DRU/Mondawmin Healthy Families (DRUM HF)

Milestones

In February 2000, DRU Healthy Families (DRU HF) Program received initial funding to support families using the research based Healthy Family America approach. The initial communities supported by the Program were Druid Heights, Reservoir Hill and Upton. At that time, Union Baptist-Harvey Johnson Head Start Program was the program’s host agency and the Families and Children Services of Central Maryland, Inc. was the lead agency.

In 2000, a parent support group was established to promote support networks between families in the program and provide discussion on topics of interest to participants.

In 2001, a Creative Literacy and Learning Playgroup was initiated to provide parents an opportunity to learn to maximize the caring moments for their children and to observe and model appropriate parent-child interactions.

In 2001, DRU HF in collaborative partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools and other community partners obtained funding to establish a Judy Center, which focuses on school readiness, at the John Eager Howard Elementary School of Baltimore City.

In 2002, the program began utilizing the national “Parents as Teachers Curriculum”. All DRUM HF program direct service providers, supervisors and program managers are certified as Parents as Teachers educators.

In 2003, the program was credentialed by the Prevent Child Abuse America’s Healthy Families America Credentialing Board (credentialing certifies that the program has met the standards for home visitations as established in the critical elements of the Healthy Families Initiative). The fact that the Program is credentialed demonstrates that it adheres to research based best practices in providing support to families. Though following specific guidelines, the Program still has adequate flexibility to be responsive to the needs of the community.

In 2004, the DRU Healthy Families Program accepted the challenge of expanding its area of responsibility for support to families and became the DRUM (Druid Heights/Reservoir Hill/Upton/Mondawmin) Healthy Families.

In 2004, the program was incorporated and selected its first Board of Directors.

In December 2005, the program received non-profit status—(501 (c) (3)--and became an independent organization within the Baltimore City Success by 6 Initiative.

In 2006, a partnership was developed with Morgan State University School of Public Health. This beneficial partnership has provided students who prepared the Programs first electronic professional marketing material and access to a Kellogg’s postdoctoral fellow who is working directly with DRUM HF. Other partnerships at the University have resulted from the one with the School of Public Health. In 2008, the Department of social work partnered with DRUM HF to provide a mechanism for our program to disseminate information from the National Library of Medicine eHealth resources through a web portal developed by Morgan. The web portal is identified as MINDS.com eHealth and will provide a mechanism through which staff and community residents, including DRUM HF participants, can access online technology through the National Library of Medicine. This data base provides information on healthy lifestyles and strategies that support sound health care decisions.

During fiscal year, 2008, DRU/M HF received one-year funding from Baltimore City to enhance program activities. The funds were used to support the following programmatic activities:

• On-site mental health counselor
• In home nurses to assess the pre-natal and post-natal health of mothers and assess the health of the infants
• On-site job development skills training, and budgeting and financial management training
• Outreach workers to recruit pregnant women to participate and to enhance visibility in the communities serviced
• On-site workshops provided by nurses and mental health counselor

In 2008, in collaborative partnership with Johns Hopkins, DRUM HF and other home visiting programs in the city developed critical evaluation strategies to assess the unhealthy habits and behaviors of parents that could negatively impact birth outcomes.

In its nine years of service, DRUM Healthy Families enhancement programs have expanded to meet the needs of the families and children that we serve. The outreach and educational activities have had a significant impact on infant mortality among families that we support. There has been no infant mortality of any target child in the program. During fiscal year 2008, the percentage of low birth weights among families supported was substantially lower than the overall percentage in the communities supported. The families that participate in the programs are more self reliant, exhibit improved parenting skills and are capable of supporting their children so that they may thrive physically, emotionally and socially. As we continue to expand our support to families in Baltimore City, we will expand our collaborations with other individuals, agencies and stakeholders interested in advancing the health, safety, school readiness, self sufficiency and rights of families and children.