Impact

According to the joint study by the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Program in Nursing Science and MOMS, not only do women in MOMS home visitation program have better birth outcomes than the county averages, but the number of prenatal home visits significantly impact birth weight, gestational age at birth, and the probability of newborn admission to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Each MOMS prenatal visit equals:

Throughout the first year of life, babies are screened for normal growth and development, and parents are equipped with playful activities to engage in with their babies to stimulate early brain development and motor skills.

Research proves that personalized support and in-home observations leads to positive, lasting results. This very real human connection is the backbone of the success of the MOMS model:

The latest evaluation of MOMS Home Visitation program, in partnership with University of California, Irvine Program in Nursing Science, demonstrates MOMS prenatal home visits significantly reduce preterm labor and low birth-weight infants in Orange County’s at-risk women.

Babies born to low-income and medically underserved women have a higher risk of poor birth outcomes, both short and longer term. The programs provided by MOMS greatly reduce, or can eliminate, the associated costs and consequences of these birth outcomes.

Programs like MOMS may reduce adverse birth outcomes for families living in disadvantaged communities.

Breadth of health education topics covered during prenatal home visits may be one of the mechanisms explaining why home visits are associated with improved birth outcomes.

The MOMS home visitation model may be an exemplar for an improved national system with a new focus on patient-centered teamwork, disease prevention, and cost reduction highlighted in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

–A Community-Based Home Visitation Program’s Impact on Birth Outcomes, 2015

Poverty and lack of health insurance are just some of the factors that lead to premature birth, low birth weight, conditions such as gestational diabetes, maternal depression and inadequate infant bonding. Not surprisingly, these kinds of short-term consequences can often lead to a high number of longer-term issues, from delayed cognitive development and poor grades in school to gang affiliation, teen pregnancy, unemployment and a continued cycle of poverty.

These ramifications go far beyond the obvious health and family impacts – there are significant societal and financial costs to the community at large as well.

MCN January / February 2016

Home Visitation Report 2009-2010 – Highlights

Home Visitation Report 2009-2010 – Full Report

VietMOMS Project Evaluation Report 2008-2010

In 1989, a crisis in prenatal care existed in Orange County. Newspaper headlines spoke of overcrowding at UCI Medical Center’s labor and delivery units – one of the only hospitals to accept low-income, pregnant women. Those headlines drew attention to the need for changes in how we make services available to populations who are at-risk for adverse outcomes for both mom and baby. Ultimately, positive changes did result. The creation of MOMS Orange County in 1992 was one of those positive changes. In 2017, we commissioned a review reflecting the perinatal conditions existing in Orange County at our founding in 1992, and compared them with issues and conditions affecting moms and babies 25 years later in 2017.

Our organization and its tireless staff and dedicated volunteers have been recognized by the Health Care Agency of Orange County; the First 5 Orange County; the California Department of Health Services; and the U.S. Congress for our innovative work and impact on the health of women and babies in our community.