Fayette store helps enrich lives of babies

Mark Hofmann

Apr. 19, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- A local bookstore is helping the community with a book drive to provide children's books to a program that connects nurses to first time, low-income mothers.

The Nurse Family Partnership began serving clients in January 2002 in Fayette County, as well as 23 other sites in the state, through a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

The program is based on a nationwide model designed for improving the health and social functioning of low-income, first-time mothers, many of whom are teenagers.

Developed by Dr. David Olds, the program has been replicated with three populations over a 30-year period and has been shown to reduce child abuse, subsequent pregnancies, domestic violence, welfare use, and the incidence of alcohol and drug abuse among intervention group mothers.

It provides those mothers of any age with home visitation services from public health nurses. Participants enter the program during pregnancy and are served for two years after their children are born.

Services are provided through intensive home visits by highly trained registered nurses who follow a curriculum focusing on several core domains: maternal health, maternal role, maternal life course development, environmental health and social support. Nurses help families identify their needs and develop strategies to address those needs, drawing connections to other community resources.

"Many times, these nurses bring things for the baby that the nurses have bought from out of their own pocket," said Teresa Furnier, the senior resource consultant for Fayette County Community Action Agency.

To help out with that aspect of the program, the agency contacted Borders Express inside Uniontown Mall.

Steve Lukac, manager of that Borders Express, said the book drive program is a company initiative where the managers choose a charity in need of books. The store already helped has organizations such as the Connellsville Patriots and the East End United Community Center in the last two years.

Beginning in the last week of March and ending on May 4, any customer who checks out at the bookstore has the option to purchase a discounted children's book for donation.

"We've had very good results," Lukac said, adding that they've had 12 boxes full of books, as well as some stuffed animals collected and transferred.

"We have 10 boxes back there now."

Lukac said the book drive is the longest the store has had and believes it's collected at least a couple hundred books with more on the way.

"It does us good to get a good reaction with the people we've partnered with," Lukac said.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0312-34246038