Children’s “Little Family Practice”

More than one in ten babies in Colorado is born to a teenage mother. These vulnerable babies and their mothers need care that can help compensate for lack of family support and for adult-oriented care that often lacks the necessary resources to address the needs of adolescent mothers. They need a network of doctors, psychologists, dieticians and case workers to promote healthy pregnancies, healthy babies, and healthy living.

The Colorado Adolescent Maternity Program (CAMP) began addressing these problems when it started as the Young Mothers Clinic in 1978 at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD), originally treating mothers before birth and during delivery.

CAMP moving to Children’s

On August 3, CAMP will move to The Children’s Hospital, where it will pioneer an expanded model of prenatal and postpartum care. Uncommon among adolescent maternity programs, the breadth of the program will combine care once offered in separate facilities – prenatal care at UCD and postpartum care at The Children’s Hospital – into one comprehensive unit.

CAMP’s landmark relocation to The Children’s Hospital marks an important step in the continuous process to improve care for adolescent mothers and their babies. According to CAMP’s mission, expectant adolescent mothers, "are treated as resources to be developed, not problems to manage.”

“This move is an important step,” notes Jeanelle Sheeder, CAMP research director and senior instructor at UCD. “Providers are not just treating mothers, and they’re not just treating babies. They’re treating families. It’s almost like we’re setting up our own family practice in a pediatric hospital.”

The distinction of CAMP as a “family practice” positions it as the forerunner to the much-anticipated mother-baby initiative, a milestone component of The Children’s Hospital’s strategic plan.

“CAMP will be the ‘test-run’ of the mother-baby program,” says Sheeder. “It will be the first program of its kind on this campus to combine O.B. and baby care.”

Group care

The move will address CAMP’s biggest challenge to date: its lack of resources. “At Children’s, CAMP will have increased access to donations and better-equipped social workers.” CAMP has always wanted its complementary maternity units housed in one facility. A large grant for CAMP’s “Group Care” program finally triggered the move.

Recently developed, Group Care combines the David Olds’ model of home visit maternity care with group therapy in a clinical setting. Young women with similar due dates attend sessions conducted by an NFP-trained (Nurse Family Partnership Program) nurse, during which they build support and encouragement from within.

Group Care’s methodology draws from enhanced medical education, focusing on good parenting, nutrition, breast-feeding, and self-sufficiency.

Sheeder expects Group Care to begin Sept. 1, with two initial groups, and expand from there. Patients can opt which service they prefer – Group Care or private care – and UCH will continue in the short term to treat high-risk adolescent mothers. Children’s mother-baby program, once in operation, will treat high-risk pregnancies, which by Children’s definition encompasses adolescent pregnancies.