DALLAS - Texas is among the states celebrating a drop in premature births.
In Texas, early births were down 2.9 percent between 2006 and 2008, a recent report revealed. The numbers come from the March of Dimes, which credits a seven-year long campaign for the increase in healthier babies.
Locally, the YWCA's Nurse Family Partnership is helping bring down those numbers too. The group follows low income, first-time moms from pregnancy through their child's "terrible twos."
With regular visits from registered nurses, the moms learn the ins-and-outs of the toughest job around.
Registered nurse Holly Brown works with the YWCA's nurse family partnership and has helped give 10-month-old Genessis a strong start on life.
"Letting her have something where she can work with her fingers so she can start to develop the grasp," Brown said while giving at-home help to Griselda Murillo, Genessis' mother.
From nutritional to relationship advice, Brown is a lot like a life coach with a four-year nursing degree. For new mom Murillo, the help takes the guessing games out of motherhood.
"She's growing," she said. "I'm kind of clueless about what to expect next."
Research shows that one-on-one education reduces child abuse by 48 percent and cuts back on behavioral and intellectual problems by 67 percent. Plus, it saves taxpayer dollars.
"She had a virus and I was ready to take her to the emergency room and she said just hold off," Murillo said.
Advice like that is why taxpayers save more than $34 ,000 per family. Break that down and it's like getting $5.70 cents for every dollar invested in the program.
"When I come back later and find out they've been making decisions on what we've discussed previously, then you say this is really good use of my time," Brown said.
As for Murillo, it's the confidence boost she needs to believe in herself.
"She's given me that little push," she said.
To qualify for the program, mothers must be having their first child and cannot be more than 24 weeks along in their pregnancy. Also, the mother must be economically eligible.
E-mail: sslater@wfaa.com
