MetroHealth Congratulates its Youngest Graduates
Thirty-one toddlers graduated earlier this month from MetroHealth’s Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) program, which serves low-income women who are pregnant with their first child. The women are partnered with a registered nurse early in pregnancy (before reaching the 28th week) and receive ongoing nurse home visits until the child reaches two years of age. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, those visits have shifted to virtual and phone visits.
Click here for a video with highlights from this year's NFP graduating class.
Nurse-Family Partnership, which was established in 1996, operates in 41 states, including Ohio, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Since the program arrived at MetroHealth in 2016, more than 300 babies have been born. Ninety-one pregnant women are currently enrolled.
The June group of toddlers is the second group to graduate from MetroHealth’s NFP program. A set of twins was among the 31 toddlers in the first group to graduate during a ceremony held at MetroHealth last October.
Through regular home nurse visits, first-time moms receive information on preventive care (prenatal care, smoking cessation, future pregnancy planning, etc.) and also are connected with local health and educational resources. They also get information on improving their diets and reducing their use of cigarettes, alcohol and illegal substances.
More than a dozen specially trained nurses check in regularly on first-time moms and mothers-to-be who live in the Cleveland neighborhoods at highest risk for preterm birth/infant mortality – Buckeye/Broadway, Central, Stockyards, Clark-Fulton, Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit-Shoreway, and Brooklyn Centre.
Those nurses and social workers who work with NFP help parents access the health care they need to promote their baby’s development and well-being; and improves the economic self-sufficiency of the family by helping parents access educational and employment opportunities and assist with planning future pregnancies.
The MetroHealth Nurse-Family Partnership has received support from private philanthropy (including The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland and the Myers Foundation) as well as public funds from the State of Ohio.
Founded in 1837, MetroHealth is leading the way to a healthier you and a healthier community through service, teaching, discovery, and teamwork. Cuyahoga County’s public, safety-net hospital system, MetroHealth meets people where they are, providing care through four hospitals, four emergency departments, and more than 20 health centers and 40 additional sites. Each day, our 8,000 employees focus on providing our community with equitable health care–through patient-focused research, access to care, and support services–that seeks to eradicate health disparities rooted in systematic barriers. For more information, visit metrohealth.org.
