Nonprofit Working With Nurses to Identify Families in Need
Our Stories
Jan 20 Customs Partners Meeting Recap
Family unit Connects International hosted a community partners coming together on January 20, 2022, to take a look at the year alee and share data virtually current and future operations. The presentation included an introduction to members of our executive leadership squad, information well-nigh our nonprofit status, and updated data almost our internal operations and external relations.
Highlights of the meeting included a timeline for the adjacent steps in our nonprofit condition, the announcement of new Covid-xix guidelines, new and improved services to enhance our internal operations and spotlights on community partnership achievements and family successes. To continue sharing updates, FCI has established a new Q&A webpage to publish answers to questions that are submitted past customs partners.
Executive Leadership Team
Jan. 20 Presentation Slides
NEW! Questions & Answers Webpage
New Covid-19 Guidelines
Given current COVID illness prevalence, rapid spread and high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, and increased exposures over the holidays, FCI strongly supports the temporary return to virtual-merely visits as sites evaluate local trends and rubber. Our new guidelines were released on January 7, 2022.
View our Covid-19 Guidelines
Family Connects Names Sherika Loma, PhD, equally Executive Director to Atomic number 82 Nonprofit in 2022
Nosotros are excited to share that Sherika Hill, PhD, volition lead the organization as executive director mail service-launch. She joined FCI in August 2021 as director of evaluation & innovation and will oversee our transition to a nonprofit arrangement in the coming months to ensure minimal disruption of support services for FCI'south partnering communities.
Dr. Hill has many years of experience in manufacture, government relations, and academia towards achieving population-level impacts. She brings a community-focused approach to driving systems change that is informed past deep feel in healthcare assistants, public policy, and maternal-kid health.
In a statement near her new office, Dr. Hill shared, "FCI is unique from other nurse-domicile visiting programs for newborns, including those that are universal, considering we are willing totailor our evidence-based plan, implementation guidance, and policy support to the unlike contexts of our community partners. In doing so, we hope to have a bigger impact for families of newborns as we calibration with quality assurance and community accountability."
Dr. Hill was an internal candidate who knows FCI'south operations well, has built trust with staff, and has established relationships with our key sites and collaborators in her office equally FCI'south director of evaluation & innovation. Her appointment will ensure connected growth without disruption as we ready to launch as a NPO.
Family Connects International (FCI) to Launch as Nonprofit in 2022
FCI began in 2001 under the leadership of Kenneth Dodge, PhD, with the generous support of the Duke Endowment. Since the get-go pilot site in Durham, NC, in 2008, the program has expanded to over 40 communities across the nation. The number and population reach of our community partnerships continue to increase with new statewide initiatives expected in the upcoming year.
To facilitate our growth into a national program, FCI was launched as a new business organization in Fall 2021 with an initial lath of directors who promptly filed for nonprofit status. As an established organization with a proven track record, the designation is anticipated for 2022 at which fourth dimension FCI will transition its existing administration that is shared between Duke University and the Center for Child and Family unit Health into a single entity.
Our goal is to partner with communities in universally reaching at least fourscore% of their newborns' families.
Returning to in-home visits: Flexibility is fundamental to safety
July 20, 2021
With national vaccination rates increasing and coronavirus cases decreasing, FCI has authorized a return to in-habitation support. Family Connects sites are exploring what this looks like for their communities. For sites that launched during the coronavirus pandemic, it will exist the kickoff time they're visiting families in person. "It is a big adjustment," says Emily Wright, Acting Director of Nursing. "We are recommending a gradual arroyo, specially for sites new to in-domicile visits."
Local regulations differ and disease prevalence can change quickly, so FCI'south guidance emphasizes flexibility and prioritizes safety for nurses and families. After a site'south habitation bureau and local health government corroborate in-home services, each site can select a visit format advisable for their community. Well-nigh sites intend to conduct full in-home visits. But several sites are introducing a hybrid visit get-go, where much of the visit remains virtual and the in-person portion of the visit will be express to brief physical assessments. In some communities the in-domicile segment is only for those families designated every bit high hazard; other communities will offer brief in-home assessments to all families. FCI continues to back up virtual visits every bit determined past the site or for those families who pass up in-person services.
