Seraiah Johnson-Joiner is so close to walking her mother Serenah Johnson can’t stand it. In their home in Northwest Austin, Johnson watches Seraiah closely, just weeks before her first birthday.
Nurse Renee Damron also watches after measuring Seraiah’s vitals including her height and head size and listening to her heartbeat.
On this day last month, Damron is visiting Seraiah and her family as part of the Nurse-Family Partnership, a national program administered locally by Any Baby Can that helps first-time mothers through their pregnancies and the first two years of their babies’ lives.
Seraiah Johnson-Joiner, 1, gets visited every two weeks by a nurse from Any Baby Can to make sure she’s growing well. Nicole Villalpando/American-Statesman
Any Baby Can, which started administering the program in 2008, now hopes to double the number of families it can serve in 2018 by adding a second team of eight nurses, one supervisor and an administrator. Each team handles 200 families a year. The expansion will allow Any Baby Can to serve moms outside of Travis County, with an emphasis on expanding first to Williamson County and later to Hays and Bastrop counties. Currently more than 80 mothers are on the waiting list in Travis County.
To do this expansion, Any Baby Can has received a new grant of $432,000 from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and an $80,000 grant from Impact Austin.
Mothers served by this program enter it when they are 16 to 28 weeks gestation. They have to be below 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Any Baby Can has had moms from age 11 to age 43 in its program.
Any Baby Can nurse Renee Damron meets with Serenah Johnson, 18, and her daughter Seraiah Johnson-Joiner, 1, as part of the Nurse-Family Partnership. Nicole Villalpando/American-Statesman
Each nurse stays with the same mothers until they graduate from the program when her child turns 2. She meets with the family every two weeks and sets goals for the family that can be about their baby’s health or milestones or about the mom’s life.
Since Nurse-Family Partnership began, studies have shown that it helps both mom and baby.
Some reported study findings:
- In Elmira, N.Y., researchers found a 48 percent reduction in child abuse cases among families enrolled in NFP, and 56 percent less emergency room visits because of injuries or ingesting something.
- In a Memphis study, mothers who were in the NFP program made $12,300 more a year than the control group by the time their child turned 12.
- In that same study, the NFP mothers were twice as likely to be employed by the time their child turned 2.
- These mothers also delayed a second pregnancy. In a study in Elmira, N.Y., the NFP moms had a second child 12 1/2 months later than the control group.
- A Denver study found the children who had been in NFP were less likely to have emotional or behavioral problems or attention disorders at ages 6 and 9.
Johnson has seen it in her own life. When she became pregnant at age 17, she hid it from many people, including her high school softball team and coach, but finally confessed to her school nurse, who was able to connect her with Any Baby Can.
“At first, I was kind of skeptical about would she answer the phone,” she says of the first time she talked to Damron.
“She was really reassuring,” Johnson says.
Johnson says she learns things from Damron that she never really would have known even though she helped raise her little sister.
Damron has helped Johnson figure out how to finish high school, and find a program to start Austin Community College to become a dental hygienist. She’s also helped coach Johnson through how to make breast-feeding work for her. She’s working with Johnson on adding more solid foods into Seraiah’s diet and how to add reading books to her and playing with educational toys.
“She inspires me,” Damron says of Johnson. “She’s a really good mom.”
Any Baby Can typically hires nurses who have worked in pediatrics or neonatal care to be in the program. What Damron likes is that she gets to stay with a patient for more than two years.
“I’m your nurse, but also your mentor,” Damron tells Johnson.
Renee Damron measures the head of Seraiah Johnson-Joiner, 1, while she’s held by her mother Serenah Johnson, 18. Nicole Villalpando/American-Statesman
Even though Damron takes measurements on Seraiah, she isn’t meant to replace well-check appointments, but if Damron saw something that raised a red flag she would tell Johnson to ask the pediatrician about that or could refer her to other early childhood programs, some of which are also administered by Any Baby Can.
Often, NFP nurses can catch something before a pediatrician might find it because they see the children every two weeks instead of ever two to three months that first year.
Nurse-Family Partnership involves the whole family, so Damron also includes Johnson’s mom and step-father, her sister, and even her grandparents in supporting Johnson. Johnson’s boyfriend and Seraiah’s father, Jaylon Joiner, is also involved in the program.
“It’s helped me learn more about what I didn’t know,” he says. He likes to bet with Damron how big Seraiah has grown. “Overall, it’s been a great program,” he says.
As Damron goes over the goals from last time and helps Johnson and Joiner set the goals for this time, she tells them, “I’m super proud of you; I’m super proud of you both.”
Nurse-Family Partnership
Find out more about this program through Any Baby Can, anybabycan.org, 512-454-3743.
