Helping Newborns and Their Families Grow

For Stephanie, a Perinatal RN Case Manager at a local CHRISTUS hospital, caring for the mothers and their newborn children continues after they are discharged.

Wanting to find ways to support new mothers and their families once they go home, Stephanie’s collaboration with United Way’s Help Me Grow team is paying off for the parents and children she serves.

Help Me Grow Bexar County is an initiative run by United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County that connects families to life-changing resources to support families during their child’s early development. Help Me Grow Bexar County provides free developmental screenings for young children so their caregivers can track their growth, identify early developmental delays and better understand the support their child needs.

By meeting with United Way’s team, Stephanie found a network of support for her clients.

“In health care, we often encounter needs that extend far beyond the walls of the hospital like developmental support, parenting education, mental health, transportation, basic needs and so much more,” Stephanie said. “I learned that I do not have to create every solution myself. Sometimes the most meaningful thing I can do is find the people who have already built the bridge and make sure my families know how to cross it,” she added.

Stephanie was connected to two United Way funded programs which she now offers to her families: Catholic Charities’ Family Connects, a free, evidence-based nurse home-visiting program for parents of newborns; and Catholic Charities Nurse-Family Partnership, a free home-visiting program that pairs registered nurses with first-time mothers from 28 weeks pregnant up to their child’s 2nd birthday. Both of these are Texas Home Visiting Programs funded by United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County.

These programs offer newborn health checks, feeding and weight tracking, maternal health and postpartum depression screenings, safe sleep guidance and more. Because of Stephanie’s collaboration with United Way’s Help Me Grow team, the families who have their newborns at CHRISTUS Westover Hills are now connected and supported by these resources and more.

This is just some of the additional support that Stephanie provides the families who come through her hospital doors. Her hospital also includes United Way Ready Children Impact Partner Latched Support in their childbirth education efforts. She was also introduced to United Way Ready Children Partner Catholic Charities, which now provides their Nurse-Family Partnership program to the first-time mothers who walk through the doors of CHRISTUS Westover Hills.

“Discharge should not be the finish line for supporting a mother and her newborn,” she says. “Our responsibility is to make health care and community resources easier to navigate, not to expect a new parent to somehow know the right door to knock on or the right words to say.”

By bringing leaders like Stephanie in the community together, United Way is building a stronger foundation for the future of all young children and their families. This type of collaboration ensures that families with newborns will have support before and after their baby arrives.

“When we surround young families with education, healthcare, resources, encouragement, and genuine human connection, we are helping them put those pieces together in a way that allows the entire family to become stronger,” Stephanie added.

If you or someone you know has developmental concerns for their young child, please visit our website or call 1-866-GROW-210 to complete a free developmental screening.