Knock Knock: We are here for a Nurse Home Visit

Nurse home visiting has a solid history that dates back to the 19th century, during a time when basic health needs like hygiene and immunization were less commonplace. Fast-forward to the present, public health nurses continue to play a pivotal role in promoting health and supporting preventative care. At Child Health Partnership, our nurses center their work on building meaningful relationships with families. We recognize that each family has unique needs based on their lived experience, social determinants of health, trauma history, and personal childhood that all influence how they (and their children) learn, play, grow, and succeed.

Home visiting nurses wear the hat of not only a healthcare practitioner but also confidante, emotional supporter, educator, liaison, the list goes on. While our ultimate goal is to support the individual needs of each family to promote health and wellbeing, we are also looking for trends among our families that we then address through collaboration with other partner agencies. That might look like hosting CPR/first aid classes with the health department or hosting a dental day at the Free Clinic for our uninsured children. We are change agents for our community.

While a nurse is typically viewed as someone who takes vital signs, administers medication, inserts an IV, our nurses are focusing more on long-term health through education and empowerment. What that might look like is spending an hour with a mom discussing the stages of labor and pain management during delivery. Or it might mean walking a parent through a new diagnosis of autism for her little one. Focusing not only on ABA therapy and the next steps but also giving her space to process how she’s feeling and how the family is coping with the diagnosis. Home visiting nurses may accompany clients to medical appointments to ensure their voice is heard and provide further information after the appointment based on the provider's recommendations. We are fortunate enough to have the time, space, and autonomy to delve into more depth and take a more individualized approach to health than what is often seen in other healthcare settings, where insurance requirements create barriers.

We also get to have fun! That might look like singing songs and coloring with children to assess language and fine motor skills. Or it might mean bringing child-friendly plastic knives and cutting boards to discuss nutrition and childhood involvement in food preparation. Nurses have kits that we use to discuss common health topics that involve engaging activities for children. Glo germ lotion scrubbed on little hands to discuss how germs pass and the importance of handwashing or a massive pair of fake teeth to practice toothbrushing are a few of my favorites. We also try to find interactive ways to talk to moms about health too. Matching games to talk about what symptoms require a doctor’s visit versus an ER visit or a beach ball with questions to discuss self-care and the importance of mental health are just a few examples. Holistic care means considering not just physical but socioemotional and psychological well-being.

Although the child is always at the center of our work, we have the whole family in our minds. We have fun interactive models to talk to teens about birth control, we’ve talked with grandparents about new medical diagnoses or helped fathers get established with care for the first time. Child Health nurses recognize that raising a child takes a village and we want to do our part in keeping that village as healthy as possible. I’m pretty biased, but I think we have the best job!  

Becka Richman, MSN?MPH, RN -Child Health Partnership Nursing Supervisor