Veronica Barcelona de Mendoza, MSN, MPH, RN, Julie Huff, MSN, RN, Virginia Lee Salb, MS, RN, Maria Drewry, MSN, RN, Laurie Mehalic, BSN, WHNP, RN, Patricia Woollard, BSN, RN, and Lilibeth Grandas, BSN, RN. Family Health Services, Arlington County Department of Human Services, 3033 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 300B, Arlington, VA 22201, (703) 228-1285, vbarcelona@co.arlington.va.us

Arlington County Department of Human Services (DHS) provides Maternity care to a population that is largely foreign born, Spanish speaking, and low-income. We will present how delivery of Maternity care has evolved into a comprehensive service delivery model. In the past, the local hospital provided postpartum care, which was inconvenient to clients because of lack of physical space, high cost to the client, and poor show rates. After about three years of negotiation with the hospital, DHS opened the Postpartum/Newborn clinic in October 2002. A year after its inception, over 88% of scheduled clients attended their appointment. At six weeks postpartum, mothers receive their checkup, family planning method, depression screening and referral, and the newborn receives a checkup and immunizations. The clinic staff consists of one administrative person, an interpreter, a clinic aide, an OB/GYN nurse practitioner, a pediatrician, three nurses, and a lab technician. Despite the success of the new clinic, there was a need to intervene even earlier to influence behaviors such as breastfeeding, family planning, Medicaid application, parenting and bonding. Therefore, a new program was conceived to address these issues and others, within days of delivery, in a home based setting. After screening out clients who were already enrolled in home visiting programs, and coordinating with the DHS hospital liaison nurse, over 300 clients were contacted in the pilot period between July and December 2003. Now, the Perinatal Prevention Program is being offered to all DHS maternity clients and links clinic services for continued improved outcomes.

Learning Objectives: By the end of the presentation, the participant will be able to

• Identify data trends and how they influenced decision-making for a new service delivery model;
• Describe how a public-private partnership was negotiated for higher quality maternity care;
• Identify how clinical and home-based approaches to maternity care have removed barriers and bridged gaps in service delivery for the mother/baby dyad; and
• Evaluate outcomes of the service delivery model based on a presentation of preliminary data.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: I am an employee of Arlington County.