Orange County Nurse-Family Partnership Celebrates 10th Anniversary
For
Immediate Release: November 6, 2008
Contact: Deanne Thompson (714) 834-2178
(Santa Ana) - The Orange County Nurse-Family Partnership will mark its 10th anniversary November 10th with a celebratory event attended by program participants and their children, and local and national program representatives.
Nurse-Family Partnership is a home visitation program that provides support, education and counseling on health, parenting and self-sufficiency issues to low income, first time teen mothers. Program participants have demonstrated improved maternal and child health. For example in Orange County, the rate of premature births for Nurse-Family Partnership clients is 5.6%, lower than all other Nurse-Family Partnership sites in California, and lower than the overall state average of 10.7%. Mothers involved in the program initiate breastfeeding at a rate of 88%, higher than the countywide breastfeeding initiation rate of 85%, and 100% of the infants participating in the program are fully immunized at age 24 months. There are currently 155 families in the Nurse-Family Partnership program in Orange County; the program has assisted more than 823 Orange County families since its inception in 1998.
The anniversary event begins at 9:30 am on November 10th at the Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park Avenue, Costa Mesa.
“Statistics have shown that women who participate in this program are more likely to finish their education and move into gainful employment, and are less likely to abuse or neglect their children,” says Debbie Chitty, Division Manager, Public Health Nursing, for the Orange County Health Care Agency. Nurse-Family Partnership programs serve more than 15,000 families in 25 states. For more information about Nurse-Family Partnership programs in Orange County, contact Marcia Salomon at 714-834-8218 or visit
www.nursefamilypartnership.org.
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