At 17, Camia Carruthers is expecting her first child next week. But she's not going it alone. She has the support of her parents, her boyfriend and Jeanne Kumlin, a nurse who makes weekly house calls.
For years, the Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency has been sending nurses like Kumlin to check on pregnant teenagers throughout Hennepin County and offer nutritional advice, parenting tips, and even free cribs and clothing.
Now, a new study shows those visits have paid off. The study, conducted by Wilder Research and released Wednesday, found that teenagers in the visiting nurse program were more likely to carry their babies to term, and give birth to healthy babies, than other pregnant teens in the Twin Cities.
"We would expect to see good things," said Mary Ann Blade, CEO of the agency. But this study, funded by the City of Minneapolis, confirmed that the service "really affects outcomes," she said.
"They're reaching the population that really could use the help," said Richard Chase, a social scientist at Wilder who conducted the study. Many of those teenagers, he said, live in unstable homes, or have never learned to bond with their babies properly. "They're doing a good job of reaching that diverse population, and they're definitely a vulnerable group."
From 2008 to 2009, the visiting nurses paid house calls to 526 pregnant teenagers or teenage moms, most referred by social service agencies, schools or clinics.
The study found that 95 percent of those in the program had babies with a healthy birth weight, compared to 90 percent of other teenagers. Similarly, 95 percent carried their babies to full term, compared to 89 percent of those not involved in the program. Both are considered key measures of newborn health.
The results also suggest that the teens might be more likely to stay in school, increasing their chances to become self-sufficient as adults.
