McLeod Nurse-Family Partnership expands into Clarendon, Sumter counties

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MANNING - Babies born to first-time, low-income mothers are at risk for a staggering number of dramatic health, education and economic disparities.

In South Carolina, those risks extend to one in five children born.

In response to this need, the public sector and private funders came together in 2008 to launch the Nurse-Family Partnership in South Carolina. The program was implemented by McLeod in 2014 and served Florence, Darlington, Dillon and Marlboro counties. In 2016, the program was expanded to Chesterfield County. In 2019, the program has expanded into Clarendon and Sumter counties.

"McLeod Nurse-Family Partnership was awarded an expansion grant to add nurses to our current territory of Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence and Marlboro counties, as well as grow into Clarendon and Sumter counties, which are currently not served by the NFP Home Visitation Model," said Kristen Miller, nursing director with McLeod Nurse-Family Partnership. "We are pleased to add two new nurses to an underserved area, helping both individual families and our community. This expansion would not be possible without the support of McLeod Health, the McLeod Health Foundation and our NFP National Service Office in Denver, Colorado. We look forward to serving mothers in both Clarendon and Sumter counties."

The McLeod NFP Team consists of two nurse supervisors, 11 nurse home visitors and two administrative support staff. The team currently serves 210 clients throughout the service area with more than 14,326 completed home visits since the program was launched in 2008.

NFP nurses work closely with eligible mothers starting early in their pregnancy and continuing until the child turns two years old. Through regular home visits, nurses work to improve pregnancy outcomes by helping women engage in good preventative health practices, including prenatal care, improved diets and reduced use of cigarettes, alcohol and illegal substances. The nurses will also work to improve the child's health and development by assisting the parents in providing responsible and competent care. The nurses will work with the parents to improve the economic self-sufficiency of the family by helping them develop a vision for the future, planned pregnancies, continued education and employment.

The program's results are substantial:

- 93 percent of babies were born at full term.

- 90 percent of NFP mothers had no subsequent pregnancies at program completion after 2.5 years, which is extremely high compared to the national average of 39 percent of mothers becoming pregnant within 18 months of a previous birth.

- 92 percent of mothers who enter the program without a high school diploma or GED are working to obtain one.

- 100 percent of NFP infants were on target developmentally, and 98 percent of infants had all of their immunizations up to date per age.

The expansion of NFP into Clarendon and Sumter counties was supported through private philanthropy.

Currently, NFP serves families in 32 South Carolina counties.

For more information about NFP services and eligibility, call (843) 777-6495 or visit www.fnpsc.org.