Nurses for Newborns Foundation’s (NFNF) Bridge to the Future program has been recognized by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for its work to improve the health of special needs babies. The Bridge to the Future program provides nurse home visits to low-income families with medically fragile infants who have been discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit, thus ensuring a smooth transition to long-term care in the home. The program has shown that infants served by the program are less likely to experience readmissions, inappropriate emergency department visits, child abuse, and placement in a foster home, and are more likely to have up-to-date immunizations and access to medical resources. NFNF, a Children’s Trust Fund (CTF) prevention partner based in St. Louis, provides over 15,500 home visits annually to at risk children and their families using specialized registered nurses. CEO Sharon Rohrbach began the Foundation in 1989 with the Bridge to the Future program beginning in 1991 with a grant from CTF.
[Full story in MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal July 16, 2008]
