Healthy Families in the Nebraska Panhandle has been reaccredited as a provider of high-quality home visiting services to pregnant families and families with infants and young children. The program currently serves 95 families.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to continue offering evidence-based services to our Panhandle communities by implementing Healthy Families America’s model with fidelity. Research over the past 30 years shows impactful results for families participating in this beautiful program. Our team grew through the reaccreditation process, and we are delighted to know we are providing outstanding services to our families,” said Dez Brandt, Healthy Families Program Manager with Panhandle Public Health District.
Expectant and new parents are facing new stressors and have questions about their child’s development. Healthy Families connects with community partners like hospitals and pediatricians to support parents, meeting within the familiarity and convenience of the family’s own home. This program is an accessible, voluntary, and a well-received service.
“Healthy Families sites utilize evidence-based best practices to provide individualized support to families when needed most, and linkages to community services,” said Melissa Merrick, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America. “We congratulate the Nebraska Panhandle site, and we commend the staff for their leadership and commitment that has contributed to this most notable and highly regarded achievement.”
The accreditation process is based upon a stringent set of 12 critical elements grounded in more than 30 years of research. The process involves an in-depth examination of the site’s operation, as well as, the quality of the visits made by home visitors.
One of the primary goals of Healthy Families is to promote nurturing, responsive parent-child relationships. Home visitors in each community receive extensive training on a wide range of topics important to just about every new parent, such as: caring for a new baby, ensuring the baby is receiving the nutrition needed, promoting healthy child development, and coping with a myriad of other potential stresses, such as financial, housing, partner relationship, etc., that may become heightened with an addition to the family.