Family input informs hybrid stages
In improver to consulting CDC and OSHA recommendations, FCI surveyed families who received a recent virtual visit to decide whether they would accept been comfortable receiving the visit in person. Visit length is a factor. Whereas 53% of families would be comfortable with a 90-120 minute in-home visit, 68% would be comfortable with a hybrid visit that included only 15-20 minutes in-person for physical assessments. A majority of caregivers also indicated that they would exist more comfy if nurses wear appropriate personal protective equipment or are fully vaccinated. Among other precautions, FCI is requiring the former and strongly recommending the latter.
Emily adds that fifty-fifty though the by fifteen months have shown the value of virtual screenings, many nurses are looking forward to seeing families in person again. "Being with a family is special, and nurses acquire and so much when seeing a family in their home environment. Making the drive demonstrates how important they are to the customs," she says. "Each family is worth the trip."
The Touch of COVID-19 on Family Connects
April 12, 2021
In 2020, we learned the respond to a question we never imagined asking: What exercise we practise when in-dwelling house nurse visitors tin't visit families in their homes?
Thankfully, FCI has an incredible squad who quickly adult and rolled-out a telehealth program to all Family Connects sites. And defended Family Connects nurses and staff wasted no time in adopting telehealth as a means to serve families during this challenging time. Still, the pandemic had a large impact on our ability to reach families with newborns.
The number of families who could be invited to receive a visit dropped significantly. Many Family unit Connects sites are part of local public health departments. This means that nurses take been pulled from Family Connects work, and some sites temporarily close down their Family Connects programs to focus on the pandemic response. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Family Connects also has been unable to visit birthing hospitals to tell families most the service and schedule a visit. New protocols had to be worked out with each hospital, and information technology became harder to connect with families.
In spite of these challenges,12,514 families received Family Connects support in 2020. And while the number of families who scheduled visits decreased, the rate of families who completed their visitsincreased. In add-on, families accept reported beinghighly satisfied with Family Connects, despite the virtual delivery of visits.
The best news is that nosotros continue to grow in our effort to ensure that all children and their families have admission to customs-based care that supports their health and well-being! Family Connects is currently existence implemented in 22 communities, in planning with fifteen additional communities, and in early discussions with several more than.
Supporting Families During the Pandemic
January vii, 2021
In Santa Barbara, CA, families are offered virtual visits through a variety of platforms — like FaceTime, Zoom, and WhatsApp — equally well as over the telephone. The Family Connects team has seen the needs of their families intensify, with the emotional stress of COVID starting time in the hospital where stays accept been shortened and supporting visitors accept been limited to ane person. The emotional impact on parents has been profound, making connections and referrals to resource even more disquisitional. When the squad in Santa Barbara learned that many families were choosing to filibuster the get-go pediatric visit due to COVID concerns, they implemented a program to loan baby scales (with consultation and follow-up), and so that parents could monitor their baby'southward weight and ensure the baby is making sufficient gains. They've also created online lactation discussion and parent discussion groups, giving parents the opportunity to ask questions and share experiences on an ongoing basis.
In late March, as the novel coronavirus pandemic began its crescendo, Family Connects International advised all Family Connects sites to brainstorm delivering nurse home visits via telehealth and telephone. This was no small try. New protocols and new ways of reaching-out to families with newborns had to be developed apace, just a stiff commitment to serving families with newborns informed all discussions and planning.
Since face-to-face outreach in hospitals is currently prohibited every bit a prophylactic mensurate, nurses are reaching out to mothers past phone to explain Family unit Connects and schedule a telehealth visit. Consent forms are completed electronically and nurses conduct visits through a variety of platforms, similar Google Hangout, Zoom, or a simple phone call.
