What a supprise: Clothing ad with plea for nursing group & adequate medicaid funding

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Received a monthly notice re sale at Catherine Shops only to find 2/3 of circular about a nursing group Nurses for Newborns and need to overhaul medicaid system.... Reprinting info from Charming Shops website.

Shron Rohrbach must have made quite an imppression on Charming Shopes CEO Dorrit Bern too have this type of informational mailing. Glad to know some of my shopping dollars are supporting worthy nursing groups. Karen

Our CEO Dorrit Bern is passionate about issues pertaining to women and children. Each month, in "Speaking Woman to Woman" you will be able to read information on topics about which Dorrit is concerned. Most importantly, "Speaking Woman to Woman" is a two-way street, and we invite your responses and thoughts via e-mail.

This month's message http://www.charmingshoppes.com/contact/dorritMessage.asp

Dear Friend,

When the doctor who delivered her baby told Tina that it was time to leave the hospital, the 21-year-old was frightened. Poor and alone, she didn't know how to care for her tiny boy, Michael, who weighed only four pounds. Tina loved him from the moment the nurse put him on her chest after the delivery, but she was scared even to hold him because he was so small.

The doctor instructed Tina to take Michael to a pediatrician as soon as they left the hospital, but when she called, the receptionist said Medicaid babies had to wait three weeks for an appointment. Tina told the lady she needed to see the doctor much sooner because her baby was premature and she didn't know how to care for him, but the woman refused to help her.

Our nation's health care system was failing Michael just days after he entered the world.

Luckily, the helpful nurse at the hospital had given Tina the phone number for an organization called Nurses for Newborns Foundation. Just a couple of hours after she called them, a nurse came to Tina's apartment to help the overwhelmed new mother. She hugged Tina to calm her down and reassured her that everything would be okay. She called the Medicaid doctor back to demand a next-day appointment for Michael. Then she taught Tina how to feed her new son and wrap him in blankets to maintain his body temperature. She provided supplies for Michael's care and answered all of Tina's questions.

Over the following months, wonderful nurses continued to visit Tina and Michael, free of charge. Tina's parenting skills became better and better, her self-confidence grew, and Michael began to thrive.

Nurses for Newborns was founded 13 years ago by Sharon Rohrbach, an RN in St. Louis who was frustrated by the city's high infant-mortality rate and the lack of available resources for at-risk new mothers such as Tina. Most of all, Sharon was appalled by the inequity in our country's health care system, especially for babies, the most vulnerable among us.

"We have two systems of health care: one for people who have a private medical insurance card, and one for those who don't," Sharon says, "and this disparity is killing our children." Earlier this year, the Center for Medicaid announced a new policy allowing states to restrict Medicaid patients' emergency-room access.

The United States may be the richest country in the world and an international leader in medical research, but it ranks only 27th best in infant mortality. About 7 babies per thousand die within a year of birth in the US, compared to 3.6 babies per thousand in Sweden. This is due largely to the exceedingly high mortality rate among babies who are uninsured or insured through Medicaid or state-sponsored coverage. With 7 million children uninsured and nearly 4 million children enrolled in government-funded coverage today, we have little assurance that they will receive the level of care we should expect--and require--for them.

It recently was my honor to meet Sharon at an awards dinner, sponsored by Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherines, to honor her wonderful work assisting babies and new mothers in need. Sharon was one of 100 VOICES winners this year--women who raised their voices to make differences in their communities.

Sharon urges all of us to write to members of Congress to demand an overhaul of our Medicaid system, especially for children. I encourage you to visit the Nurses for Newborns Web site at http://www.nfnf.org to learn more about this issue and her terrific program.

You might even be inspired to start a program like Sharon's in your community. America's children need us to speak out for them.

Sincerely,

Dorrit J. Bern

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Reply sent to MS Bern:

What a surprise when I opened my Catherine's Fall favorites coupon circular to find your message about Nurses for Newborns and the need to rehaul our Medicaid system. As an RN and loyal Catherine's and Lane Bryant Customer, I was pleased to see you taking advertising space to promote child care for our newborns. Thank you so much for promoting this worthwhile nursing organization, Nurses for Newborns that I was unaware existed.

In Pennsylvania, we are fortunate that TWO postpartum visits are covered under PA's Medical Assistance program and by all MA HMO's in this state. Philadelphia County even has a program called Welcome New Families for those without any insurance that provides for free post partum and infant well care visits.

As Manager of Mercy Home Health's Central Intake Department, I have seen our homecare agency become one of the largest Maternal child providers in Philadelphia, Delaware and Chester County areas as other homecare agencies are closing their programs due to cost. Our nurses see most premature infants within 24-48 hours of a referral while new Mothers receive a visit within 3-4 days as more questions regarding child care become apparent after a few days home with a newborn. We are fortunate that Pennsylvania realizes that early intervention and hooking up clients with needed services and organizations attempts to minimize future problems for our most fragile citizens. However, state government cuts puts these visits in jeopardy for 2004. We also provide many charitable visits for clients without insurance to get the mothers and infants aware of infant care and how to become involved with community services.

Thank you for helping to get this message out and introducing me to Nurses for Newborns. I have also listed your comments on the world's largest nursing bulletin board, allnurses.com. https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43866

I look forward to reading more Women to Women messages.

[oramar]

Two thumbs up for all the fine nurses in this post. What great human beings.