Valley-Wide’s very own Nurse Home Visitor and Nurse Family Partnership Board of Directors Member, Stephanie Carino, BSN, RN was featured in the Nurse Family Partnership Quarterly Impact Report. Stephanie updated NFP supporters on how they have provided a lifeline to help tens of thousands of moms keep their lives on track over the last ten months during the pandemic. Read her article below.
Dear Friend,
I hope that as you read the Impact-Report, you feel an immense sense of pride.
The report touches on just a few of the ways you’ve been there for thousands of new moms and their babies during this incredibly tough time. You know that this pandemic has hit under served communities and people of color disproportionately. But through Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), you have provided a lifeline to help tens of thousands of moms keep their lives on track over the last ten months.
You can feel proud that:
• Unlike many children in our nation, NFP children continue to attend well-child visits, including receiving routine immunizations, thanks to the encouragement and guidance from our nurses.
• You helped provide direct cash assistance to thousands of NFP families.
• Together, we’re advocating for an end to the inequities and implicit bias in healthcare that leave millions of families at a disadvantage.
Most of all, I hope you celebrate the difference you’ve made in individual lives—a difference that I know from my own life experience as an NFP mom will last far into the future. I believe the most important thing my NFP nurse taught me was to use my voice to advocate for myself and my family.
As a 16-year-old in the program, I was learning things about myself, my body and my baby that empowered me to speak up and feel confident in myself. My daughter is now 15 years old and a sophomore in high school. She’s thriving in school, sports and music. I can attribute this to being the best parent I could be because of Nurse-Family Partnership. And I credit my personal nurse with inspiring me to become a nurse, an NFP nurse in southern Colorado in fact.
Looking ahead, I hope you’re as excited as I am by the many possibilities created by our recent merger with Child First. Together, our unified organization is poised to make an even greater impact and to offer a holistic continuum of care for families in the midst of the pandemic and beyond. We’ll share more about the merger in our next report to you.
There is plenty of work to do, but it is important, worthwhile and rewarding work. Thank you for continuing on this journey with us and with every NFP mom. We could not do this without you.
Gratefully,
Stephanie Carino, BSN, RN
NFP Nurse Home Visitor, NFP Board of Directors Member
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a nationwide, free, voluntary program for low-income, first-time mothers. Program services begin in pregnancy and proceed until the child’s second birthday. Please call 1-833-350-1113 for more information or to sign up for available program slots. To learn more about this national effort, visit The Nurse Family Partnership website at https://www.nursefamilypartnership.org/.
