Partners for Healthy Families Picnic Celebration

Jefferson County?The Partners for Healthy Families Program will host its 8th annual picnic on Friday, September 12, 2008 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Lakewood Park, 150 Kipling Street. (Lakewood Park is located behind and across the street from JCDHE?s Lakewood Clinic.)

The annual picnic celebrates the accomplishments of approximately 350 first-time mothers who have graduated from, or are currently enrolled in, the Partners for Healthy Families Program. ?The picnic is a wonderful way to bring together the mothers and babies our public health nurses have worked with over the years to share their stories, clothes and toys, and to just have some fun.  It also provides an opportunity for us to recognize the nurses who have made this program a success,? says Cynthia Farkas, RN, MS, Program Supervisor.

Partners for Healthy Families is a Nurse-Family Partnership program in its 8th year at JCDHE. The program was developed by The National Center for Children, Families and Communities and is designed to help first-time parents succeed. Public Health Nurses work with families in their homes during pregnancy and the first two years of the child?s life.  JCDHE nurses help the mothers with prenatal care, parenting advice, healthy nutrition, reducing their use of cigarettes, alcohol and illegal substances, enhancing relationships, planning future pregnancies, and mastering basic life skills. The nurses also help parents develop educational and workforce goals.  Typically, a nurse is assigned to a family and works with that family through the duration of the program or 2 1/2 years.  The Nurse-Family Partnership model has been successfully implemented in 24 states nationwide and has benefited over 20,000 high risk mothers.  For more information on the Partners for Healthy Families Program, please contact: Cynthia Farkas, RN, MS at 303-239-7074.