served 188 mothers with a total of 2,036 visits!

One of our mothers, Suleyka was attending Vo Tech when her daughter was born. She wanted to be done with school, but her nurse Judy kept encouraging her to go back and finish.

“If it wasn’t for her [Judy], I was going to get out of school. I was ready to finish, I wasn’t going to go back. She encouraged me to think about other options, think about the baby.”

Judy helped to walk her through a choices facilitator that outlined some the impact of choosing not to go back to school. Judy said, “So you don’t go back to school, so what is this going to do. You’re not going to graduate from high school, not going to be able to get a good paying job, not going to be able to provide the things your daughter needs or wants.”

When asked the best thing about her nurse, Suleyka shared: “When she helped me to think about things before I quit school. I thought nobody cared about it, but she really really cared and she was there for me.”

You can help us help more first-time mothers like Suleyka succeed through our Nurse-Family Partnership program by making a donation during this National Nurses Week.

There are four donation levels that let you make a DIRECT impact in one of our NFP homes. Making a donation is as easy as clicking on this link.

$25 –  Keeping them fed and clean – You get diapers and formula into the hands of a first-time mother for her child.

$50 – Get a move on – A mother gets an umbrella stroller for getting around in ease.

$75 – Checking in - This covers a developmental assessment for a child to determine that milestones are being met at certain stages.

$100 – Riding in style - This donation gets a car seat for a first-time mom and her child to keep them safe on the road.