For first-time mothers, the sight of a nurse on the doorstep after a sleepless night with a newborn can be like a small miracle. The Northeast Florida Nurse-Family Partnership team has worked diligently to holistically build happier and healthier babies and mothers through the evidence-based home visiting program. For more than seven years our team, through home visitation and clinical counseling have formed trusting relationships with young, at-risk mothers to help ease them through the emotional, social and physical challenges of becoming parents.

At the conclusion of 2019 the Florida Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Initiative ( MIECHV) assessed the performance of their funded sites  and recognized that our NFP team accomplished the following:

•  In 2019 the NEF – NFP team’s retention rate at 12 months was the second highest in the state (69%).
• We exceeded the 2019 state and national averages in postpartum care (77%). 
• The team exceeded the state average for breastfeeding duration a 6 month period (39%). 
• The team also exceeded the 2019 state average for Safe Sleep (71%) and Early Language and Literacy (80%).

Many thanks to the 2019 UF Health Jacksonville and Florida Department of Health Duval NFP Nurse Home Visitors as well as the Nurse Supervisors for their commitment to excellence in serving mothers and babies. The local team was led at the Coalition level in 2019 by Tiffany Williams, now the Director of Administration, and Dante Buckson, current NFP Monitoring and Evaluations Manager.

Nurse-Family Partnership is an evidence-based, community health program with over 40 years of evidence showing significant improvements in the health and lives of first-time moms and their children living in poverty. Nurse-Family Partnership works by having specially-trained nurses regularly visit young, first-time moms-to-be, starting early in the pregnancy and continuing through the child’s second birthday. The expectant moms benefit by getting the care and support they need in order to have a healthy pregnancy. At the same time, new moms develop a close relationship with a nurse who becomes a trusted resource they can rely on for advice on everything from safely caring for their child to taking steps to provide a stable, secure future for their new family. Throughout the partnership, the nurse provides new moms with the confidence and the tools they need not only to assure a healthy start for their babies, but to envision a life of stability and opportunities for success for both mom and child.