East Stroudsburg, PA – Pocono Medical Center (PMC) today announced that it is celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of Nurse-Family Partnership on August 13, 2012 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm at the Dansbury Park on Day Street in East Stroudsburg.
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a voluntary prevention program that provides nurse home visitation services to low-income, first-time mothers. Nurses begin home visits early in the mother’s pregnancy and continue visitation until the child’s second birthday by providing support, education, and counseling on health, behavioral, and self-sufficiency issues. NFP is one the most rigorously tested program of its kind. Randomized controlled trials conducted over the past 30 years demonstrate multi-generational outcomes for families and their communities.
Mothers and children who have participated in the program have consistently demonstrated significantly improved prenatal health, fewer subsequent pregnancies, increased maternal employment, improved child school readiness, reduced involvement in crime, and less child abuse, neglect and injuries. Independent analyses has shown that communities benefit socially and financially when they invest in NFP; the RAND Corporation calls Nurse-Family Partnership “a wise choice” that has favorable economic return to communities of $5.70 for every public dollar spent on the program.
There are currently 112 young mothers participating in PMC’s Nurse-Family Partnership program in Monroe and lower Pike Counties. A grant agreement to expand Nurse-Family Partnership services under the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program has been awarded from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Public Welfare/Office of Child Development and Early Learning. This will enable NFP to serve an additional 25 families in Monroe, Pike, and a portion of Carbon counties. “This program changes the life trajectories for both mother and child, benefiting multiple generations,” says Ginny Sosnowski, RN, Manager of NFP at PMC. As of July 2012, Nurse-Family Partnership serves families in 41 states. For more about PMC’s Nurse-Family Partnership, please contact Ginny Sosnowski at 570-426-1688.
