Program Geared At Educating New Moms Opens On Staten Island
May 16, 2008
A citywide program aimed at educating first-time moms on what to expect when they're expecting opened on Staten Island Friday. As NY1's Amanda Farinacci explains, some pregnant women say they could not be happier.
Ronya Hall, 15, is expecting her first child in July, but it was not until last week that she really started to get nervous about having a baby.
"I can't imagine a human coming out of me," said Hall. "I'm skinny, and then I have a person coming out of me?"
Hall is one of about 15 Staten Island women enrolled in the Nurse Family Partnership, a Department of Health initiative that provides low-income women, who are first-time mothers, with free help from visiting nurses, as they prepare for the birth of their child.
The citywide program began back in 2003, but an office only opened Friday on Staten Island because priority to open sites went to other boroughs, where poverty and infant mortality rates are higher. Securing funding for an island site took time, too, as did finding a good location for the office.
The program targets women on the island's North Shore, who live in high density areas where low-income pregnancies are common.
"Most of our clients are teens, some have been referred to us via health care providers, some are self-referred, and some are referred by their moms," said program director Jo Ellen Brannigan. "But, for the most part, they are needy in terms of information about being pregnant."
The program costs the city about $5,500 per family a year. By year's end, the eight nurses hope to attract about 25 clients each, and stick with them for the first two years of the baby's life. The nurses do not offer medical care, but rather give information and guidance.
"This program has proven outcomes, and it's taken something that's proven to have outcomes in health, in child cognitive functioning, in lowering child abuse and neglect, in better economic futures for the families," said Lisa Landau of the Nurse-Family Partnership.
For more information about how to get hooked up with the Nurse-Family Partnership, call 311.
- Amanda Farinacci
May 16, 2008
Program Geared At Educating New Moms Opens On Staten Island
Amanda Farinacci Amanda Farinacci is NY1's Staten Island reporter. She joined NY1 in 2000.
NY1 En Español For all your New York City news in Spanish, watch NY1 Noticias on Time Warner Digital Cable channels 95 or 801, and Cablevision channel 194 – plus see a news summary page at NY1noticias.com.
Buy NY1 Gear! The NY1 Gear Shop is back and better than ever. Visit our online store to purchase our customized caps, mugs, shirts, and more.
Amanda Farinacci
NY1 En Español 
Buy NY1 Gear!