Meet Victoria. Victoria was at a turning point in her life, balancing a move with her partner, job loss, and college, when she discovered Healthier Moms and Babies’ Own Your Journey program during a class presentation. Though not yet ready for motherhood, she connected with the program’s focus on physical and mental well-being, finding support through therapy, group sessions, and career resources. Despite facing emotional challenges, including a pregnancy loss, Victoria leaned on the program and her therapist to heal. She is now expecting a healthy baby, nearly finished with her degree, and working in a field that brings her purpose, all thanks to the guidance, support, and empowerment she found through Own Your Journey and the Nurse-Family Partnership.
Read more about her story.
Meet Brook. Brook’s journey with Healthier Moms and Babies began when she was 17 weeks pregnant, she had just relocated and had limited support. As a first-time mom, she enrolled in the Nurse Family Partnership program, where she received consistent guidance and care throughout her pregnancy. Her nurse helped monitor her health, provided education on pregnancy risks, safe sleep education and offered emotional support, making Brook feel confident in caring for herself and her baby. After giving birth to a healthy baby boy, Brook faced additional life challenges, including adjusting to motherhood away from family, managing a health diagnosis, and coping with past trauma. Recognizing her struggles, her nurse referred her to Healthier Moms and Babies’s maternal mental health therapist, marking the start of her emotional healing journey.
Read more about her story.
Meet Damilola. Damilola, a 41-year-old mother, found herself unexpectedly pregnant after a decade, leaving her with concerns about her health, her baby’s well-being, and the financial strain of raising a new child. Despite her previous experience as a mother, the 10-year gap left her feeling overwhelmed. During a visit to WIC, she expressed her mental health struggles and anxieties about starting over, which led the staff to connect her with the Healthier Moms and Babies diaper distribution program. This connection brought her a sense of relief she hadn’t anticipated, as she was worried about the financial strain of diapers in addition to other newborn expenses.
Read more about her story.
November is Prematurity Awareness Month, a time to focus global attention on the critical challenges of maternal and infant health—challenges that are especially pressing in our community. In Allen County, 1 in 10 babies are born prematurely each year. This statistic stresses the urgent need for awareness, intervention, and systemic change to protect the health of mothers and their babies.
It’s been 30 years since the American Academy of Pediatrics released new recommendations calling for a change in infant sleep practice. Discovering that infants sleep safest when alone, on their back, on a firm sleep surface (crib), the “ABCs” of safe sleep became a shining model of a successful public health campaign as infant sleep deaths declined for 10 straight years to record lows
We are Life-Long Learners. When we decided to become physicians we made an unspoken promise to continue to learn—to do otherwise is to fail our patients. Every time we step into a patient’s exam room we silently promise that we are providing them with the best knowledge we have.
