JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — A grant to East Tennessee State University totaling nearly $5 million will provide nurse home visit services for first-time mothers living in poverty in nine counties over the next four years.
The school said in a news release that the Tennessee Department of Human Services awarded the grant to the university's Nurse-Family Partnership program.
The program provides services to women in Johnson, Carter, Unicoi, Washington, Sullivan, Hawkins, Hancock, Greene and Cocke counties.
The program provides service for mothers from prenatal care through the child's age of 2 years.
The program is free to low-income, pregnant, first-time moms in the participating counties.
“Nurse-Family Partnership is a nationally renowned program that has been in practice across the country since the early 1970s,” said Dr. Patricia Vanhook, professor and associate dean in ETSU’s College of Nursing. “The NFP is noted as 2-Gen (two-generation) program that enhances health and economic outcomes for the mom, infant and the family. The overall goal is a healthy mom, healthy baby, healthy baby and transition from poverty.”
ETSU Nurse-Family Partnership began in October 2016, with admission of their first moms in January 2017. The program has served 300 women since its inception. In 2019, they received 85 referrals, 46 new clients, and saw the birth of 31 healthy babies through the program.