The Nurse-Family Partnership program in South Carolina is expanding as announced by Gov. Nikki Haley at the Statehouse on Feb. 16, 2016. This program aims to help the mothers-to-be who are under Medicaid program for them to be healthier including their babies.
South Carolina had an additional of 3,200 first-time moms and their babies to the program, which recently had 1,200 families that are already in it. The program offers professional nurses who underwent training in maternal and child health.
They go to the houses of the first-time mothers who are in Medicaid to help them. Two-thirds of these cases are in the rural areas and the assistance program starts from the pregnancy stage until the child turns 2 years of age.
According to News 2, Gov. Haley said, "These new moms want to be the best moms they can be, but they need guidance and they need help, and that's where these nurses are going to come in." He added, "These aren't just case workers; these are actual nurses that are going to go into homes. These are actual nurses that are going to partner with the mom to say, 'You can do this' and give them all the practices on how they can do it."
Gov. Haley's view for this program expansion is a big help to save the taxpayer's money in the long run. With the guidance of these professional nurses, there will be lesser pre-term births for pregnant women, less admissions to NICU for newborn babies and lesser number of children who gets injuries because of the proper care of their mother.
This means the nurses who helped and assisted the first-time mothers has a big role in reducing the cost for the Medicaid program and saves the taxpayer's money. The amount of money that the state put in to this Medicaid program is $13 million and Philanthropic groups such as BlueCross BlueShield, Boeing, The Duke Endowment, Greenville First Steps, and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation has donated a total of $17 million.
