In addition to locating resources, it is imperative that Home Visitors provide education and outreach to other organizations within the community. This is to strengthen their understanding of the MCH Home Visitor’s role in addressing the health and safety of families, both prenatally and after delivery up to one year. In some rural and frontier counties without these key partners, outreach should be to partners in neighboring counties and surrounding areas where prenatal and postpartum women receive services and/or deliver.
Each local home visiting program will develop a written outreach plan to be included in the annual MCH grant application and made a part of the local policy and procedure manual. The plan will include conducting internal and external outreach and promotion of home visiting services to recruit and engage participants.
Internal Outreach
Outreach to programs delivering services to prenatal and postpartum women, including but not limited to:
- WIC
- Family Planning
- Special Health Care Needs
- Teen Pregnancy Targeted Case Management
- Pregnancy Maintenance Initiative
- Community-based Primary Care
External Outreach
Outreach to local programs including, but not limited to:
- Obstetricians
- Hospitals
- Community health providers
- Social service programs
- Early education partners
- Local coalitions/coordinating councils
Go Beyond Brochures and Flyers
Outreach methods should be creative and may include letters explaining services, meetings with referral organizations, participation in local coalitions, media promotion (radio, TV, social/online, billboards), health fairs and other community events.