Family Connects Resumes Birthing Center Visits
We’re thrilled to report that our Family Connects Durham teams are back in person at Duke Regional Hospital’s Birth Place, offering bedside visits to mothers of newborns and offering them an opportunity to receive a free home visit from a nurse three weeks after they leave the hospital.
Clinical Nurse Manager Karen and Bilingual Program Support Specialist Maria stop for a selfie outside The Birth Place at Duke Regional
These in-person visits are crucial in connecting with families and explaining the benefits of our program, which is available for all moms of newborns in Durham, regardless of socioeconomic status or risk factors. Karen Halpin, our FCD nurse manager, said she and our two program support specialists have received a warm welcome from new moms and hospital staff, and scheduling has been much smoother than trying to reach families by phone call or text.
Halpin said her team will visit the birth centers at Duke Regional two to three times a week and will expand to Duke’s main hospital by early 2026. When the program started, the nurses were daily visitors at the two hospitals, but this practice was interrupted after COVID and did not resume for five years because of new policies and fees. Those issues have been resolved.