AtFamily unit Connects Chicago at Rush Academy Medical Center, nurses made their get-go telehealth visits on March 23. "I'm just astounded by the high percentage of women who accept the virtual visit – 93% of women who pick up their phone and hear nigh the plan accept the visit," says Jennifer Rousseau, Assistant Professor of Nursing at Rush.
Because of fears of coronavirus exposure, some parents are reluctant to take their newborns to their kickoff pediatric appointments. Additionally, many small pediatric practices accept had to temporarily close their doors. Telehealth visits from Family Connects nurses not only offering reassurance to families, but also provide an opportunity to connect caregivers to a pediatric medical home and become appropriate care for their infants.
Of course, there take been challenges. Some locations had to resolve it bug with new platforms or connectivity. Community alignment staff are figuring out how to build virtual networks with community partners and navigate the impacts of a changing landscape of services. And for others, adjusting communication styles to adapt a virtual visit took practice.
Simply Family unit Connects staff have risen to the claiming, demonstrating creativity and passion. In Santa Barbara, for example, Family unit Connects staff developed an online lactation back up group. Family Connects North Texas created drop in "infant cafés" – a virtual space for families to connect with and support each other. Several Family unit Connects sites are offer interactive video back up sessions covering topics such as safe sleep and infant crying, and many Family unit Connects nurses drop-off diapers and other resources to families in need.
In times of crisis, relationships and back up — fifty-fifty when virtual — make all the divergence.
(Pictured are Kathryn Kaintz and Darlene Hepburn of Family Connects Chicago at Blitz University Medical Middle)
Family Connects Portraits: The Scheckter-Soliah Family unit
After the birth of their showtime daughter in 2014 in Durham, NC, Rachel Scheckter and James Soliah were introduced to Family Connects past an outreach coordinator during Rachel's hospital stay. They both idea it sounded like a great idea. Living far away from their families brought feet – Rachel and James knew they'd be on their own when they took baby Eleanor habitation. Considering James got no parental leave, Rachel feared she'd become isolated, trapped at home during the coldest weeks of wintertime. They looked frontwards to the visit from the Family Connects nurse, who arrived most three weeks later on.
"By the fourth dimension I became a parent, I had experience working as a doula, had a Principal's caste in maternal and child wellness, and was a certified lactation consultant," Rachel said, "Even with all that noesis and experience, there were things almost becoming a parent that I wasn't prepared for."
While the idea of a dwelling house visit may at start seem uncomfortable or fifty-fifty overwhelming at a time when new parents are already juggling so many things, Rachel says the visit actually made her feel less overwhelmed. A visit to her own habitation meant that Rachel didn't have to worry nigh bundling-up the baby or driving on icy roads to try and make an engagement time. Information technology didn't affair if the baby was asleep or if Rachel was in pajamas when the nurse arrived. This was a relief.
The health check on infant Eleanor was also a relief because she'd been born very minor and Rachel was working through breastfeeding challenges. The Family Connects nurse was able to spend fourth dimension understanding what Rachel's family unit needed in terms of support. She listened and didn't make assumptions.
"When a baby is born, it's really not just the baby that'south built-in," Rachel said, "A new mom and a new family are born, likewise, and they need an equal corporeality of support to grow and thrive." When Rachel and James welcomed their 2nd daughter in 2017, Family Connects visited once more. Though they had much more than confidence every bit parents the second time around, Rachel appreciated the reassurance and aid she got from the nurse. They were able to talk almost the new family dynamics that the arrival of baby Clara would bring. And Rachel learned about new community services that she was not aware of.
"Family Connects provided reassurance and cared for our whole family in a style that all new families need and deserve," said Rachel.
Family Connects National Snapshot (August 2021)
Given electric current COVID disease prevalence, rapid spread and loftier transmissibility of the Omicron variant, and increased exposures over the holidays, FCI strongly supports the temporary return to virtual-only visits every bit sites evaluate local trends and safety.
Source: https://familyconnects.org/our-stories/
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