Lindsey Butler: County looking at new way to help parents of newborns

About the writer: Lindsey Butler has served the last five years as nursing supervisor in the public health division with Yamhill County Health & Human Services. Earlier in her career, she provided home visit services with Babies First!, CaCoon and Maternity Case Management. She is a strong believer in the home visit model and thinks it works best in cooperation with community partners. She likes to spend her off hours hanging out with her two daughters and exploring Oregon’s wonders.

Yamhill County is introducing a new voluntary visiting home nurse program for families welcoming newborns.

The county has been selected to participate in the newest cohort of agencies implementing Family Connects Oregon, state version of a well-established national and international program. It replaces Early Connects, a strictly local program introduced two years ago.

Family Connects Oregon supports parents by linking nurses, community resources and families.

Locally, the program will be offered free of charge to all Yamhill County families. The goal is to help interested families get off to good start with their newborn, even if they already have other children in the household.

Family Connects Oregon is based on the Family Connects International home-visiting model. It builds on Oregon’s current home-visiting programs, but expands services to all families, regardless of income or background.

The home-visiting service is strictly voluntary. However, public health personnel are encouraging all parents to participate.

Having a new baby affects families in many ways.

The birth of a child is a big change for any family. It simultaneously impacts the family’s social, emotional, financial and physical environment.

Family Connects Oregon nurses are trained to answer questions and connect families with any support they feel they might need.

The program offers between one and three home visits to every family with a newborn, beginning at about three weeks of age. Using a tested screening tool, the visiting nurse measures newborn and maternal health, assesses strengths and needs, and links the family to appropriate community resources.

Research shows that 95 percent of all families have needs after the birth of a child, the mix being unique to each family. The visiting nurse works with families to identify what they need and want.

Family Connects Oregon aims to bridge the gap between parents and community resources, which has been shown to improve family well-being.

The Family Connect program was developed in Durham, North Carolina, based on needs demonstrated there.

Evidence showed families using the program had fewer emergency medical appointments for infants, and fewer Child Protective Services visits. It also showed a reduction in maternal anxiety symptoms.

These known benefits from maternal home visits are nothing new to Yamhill County.

In fact, the county got a head start by launching its own two years ago with the help of funding from the Yamhill Community Care Organization. It will give way to the new Family Connects offering early next year.

Family Connects will be offered in addition to the Babies First!, CaCoon and Nurse Family Partnership programs, which are currently being offered for pregnant women and families either with children through age 5 or children through age 21 years with high-degree medical needs.

Yamhill County currently has a nurse assigned to outreach efforts through the birthing centers at the Providence Newberg and Willamette Valley medical centers, charged with meeting families shortly after they give birth. That enables the nurse to get families started right away with a home visit, or to offer them a follow-up call in a couple weeks, if they aren’t ready right away.

Families of all kinds have shown interest, from those welcoming their first baby to those welcoming a third or fourth, and from those with private insurance to those with no insurance at all. They have found real value in having someone come to them and check in on how things are going.

One of the benefits to having a child in Yamhill County is that we have a lot of resources available, from classes through the early learning hub, to lactation support and nutrition services through the national Women, Infants and Children program, known as WIC. Having a nurse visit to help assess the family needs and connect them with such resources can make all the difference to a family feeling overwhelmed with a new baby at home.

The benefit of moving to a universally offered program is that all families can get access to this extra support.

Already, there have instances where families with no identifiable risk factors have experienced high anxiety that could have teetered into a more severe situation. By having a nurse already caring for the family, these symptoms could be quickly recognized and the families can be easily referred for extra support.