As a resident of North Texas, you may be eligible* to receive a free in-home nurse visit courtesy of Family Connects North Texas.
Family Connects supports parents like you by bringing health care providers, community resources and families together. Our mission is to connect you with resources that nurture your whole family and support your child’s health and well-being.
What can Family Connects North Texas do for you?
Having a new baby affects many areas of a family’s life. Family Connects nurses are trained to answer all kinds of questions and are knowledgeable about the wealth of resources in our community. Here are a few examples of how Family Connects nurses can address your family’s needs:
- Baby weight check
- Mom health check
- Breast or bottle feeding help
- Postpartum depression screening
- Understanding childcare options
- Understanding of new family dynamics
- Back-to-work support
- Help with bathing, diapering and swaddling
- Safe sleep information
- Management of infant crying
- Financial resources
- Playgroups and parent support groups
- Early literacy information
- Family planning advice
- Scheduling appointments
- Healthy home connections
What you can expect:
Three weeks: visits are scheduled around three weeks after your baby’s birth
No cost to patients: As an eligible participant, you will not be charged
Registered nurse: All visits are made by highly trained nurses
For all: Helping all families regardless of income or background
Family Connects is a community-wide effort.
Research shows that when families use Family Connects, mothers feel less anxious, they learn about quality childcare options available to them, and their babies need less emergency care at hospitals. This all adds up to an enormous, positive impact on the community.
Aiming to reach all families with a newborn, Family Connects creates system change at the population level recognizing that the wellbeing of the parents plays a critical role in laying a positive foundation for their child’s development. Through a partnership with Family Connects International, MHMR joins efforts with local hospitals and the community in offering this voluntary, evidence-based, short-term nurse home visiting program aimed at providing physical and mental health screening of both parent and newborn while also ensuring their connection to a medical home and other needed community resources.
In addition to increased child and family well-being outcomes, the ongoing randomized control trials have shown that infants had 50% fewer emergency room visits and overnight stays during their first year of life resulting in a savings of $3.02 for every $1 in program cost. The researchers have estimated that cities similar in size to Durham, averaging about 3,187 births a year, should expect to see $7 million in community health care cost savings in the first two years of a child’s life with a $2.2 million annual investment in Family Connects.
Learn more: www.FamilyConnectsTexas.org
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Now serving Arlington, Hood, Johnson, Parker and Wise Counties
Family Connects North Texas is available to families who deliver their baby at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital or Medical City Arlington and live in the City of Arlington or have Cook Children’s Health Plan. It is also available to families who deliver at Texas Health Cleburne Hospital, Wise Health System or Lake Granbury Medical Center and live in Johnson, Wise, Hood, or Parker counties or have Cook Children’s Health Plan.
This project was proudly underwritten in part by the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation for those living in Arlington – Contributing to a Thriving Arlington.
