Healthy Families
Overview
Healthy Families is a home visiting program for low income pregnant women. A team of nurses, social workers, developmental specialists, health educators and home visitors provide a wide array of services to families to ensure good prenatal care, successful birth outcomes, positive early parent/child relationships and optimal early childhood development outcomes.
Eligibility: Pregnant and Medicaid eligible
Areas served: Concord, Manchester, Seacoast and Derry/Salem areas
Contact: JoAnn Cobb, LICSW, program director, cobbj@cfsnh.org
Services provided
During Pregnancy, our team of home visitors will offer support in the areas of:
- Prenatal healthcare
- Nutrition
- Smoking cessation
- Counseling
- Family Planning
- Preparing for your new baby
- Early childhood development
- Alcohol and drug prevention counseling
- Access to community resources
- And anything else to ensure mother and baby’s success in life
After the birth of your baby, our team of nurses, parent educators and counselors will be available to make weekly home visits and offer support in the areas of:
- Post-partum healthcare
- Well baby care
- Nutrition for both mother and baby
- Breast/bottle feeding
- Screening for post-partum and maternal depression
- Infant brain development *link to info below
Babies are born with billions of neurons that make up the brain. The parts of the brain that are needed to breathe, for heartbeat and for reflexes are all ready by birth. Connections are made between these neurons, called synapses, which help pathways to become permanent. The early stimulation a baby receives in the form of language, sights, sounds, facial expressions and cause and effect helps to form the connections and keep them. The neurons that do not make a connection are eliminated to save room.
Babies who are not stimulated enough end up with less brain potential than other babies who are stimulated in a variety of ways.
What Parents and Caregivers Can Do:
Play with the baby. Expose them to different positions, sounds, sights, cuddle with them, respond to them and love them.
- Early childhood development
- And answer any questions you may have about your baby’s first few weeks of life
Your family home visitors will get to know you, your baby and your family. They will answer questions you may not feel comfortable asking others and will work with you and your family to strengthen your relationships, set realistic goals, overcome barriers and find helpful services in your community. Your home visitors will form a partnership with you in a way that makes sense for your family.
As your family grows up, your home visiting team will continue to answer your questions about:
- Effective parenting
- Early childhood development and play
- Toys and activities
- Appropriate discipline techniques
- Family planning and contraception
- Life skills including your next steps in education, work and finding quality childcare
PROTECTING YOUR BABY - SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is defined as the sudden death of an infant one year of age or younger which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation. SIDS is also known as crib death and kills 6,000 infants in the United States every year. The main way to reduce the risk of SIDS is to place your infant on his or her back while sleeping. Talk to your doctor about which sleeping position is best for your new baby.
The following are some other things you can do to help prevent SIDS:
- Keep the room at comfortable temperature. Babies should be kept warm, but not too worm. Make sure the room feels comfortable to you
- Make sure your baby is sleeping on a firm mattress, there are not fluffy blankets under the baby and when they are very young don’t place toys and pillows in the crib with him/her.
- Create a smoke-free environment for you baby
- Make sure your baby receives the appropriate immunization shots and is brought to the doctors if they seem sick at any time.
- For more information call 1-800-505-CRIB
SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME
Shaken Baby Syndrome is a form of child abuse. SBS occurs when an infant or young child is violently shaken.
- It is estimated that 1,200-1,400 infants are injured every year in the United States from shaking
- 25% of these infants die, and 80% of the surviving victims have permanent, lifelong disabilities
- One of the main causes of SBS is frustration. It often occurs when a parent or caregiver gets overwhelmed or frustrated and they take it out on the child.
- For more information of Shaken Baby Syndrome, visit www.dontshake.com.
Resources/Links
Referral Form
Download Healthy Families Referral Form (PDF)
NH Medicaid Application
Click here for NH Medicaid Application
Fees: Medicaid covered
