June 19, 2008 - Grant Enables Child Abuse Prevention Program to Continue

Hayden, ID -- Panhandle Health District (PHD) registered nurses will share their expertise in the homes of about 120 northern Idaho families in the next year with the help of the Archie B. Teater Fund for Children with Disabilities in the Idaho Community Foundation.

The fund awarded $2,500 to PHD’s Home Visiting program. The grant will enable PHD nurses to offer parenting education and support and community resources and referrals in the homes of families with high-risk infants and/or toddlers. Nurses also will assess conditions in the homes.

A variety of stresses lead to a designation of high risk—disabilities, financial struggles, unemployment, family discord, prematurity, medical fragility and more. The Home Visiting program was designed to help prevent abuse and neglect such stresses on a family can cause.

Families are referred to the program by friends, family, social workers, doctors, neighbors and others. Some families seek the help themselves.

“This grant means we’ll be able to continue providing home visits with no interruption,” says Theresa Hylsky, PHD’s High Risk Infant program coordinator. “No one else provides this service in North Idaho.”

PHD’s Home Visiting program provides a registered nurse for each of the five northern counties. Nurses visit most families twice and stay as long as 90 minutes each time. After the home visits, nurses stay available to families by phone for up to three years.

In six years, the program’s nurses have visited more than 800 families. They’ve held babies that tested positive for methamphetamines and babies with severe disabilities. They’ve advised teen mothers.

“We can teach parents how to promote their baby’s brain development and help ensure those babies start with a secure foundation,” Hylsky says.

The Home Visiting program depends on grants to continue. The Archie B. Teater Fund for Children with Disabilities in the Idaho Community Foundation will cover about 10 percent of the annual cost to run the program.

###