The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors directed the Public Health Department during its June 16 budget hearing to look into potential ways to keep afloat a program serving infants and new families.
Santa Barbara County’s budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year is $1.48 billion, a 6.4 percent increase from the previous year. About 34 percent of the revenue—or $515.9 million—is for Health and Human Services. MaryEllen Rehse, Welcome Every Baby’s executive director, approached the supervisors during their Health and Human Services public comment period to try to get more funding or assistance.
Welcome Every Baby (WEB) is a Santa Barbara County Education Office Program that offers free postpartum nurse home visitations that serve more than 18,000 families, Rehse told the Board of Supervisors during the June 16 budget hearings. During these visits, nurses help families with newborn and maternal health during the first three months of a newborn’s life.
“Between WEB, the Public Health Department, and Marian, all families had the opportunity for a nurse home visit, ensuring the physical and mental health of the new mother and baby during a critical and risky time for them,” Rehse said.
In the past, the WEB program received both public and private dollars, but the program will be losing its comprehensive funding at the end of its fiscal year on June 30, she said. As of June 16, WEB stopped taking new referrals in order to complete the rest of the home visits by June 30, “when all funding is completely exhausted.”
“Long-term funding was close to being realized, but for a number of reasons those solutions could not come in time to keep the program open,” Rehse said. “This is going to leave a huge gap in services for many vulnerable newborns and families.”
The Public Health Department offers its own nurse visitation program, but it’s limited to Cal-AIM insurance recipients and families with low incomes. Marian Regional Medical Center also provides a similar service, but only to those families who deliver at Marian.
Rehse asked the supervisors to think about how they can support reinstating the services so there’s a comprehensive network of care “that leaves no one alone once they leave the hospital with their first baby.”
“I know you have many priorities to juggle and public dollars cannot solve every problem. Our health care system needs to step up and do their part,” Rehse said. “It’s often difficult to put prevention first when crisis is at the door, but I ask you to take an active role in helping facilitate the return of the WEB program and having it in place for all who need it.”
Traile Easland, WEB’s nurse manager, spoke after Rehse to share the stories of nurses who have visited several families and helped connect them to proper treatment. The at-home visits from nurses have helped get infants readmitted into the hospital for jaundice and dehydration, and connected mothers with proper mental health care, mastitis treatment, and help with severe headaches.
“We are nurses and international board certified lactation consultants. There’s been discussions about trying to provide another type of home visitation program for newborns with health advocates or non-nursing staff,” Easland said. “I ask you to revisit all of this and really consider helping all the families in our community—not just Public Health families and not just the families that deliver at Marian.”
Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann said that she would like the county to be an active partner in the discussion to try and figure out how to continue WEB.
“In my view, it’s a critical program. I think all of us who’ve had children [know] when that new baby comes home and you’ve never had a child, you need all of the advice you can get,” Hartmann said. “It’s one thing to go to doctor’s appointments, it’s something else entirely to have someone come into your home and see your setup and be there.”
Public Health Director Mouhanad Hammami told the supervisors that he would be happy to lead the discussion and look into potential collaborations to support the WEB Program.
“There are also visiting nurses with our First 5 Program and I do think there is a potential to collaborate and expand that program. There are other programs functioning, [but] it is sad to see that go because of the comprehensive population it serves,” Hammami said.
Supervisor Hartmann, joined by 1st District Supervisor Das Williams, requested that Hammami come back to the board with a presentation on Public Health’s current programs, the populations it serves, and address how the visitation programs could become more comprehensive.
—Taylor O’Connor
This article appears in Jun 22 – Jul 2, 2023.