Worcester's Unique Newborn Nurse Visit Program Boosted By AG Grant

WORCESTER, MA — A unique program in Worcester that provides home nurse visits for new parents and babies got a boost this week from the state Attorney General's office.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell distributed about $1.5 million in grants to 11 maternal health programs across the state. Part of the funds will go to Pernet Family Health Service, which provides free home nurse visits for Worcester parents with newborn babies.

Worcester once had the highest infant mortality rate in Massachusetts, but death rates have been declining over the last two decades after concerted efforts to address the problem.

Several years ago, the Worcester Healthy Baby Collaborative sought to establish the Universal Newborn Home Visits program using federal grant funding. After a grant award from the Worcester Together Fund in 2021, Pernet Family Health Service, in collaboration with the Family Health Center of Worcester, Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, and Worcester Healthy Baby Collaborative, began offering the nurse visits.

Under the program, any mother or family with a newborn can receive a home visit from a nurse in the weeks after giving birth. The nurse provides advice about lactation and postpartum depression, and provides help to find other social services that may help the family and child.

The AG's grant will help Pernet boost lactation services — including in multiple languages —and train multilingual staff to conduct postpartum depression screenings, Campbell's office said.

"These expanded services and workforce development investments will address the need for greater coordination of services and more equitable access to services for Black and Latino parents, thereby improving maternal health equity and health outcomes for at-risk babies," Campbell's office said in a news release.