Lise Kennedy and Pat Bennett from Healthy Families of Sullivan County Tell Us About their Important Work
Sometimes the darkest tragedies can bring about something good. Such is the case with the Healthy Families Program of Sullivan County, which was brought to our county in response to the Christopher Gardner abuse and murder The program is designed to teach quality parenting techniques and monitor those families most in need through the time their child begins school.
“The idea, is that people abuse and neglect their children due to stress from their childhood, poverty under-education, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence..,” says Lise Kennedy the program’s coordinator.
The group tries to get a referral on every person that is pregnant in the county and reach out to them. If the person agrees to an interview, an assessment worker goes out to evaluate their parental strengths and determine if there is a risk. Those at risk are offered a home visitor, whose role is to be a care-giving assistant, much like an aunt that might drop by to assist. This assistance may include a search for housing and development of parenting skills. Each visit is about an hour and helps families develop goals that lead to a healthy birth, healthy home, and long term goals such as planning the child’s education. The home visitor goes out to the residence every one to two weeks during pregnancy, and then about once a week for about 6 months, but these visits may last up until the child reaches school age. “The ultimate goal is to assist parents so they don’t feel that they are a victim of their children,” Kennedy said.
Most of Healthy Families’ referrals are through WIC. A large amount of the families are non-English speakers of poverty and domestic violence. While working with the family, they try to educate them in terms of family planning, getting food stamps, services.… Each caseworker has a limited caseload and has the time to devote to the family’s well-being.
Under Healthy Families, Pat Bennett started The Car Seat Program, which was originally at BOCES. When started, there was only 1 technician at BOCES who had the summer off. Numbers have varied, but now there are 16 technicians serving our county. Last year 479 car seats were provided to those in need. This program has won awards for their outstanding work. The data indicated that they had decreased infant mortality in our area by as much as 80%.
Clinics are held twice a month and appointments are scheduled to teach further parenting skills, provide rattles, tooth brushing techniques… Each person is provided with a technician who teaches how to install the seat and how to place the baby in it. Then the parent has to demonstrate how to install it. Evidence shows over 80% of car seats are installed incorrectly, so this education is deemed essential. The program is granted from the Governor’s Traffic Safety program.
Another program Pat Bennett started was Cribs for Kids. This was needed, because many parents used unsafe sleeping quarters for their babies. 243 cribs have been provided to families that lacked an appropriate place for their children to sleep. The organization only gives cribs if the family has no place to put the baby, can’t afford one, and the crib will become the primary sleeping place for a child. To qualify, families must already be receiving some kind of assistance to indicate need. The crib is connected to an educational piece, where expecting mothers learn about safe sleep environments for babies. The program is now out of money and cribs. They are hoping for donations. A crib costs $50, which is a Pack N Play.
Healthy Families’ placement at public health allows coordination with any services the families may need. The focus is on the one baby (“the target child”), but the whole family is always considered.
Thank you to Lise and Pat for coming by to share the details of this valuable program. We hope our donation to your crib program may play a small part in continuing the program. If you woud like to contact the program, you can do so at (845) 292-5910 Extension 2246.