The Forsyth County Health Department has been picked to run a nurse-family partnership program that advocates say will reduce infant mortality and improve child health and the lives of mothers pregnant with their first child.
The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust has awarded the county $2.5 million over five years to carry out the program.
The program focuses on low-income first-time mothers. They will get help with prenatal care, improving their diets and reducing any use of cigarettes, alcohol or illegal drugs.
The program works by pairing the mother-to-be with a registered nurse, who will make home visits that continue through the child's second birthday. A national group, Nurse-Family Partnership of Denver, developed the program and authorizes local agencies to run it.
Bob Whitwam, the environmental health director of the Health Department, said the agency has been getting ready to run the program for a couple of years.
"Nurse-Family Partnership can substantially reduce infant mortality rates," Whitwam said. "The target is first-time moms, making sure they understand what the doctor tells her, developing parenting skills."
The program is not a cure-all for infant mortality because there are other causes, and the new program addresses only first-time mothers, not women with other children.
"It is a little piece of a complex infant-mortality issue," Whitwam said.
Forsyth has the highest infant-mortality rate among the 10 most populous counties in the state, health statistics show.
Whitwam told the Board of Commissioners on Thursday that he wants the program to start work July 1, when the new budget year starts. Staffing would include four nurses to be home visitors as well as a data entry position and a nurse supervisor.
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Program will aid first-time moms
