Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Yuliya Moroz
NURS 305
11/19/16
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Community Outreach Paper: Nurse Family Partnership in Practice
Bellingham, Washington. The visit lasted approximately an hour and a half as the coordinator of
the program, Judy Ziels, described what NFP does and answered our questions. This agency is
located in Whatcom County which spans from the Canadian border south to Skagit county on the
West Coast. Prior to attending this meeting, the team did some research through online databases
such as the Whatcom County website and the Nurse-Family Partnership web site. From the NFP
website we were able to learn about the mission and goals of the program. We learned about the
passion this program has to help moms navigate through having a child. This program serves
women that lack support through this journey. The program includes about 64 visits throughout
two and a half years time period. During this time specially trained registered nurses to help
form special relationships with the mom and her family to provide a positive environment for the
child and mother to thrive in. In Whatcom County about 35% of the population is of childbearing
age (based on a population statistic for Whatcom County in 2015). This is the population that the
NFP began in 2012 in the Whatcom County area. It initially began with only two home
visit nurses and now has expanded to three with the partnership NFP has made with Lummi
Nation. NFP is primarily funded through the Whatcom County Behavioral Health Fund. It also
gets funding from two grants; Thrive Washington and Home Visiting Services. County General
Fund dollars also contribute to the funding of NFP. Research has shown that the clients in this
program who are first-time mothers are able to transform their own lives and their childrens.
During this research process prior to our visit to the facility I was intrigued. I have never
heard of a support group such as the NFP. This After doing some online research about this
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agency I found an interesting article in the Bellingham Herald which made me more passionate
about this agency. This article described a story of a teen who had a baby at an early age, wasnt
supported or educated through this journey which later resulted in the death of the infant
(Farrar,2013). This was a disinheriting article that cried for change and support in the community
of unsupported mothers. It was written in 2013 when the Health Department was thinking of
cutting funding for this agency, which then persuaded the council to not cut the funding. NFP is
passionate about helping women engage in good preventative health practices early on such as
prenatal visits, stopping cigarette, alcohol, and illegal substance use, and improving their diets.
They help parents provide competent care and help them develop a vision for their future.
My impressions of the online presence of the agency were accurate with the real life
program. We were not able to follow nurses on home visits with mom and baby due to the
importance of building a relationship that won't just last one day. The agency promotes that same
nurse visit the same patient that way they can establish rapport and trust with the patient. In our
meeting, we spoke with Judy Ziels who was kind, assertive and passionate about the work they
do at NFP. An observation I noticed about the agency was that they are passionate about helping
new moms. They strongly believe that early support can greatly impact a child later on in their
life.
This agency serves about 101 clients currently. The median age served is 20 with ages
ranging from 14 to 38. About 90% of the population is unmarried, 99% are Medicaid
participants, and 45% are without a high school diploma. The demographic population mostly
served is Hispanic and Native. The top schools that this program serves in Whatcom County are
Mt. Baker High School, Lynden High School, and Bellingham High School. The Nurse-Family
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Partnership has close ties with the school counselors and will get referrals quite frequently from
them. This is how some of their population gets connected with them. If a teenager in a high
school was to get pregnant the counselors from that school would recommend and refer them to
NFP. These mothers are not made to create this partnership against their will but are highly
encouraged. NFP will reach out to them once the teen or new mom agrees to the program with
the person making the referral. Referrals are also made by OB/GYN professionals, Women
Infants and Children (WIC), and Planned Parenthood. The requirement for enrollment is that the
mother must be low-income, first birth, and enroll before 28 weeks of pregnancy. The priority
enrollments are to teens and moms with substance abuse. Currently, there is a waiting list for this
NFP has been a support for many mothers, one of the conditions that creates the need to
seek assistance is the risk for depression which can negatively reflect on the upbringing of the
child. In a systemic study done, Young parents reported unhappiness, rather than poverty in
itself, as the most significant aspect of their childhood experiences that related to becoming a
parent, although unhappiness went hand in hand with adversity and material disadvantage in
their accounts (Harden, 2009, p.1). This unhappiness is what led some young teens to become
parents at a very young age. What was shown then was this was at a disadvantage to them to
raise a healthy, happy baby. NFP is able to partner with mothers and fathers to support them
Many times young teen moms are prejudiced and discriminated against which can cause
them to be secluded, lonely, depressed, and unsupported. Teen pregnancy has many prejudices
around it, Prejudice manifests in attitudes about an individual, but is based on our ideas about
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the group to which that individual belongs (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012 p.29). These prejudices
give us false assumptions about an individual. When going through High School I had a
classmate who got pregnant at the age of 16. Many of her friends turned away from her. She was
talked about and ridiculed. This led her to withdraw from school and raise the child on her own
while she completed her education through homeschool. Thankfully she had a strong family
support who helped her through this difficult time and helped her raise the baby.
A prejudice also formulated about young moms is that they are at fault, somehow the
male who takes a large place in the conception of a child is ridiculed or talked about. Sensoy and
DiAngelo (2012) talk about What women deserve is always tied to their relationship to men,
whether she be killed by a man if she is bad, or get the man is she is good (p. 87). In general,
the belief is that some women deserve to be ridiculed because she is sexually promiscuous and
unintelligent (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). These young moms are left alone to care for the child
majority of the time, unsupported and pushed aside. NFP realizes this and comes to the aid of
these women, to break down these lies of prejudice and sexism. They stand side-by-side through
A barrier that I now understand around this population served by NFP is prejudice and
discrimination. Many times women are blamed for the pregnancy and the way they cope. They
are unsupported and are punished for smoking or drinking. Although all of these unhealthy habits
are not good for the upbringing of the child, the scolding doesnt fix the problem. These women
are more than their labels, more than the prejudice around them. Instead of being discriminated
NFP teaches to embrace these women and help them through their journey as a first-time mom.
This empowers them to become great mothers that rear up great children. I will take this
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understanding back to my workplace. Although I do no work with pregnant mothers I do
encounter women of many ages going through addiction, abusive relationships, and loneliness. If
I do encounter women along my journey as a nurse who are in need of support through their
pregnancy, I now know where to refer them to. Instead of seeing the person as their problem
NFP has inspired me to look to the ways I can support my patients and connect them with
resources that are found in our community. I am inspired by NFP to empower these women to
believe they are more than the sexism centered around them. Women are to be celebrated,
Farrar, B. (2013). Nurse-Family Partnership program saves young lives. Retrieved November 20,
Harden, A., Brunton, G., Fletcher, A., & Oakley, A. (2009). Teenage pregnancy and social
disadvantage: systematic review integrating controlled trials and qualitative studies. BMJ, 339,
b4254. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b4254
Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2012). Is everyone really equal? An introduction to key concepts in