Jacobi Medical Center recently became the first hospital in New York City to welcome the Ready, Set, Parent! Program onto its Maternity Unit. Ready, Set, Parent! is a hospital-based, award-winning parent education program designed by EPIC- Every Person Influences Children and Baker Victory Services (BVS) which focuses on the parent’s role in promoting developmental growth in their babies. The program is funded by the New York State Health Foundation.
Beginning with the hospital experience and followed by community workshops, a Ready, Set, Parent! Coordinator meets with parents within 48 hours of the child’s birth and emphasizes the importance of health, wellness, safety, and nutrition of new babies. The main objectives are to reduce the risk for child abuse and neglect and help parents raise children to become responsible and capable adults.
“The Ready, Set, Parent! Program is a wonderful addition to our unit,” said Donna Geiss, Jacobi’s associate director of Nursing for Women’s Health Services. “Any opportunity to provide new parents with important information about how to take care of their babies is always welcomed.”
The program began at Jacobi in mid-September and has been well received by new parents. “It’s gratifying to see firsthand just how much of an impact the program has on new moms and dads,” said Jennifer Cooper, EPIC’s Parent Educator/Hospital Coordinator. “Parents tell me how much they appreciate the information, and are eager to enroll in EPIC’s ongoing community workshops.”
Preliminary results of a four-year quasi-experimental study being implemented through a research partnership between EPIC and the University of Buffalo show that children of parent participants who engaged in the program at a higher level (attending 5 or more workshops) interacted more with their children, had higher parental confidence, higher parental self-efficacy or perceived ability to soothe their babies, and realized better outcomes for their children, who scored higher on a nationally standardized examination across five developmental domains: cognitive, language, gross motor, fine motor, and personal/social. Of the participants’ children evaluated, approximately 77.5 % had overall scores above the national mean.
“We truly believe that education begins at birth. By partnering with parents we not only tackle the critical issues of infant mortality, child obesity, and child neglect and abuse but we can also begin to address school readiness by giving parents the tools to stimulate learning right at birth,” said Vito J. Borrello, President of EPIC. “We are grateful to have found a partner in Jacobi Medical Center that is committed to providing the best possible services for new parents and their children at their facility.”
Expecting parents can learn more about Jacobi’s Maternity Services by calling The Women’s Health Center at (718) 918-5429. For more information about EPIC and Ready, Set, Parent! in the Bronx, call Downstate Regional manager Sylvia Figueroa at (718) 294-1494.
