2007 Annual Report: We're Here. - Visiting Nurse Service of New York

Expecting her first child at 18, Jeanette Vargas knows the value of supportive role models. She hasone in her father, who raised her and her two siblings by himself after her mother died five yearsago. She has one in her sister, who has a set of twins and triplets, all of whom Jeanette adores. Andnow she’s added to her support system by joining VNSNY’s Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP).pg 9We’re here for Jeanette’s— and her baby’s— future.“The program is very, very helpful,” says Jeanette, wholives with her father in the East 10th Street apartmentwhere she grew up and learned about Nurse-FamilyPartnership from her nearby health clinic. “A lot of thethings that I thought I knew about babies and pregnancyhave turned out to be wrong. There are a lot of mythsout there.”Myth: No fish when you’re pregnant. Reality: Some fishare great for pregnant women, while others should beavoided (because of their mercury content). VNSNYNurse Johanna Goepel provided a list to help Jeanetteseparate “good” from “bad” fish as part of an overallnutrition plan that Jeanette has embraced. “I’ve beeneating a lot of dark green vegetables,” she reports.“No junk food.”VNSNY’s highly successful and fast-growing Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is part of a New York CityDepartment of Health and Mental Hygiene programthat provides vulnerable low-income, first-time motherswith intensive nursing assistance, guidance and supportfor themselves and their babies. Introduced in theSouth Bronx in 2006, our NFP has so quickly hada positive impact on the lives of young mothers thatVNSNY was asked by the city to expand the programin the South Bronx and to launch an NFP program toserve the Lower East Side.During weekly visits, Johanna and Jeanette discussnutrition and overall health, what to expect at doctors’visits, discomforts and danger signs during pregnancy,questions and topics of concern—such as breastfeeding—and how her baby, a boy who is due in July, is developingmonth to month.On a recent visit, Jeanette proudly holds up a newbaby book and tells Johanna that she’s followingnurse’s orders: reading to her baby, every morning andnight. “The baby’s calmed by the repetition of reading,”Johanna explains.In a relationship that will last until the baby’s secondbirthday, Johanna helps Jeanette articulate and reachher goals, for herself and the baby. These goals includeJeanette resuming her education, getting a high schoolequivalency degree and ultimately becoming an ultrasoundtechnician, while guiding her son on a path to abright, loving future. “I want him to know that he hasa loving family and to be a good boy and do well inschool,” says Jeanette. “I don’t want him to roam thestreets like other kids do.”VNSNY’s Nurse-Family Partnership is here to helpJeanette achieve all of those things. “I help her takethese big goals and break them down into manageablesteps,” says Johanna. “I want to help her be as good amom as possible. By having loving role models in hislife from the beginning, her child can become theperson she imagines he can be.”The Nurse-Family Partnership, which is one of our Children andFamily Services programs, served more than 325 young mothersin 2007. Children and Family Services provided care to almost10,000 children and their families, more than half of whom hadcomplex medical needs.