AHC & WEF Collaboration Program: Family Connects
Austin Healthcare Council & World Economic Forum Healthy Cities & Communities Initiative Selects:
Family Connects
As part of the Austin Healthcare Council (AHC) and the City of Austin’s collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF), the AHC is choosing a series of local projects that can be boosted through cross-collaboration with our member organizations. To fit within the WEF project framework, a community project must be preventative in nature and leverage technology to achieve improved outcomes. If successful, each project could then be used as a blueprint to replicate similar health outcomes worldwide, with support and guidance from the Austin Healthcare Council, our city partners, and the World Economic Forum Healthy Cities & Communities Initiative.
About Family Connects
Family Connects is our first project to grow under this mantle, and we are already seeing positive results. The Family Connects program was initially developed by The Duke Endowment and the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, and has been spearheaded locally by United Way for Greater Austin. Through the program, a family with a newborn is visited in their home by a registered nurse approximately 3 weeks after the child’s birth. This service is offered to all families welcoming a newborn into their lives regardless of social or financial factors, and there is no cost to the family. The registered nurse builds an assessment of the entire family and uses that assessment to connect family members with varied social services based on their needs and goals. These services can include lactation consultancy, nutrition education and services, mental health support, and more. A month after the visit, the Family Connects team contacts the family to collect feedback and ensure that recommended services were appropriately bridged. This step is crucially important, as it allows the Family Connects team to leverage their technology platform and evaluate what is working for families, provide valuable feedback for community service organizations, and keep their resource offerings both timely and streamlined.
The beauty of the in-home visit allows the registered nurse to evaluate potential issues that an in-office medical professional may not be able to assess. This also allows the nurse to develop a supportive relationship with the entire family.
During the first Family Connects pilot program in Durham, North Carolina, visiting nurses uncovered an identifiable need in 94% of their client families. By following enrolled families, the Family Connects program has demonstrably achieved:
A 28% reduction in maternal anxiety symptoms
50% less infant emergency medical care at 12 months
39% fewer CPS investigations at 5 years
Every $1 invested in their program led to $3 in health care cost savings
Higher quality parenting behaviors, home environments, and child care choices
The Austin Healthcare Council’s Role
The Austin Healthcare Council serves to foster collaboration and innovation for the benefit of our healthcare ecosystem and community members.
In Austin, the Family Connects program began offering access for families through a pilot at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center. The AHC was alerted to the program by United Way of Greater Austin CEO David Smith, and a conversation began on scaling the program throughout Austin under the WEF initiative umbrella. The Austin Healthcare Council convened the Family Connects leadership and the three major hospital systems in Austin (Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White, and St. David’s). Since that meeting, the Family Connects program has been on the path to quickly scale and expand, allowing this beneficial program to reach more Central Texans. As part of the WEF Healthy Cities and Communities Program, a successful expansion of the Family Connects program in Central Texas would serve as a guide for expansion in other cities around the globe.
