When Lisa Bonfield gave birth to daughter Adele in late November, she was thrust into the new world of parenting, and faced an onslaught of challenges and skills to learn: breastfeeding, diapering, sleep routines, colic, crying, and all the little warning signs that something could be wrong with the baby.. This article is from a partnership with WWNO, NPR, and KFF Health News. It can be republished for free.. But unlike parents in most of the U.S., she had extra help that was once much more common: house calls.. Adele was only a few weeks old when a registered nurse showed up at Bonfield’s door on Dec. 10 to check on them and offer hands-on help and advice.. As a city resident who had recently given birth, she was eligible for up to three home visits from Family Connects New Orleans, a program of the city health department.. She didn’t need to feed and change the baby before packing everything up for a car trip to the pediatrician or a clinic. It was a relief; Bonfield was exhausted and was still trying to figure out how to use the infant car seat.. “Everything is so abstract before you have a baby,” Bonfield said. “You are going to have questions you never even thought about.”. [embedded content]. Louisiana is among the worst-performing states in maternal and infant health outcomes. So New Orleans is trying to catch health issues early — and get families off to an easier start — by adding health visits during the crucial first months of life.. The hope is that health outcomes can be improved by returning to the old-fashioned medical practice of house calls.. The Family Connects model has been tried in communities across 20 states. It began in Durham, North Carolina, in 2008, as a partnership with Duke University. In 2023, New Orleans’ health director, Jennifer Avegno, helped launch a local version of the program.. Avegno was concerned by Louisiana’s particularly grim statistics for maternal and infant health.. The state has some of the highest rates of preterm births, unnecessary cesarean sections, and maternal and infant deaths, according to the March of Dimes. A recent analysis from the United Health Foundation found that Louisiana was the “least healthy” state for women and children.. “We got to do some real things real differently, unless you like being No. 50 all the time,” Avegno said.. The home visits are free and available to anyone who has just given birth in a New Orleans hospital, no matter their insurance status or income level.. Avegno describes the home visits as going “back to the future,” replicating a practice that was far more common a hundred years ago.. “There is no more critical time and vulnerable time than right at birth and in the few weeks to months following birth,” Avegno said.. The nurses arrive with diaper bags filled with newborn essentials, from diapers to nipple cream. They weigh, measure, and examine the babies, and check in with the mothers about their health and well-being. T
