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American Public Health Association
133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition
December 10-14, 2005
Philadelphia, PA
APHA 2005
 
Session: March of Dimes NICU Family Support: Incorporating and Building Communities
5152.0: Wednesday, December 14, 2005: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM
Oral
March of Dimes NICU Family Support: Incorporating and Building Communities
Each year, over 400,000 babies are admitted to a Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the United States.  The hospitalization of a newborn in a NICU can be one of the most overwhelming experiences for a parent. Support is critical to families, so they can be empowered to be primary caregivers of their infant.  It is not enough, however, to identify a method for supporting families and to proceed with implementation.  Instead, it is through the incorporation of the community's voice - local NICU families who endure this experience and NICU professionals who work in this setting every day - that the most effective programs, services and materials can be created.  March of Dimes NICU Family Support, currently in 23 NICUs, is a national initiative aimed at bringing information and comfort to NICU families.  Through partnerships between March of Dimes Chapters and local hospitals, NICU families, NICU professionals and March of Dimes staff work together to construct programs specifically for the community that the project serves.  Most importantly, March of Dimes NICU Family Support designs innovative programs by building new communities of former and current NICU families who provide each other hope and understanding.  This panel presentation provides an overview of the project; a detailed look at how the project involves the community in all efforts; a detailed description and discussion of several NICU Family Support communities, including the SHARE online community, the Photo Keepsake Program, and Family Information Sessions; and preliminary results of a national evaluation.
Learning Objectives: *Attendees will be able to describe the goals, structure and programmatic content of the March of Dimes national initiative NICU Family Support; * Attendees will be able to identify the ways in which the community's voice is incorporated into each level of the project; * Attendees will be able to conceptualize at least three supportive communities that have been developed through NICU Family Support that bring information and comfort to families of sick newborns.
Organizer(s):Liza G. Cooper, LMSW
Moderator(s):Liza G. Cooper, LMSW
2:30 PMMarch of Dimes NICU Family Support: Incorporating and Building Communities
Liza G. Cooper, LMSW, Susan Clifford, Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH
2:50 PMA Photo Is Worth A Thousand Words: March of Dimes Builds a Support Community
Lori Gunther, MA, Liza G. Cooper, LMSW, Patricia M. Leece, MS, Susan Clifford, Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH
3:10 PMTime for Parents: March of Dimes Builds a Supportive Community through NICU Parent Education  [ Recorded presentation ]
Michele Provost, MSW, LCSW, Liza G. Cooper, LMSW, Susan Clifford, Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.
Organized by:Community Health Planning and Policy Development
Endorsed by:Women's Caucus
CE Credits:CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA