| About Us | |
| Babies First! is Oregon's public health nurse home visiting program for children at risk for poor health and development outcomes. | |
| Vision | |
"The medical knowledge, skills, and resources we bring to clients gets us in the door . . .
the relationships we form have the potential for empowering and healing." — from an Oregon Public Health Nurse working in Babies First!
More than 8,000 high-risk infants receive over 25,000 home visits each year through Oregon's Babies First! Program. Nurses work within a public health model to deliver services to children from birth to age five with health and social histories that place them at risk for poor health and development outcomes. Public health nurses in 34 counties deliver services to families in their homes. The Oregon Department of Human Services, Office of Family Health, provides oversight and support to the local providers. | |
| Mission Statement | |
| Public health nurses are the eyes and ears of our communities. They are conduits of information about an array of health conditions, and inform systems, communities, individuals, and families. Their professional services are offered through a variety of programs administered through local county health departments and supported through the Oregon Department of Human Services' Office of Family Health. Babies First! is one of a group of programs that support families. It is a statewide primary and secondary public health prevention effort for Oregon’s families with children 0-5 years of age. | |
| Organization | |
| Annual Performance Measures | |
| Programs | |
| The objective of Babies First! is to identify children who have conditions associated with poor health outcomes, and then to improve the health outcomes of these vulnerable children through prevention and early identification of problems. Local county health department nurses visit these children and their families in their natural environments or homes. The nurses provide health screening, nursing assessment, and nursing case management. Through individualized intervention strategies, the nurse works in partnership with each family to identify conditions that place their children at risk for poor health outcomes. They improve access to and utilization of community resources, including health care, and assist the family to improve parenting skills and develop appropriate expectations regarding growth and development. A family survey conducted in 1999 revealed what families receiving services through Babies First! most value: information on how babies grow and learn, growth measurement, developmental screening, and health information. Each county uses the public health nursing services related to Babies First! according to the unique needs of their communities. "Babies First!" was implemented in July, 1990, with a phase-in of all county health departments over a two-year period. Today we are working closely with partner services and programs, such as Early Intervention and Healthy Start, to offer the children and families we serve a comprehensive, coordinated set of services to improve the quality of their lives as part of Oregon’s Early Childhood System of Services and Supports. Babies First! nurses visit family homes to provide the following services and screenings:
To make a referral to Babies First!, contact your local county health department.
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