181211 "Cruzando fronteras" (Crossing borders): Promotora and advanced practice registered nurses meet prenatal needs of underserved Latinas in New Orleans

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Rosa Bustamante-Forest, APRN, MPH , March of Dimes Mom&Baby mobile health center, Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans, Harvey, LA
Collying Salinas, Health Promotor , Hispanic Apostolate, Catholic Charities, Kenner, LA
“Cruzando Fronteras” (Crossing Borders): CHW working with Advanced Practice Registered Nurses to meet prenatal needs of underserved Latinas in New Orleans

Following hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005, New Orleans experienced an influx of Latino immigrants who came to work and help rebuild the city. Initially the immigrants were mostly men, but as it became clearer that work would be available for extended months to come, female immigrants followed. Many of the women had recently arrived in the US, and after having heart wrenching experiences crossing the border and making their way to New Orleans, they also found themselves pregnant and without access to culturally and linguistically appropriate care. In June 2007, through a generous gift from Qatar, the March of Dimes awarded to Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans a grant which included a mobile health center. In partnership with Catholic Charities, 2 advanced practice nurses (a certified nurse midwife and a clinical nurse specialist) and a promotora (all Spanish speaking) implemented CenteringPregnancy®, an evidence-based model of group prenatal care, geared primarily to underserved Latinas. This presentation will chronicle the experiences of “crossing borders” to integrate both the promotora's skills sets and the advanced practice nurses' maternity care expertise in implementing this innovative model of prenatal care. Client evaluations and pregnancy outcome data will be shared which support this collaborative partnership between essential members of the health care team.

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the different roles the Promotora (CHW) and the APRNs (advanced practice registered nurses)play in implementing CenteringPregnancy(R) group prenatal care for underserved pregnant Latinas. 2. Evaluate success of the project based on client surveys and birth outcome data presented.

Keywords: Partnerships, Underserved Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I serve as the Program Director for the project and as one of the advanced practice nurses directly implementing the prenatal services.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.