Celebrating Successful Families

Partners for Healthy Families Ice Cream Social

"The program is awesome. If my nurse, Valerie hadn't been there, I don't know what I would have done. She was that one voice, that's all I needed. She really believed in me."

Heart felt words of gratitude spoken by Amanda, just one of the successful graduates of the Partners for Healthy Families Program. If you attended the ice cream social that was held on Friday Aug. 7, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., you would have heard several more from truly appreciative parents. This annual event is in its ninth year of celebrating over 340 first-time mothers who have graduated from, or are currently enrolled in, the Partners for Healthy Families Program. Fifty people attended the Friday event, which included current clients, graduates and their families. "We were delighted to see so many fathers turn out for the event this year. Their presence testifies to the fact that this program focuses on the family as a unit," commented Cynthia Farkas, Program Supervisor.

Partners for Healthy Families is the Nurse-Family Partnership® model, which was developed by Dr. David Olds of The National Center for Children, Families and Communities, and is designed to help first-time parents succeed. Jefferson County Public Health nurses work with families in their homes during pregnancy and the first two years of the child's life. JCPH nurses help the mothers with prenatal care, parenting advice, healthy nutrition, reducing their use of cigarettes, alcohol and illegal substances, enhancing relationships, planning future pregnancies, and mastering basic life skills. The nurses also help parents develop educational and workforce goals.

"I love the program. I appreciate everything that my nurse "Nita" does to help me raise my child," states Elizabeth - a client of PFHF . "I am moving soon and unfortunately it's to one of the states that doesn't have a Nurse-Family Partnership program."

The Nurse-Family Partnership model has been successfully implemented in 24 states nationwide and has benefited over 23,000 high risk mothers. Typically, a nurse is assigned to a family and works with that family through the duration of the program or 2 1/2 years.

Consistent program effects include: improved prenatal health, fewer childhood injuries, fewer subsequent pregnancies, increased intervals between births, increased maternal employment, and improved school readiness. For more information on the Partners for Healthy Families Program, please contact: Cynthia Farkas, Program Supervisor at 303-239-7074.

To view a slideshow of the ice cream social go to our flickr account at http://bit.ly/hBQKY.