This Philly hospital is sending nurses to visit new parents to improve their health

Nurses at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital are visiting mothers and newborn babies at home as part of a new city initiative to improve maternal and infant health.

The Family Connects program aims to give new parents easy access to health-care providers in the critical first months of their baby’s life and connect them to city resources, such as mental health support, food assistance, and free portable play yards that can double as a crib and safe play space.

The program is free to any Philadelphia resident who delivers a baby at the hospital, formerly known as Albert Einstein Medical Center, and is supported by $1.3 million in state funding. Parents can get up to three visits from an Einstein nurse, starting two or three weeks after giving birth.

The nurses will conduct a health screening for mothers and babies, and can offer new parents tips on feeding, swaddling, and safe sleeping.

“We want families to be able to bond, to take care of themselves and their newborn, and not have to worry about follow-up appointments and reaching out to different agencies to get resources,” said Ebony Durant, the Family Connects program manager at the city health department.

Help with breastfeeding is one of the most common requests the nurses have fielded on home visits, she said. Patients have also asked for support dealing with postpartum mood disorders. The team has also helped families secure housing, complete birth certificate paperwork, navigate health insurance problems and apply for a driver’s license.

The program was originally developed in Durham, N.C., as an outgrowth of a 2002 initiative to combat higher-than-average child abuse rates in the county. Family Connects aimed to target all families in the area with support services — not just families at higher risk for child maltreatment, according to Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy, which helped develop the program.

Researchers have found that the approach can improve maternal health and infant safety. One study found that Family Connects helped narrow racial disparities in the rates of postpartum anxiety and depression for Black and white mothers who participated in the program.

Another study that followed Durham County families who received visits from Family Connects for children born between July 2009 and December 2010 found the families were subject to 39% fewer investigations for suspected child abuse or neglect compared to families who were not part of the program. Participating families also saw a 33% decrease in ER visits for children.

The program has since been replicated in several other states.

Maternal health is a special concern for health officials in Philadelphia, where birthing parents died of complications related to pregnancy at a rate of 20 deaths per 100,000 live births between 2013 and 2018, according to the city’s most recent maternal mortality report, published in 2022. In 2018, the national rate of pregnancy-related deaths was 17.4 per 100,000 live births.

Black women in Philadelphia were four times more likely to die from health complications from pregnancy than white women during that time.

Durant said the city has worked to fill gaps in physical and mental health care for Philadelphia mothers in recent years — and that Family Connects can help ensure that new parents take advantage of the city’s services.

The program has served about 120 patients in its first two months. The goal is to connect with 70% of the 2,600 parents who give birth at Einstein each year, Durant said.

If the program at Einstein is successful, Durant said, the city hopes to expand it to other birthing hospitals in the city.