MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has selected West Virginia as the location to launch the Newborn Essentials Support Toolkit (NEST) Program. Federal officials and Governor Patrick Morrisey rolled the program out at West Virginia University Medicine Golisano Children’s Hospital in Morgantown Friday.
Karen Bowling, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital (PCH) and vice president of government affairs for the WVU Health System, said 2,000 NEST kits are being made available to families across the state. The kits have essentials like diapers, hygiene items, breastfeeding supplies, a blood pressure monitor, and important mental health and postpartum information and contacts for advice or more information in the event of an emergency.
“The NEST Program does represent exciting power, and I think that’s an extremely important word here,” Bowling said. “A public, private partnership, and that’s what it means—all of us here working to make a difference.”
Governor Morrissey said the kits are especially important in states like West Virginia with large rural populations. The kits put the important information and supplies at the fingertips of new parents to help new parents make decisions about their children.
“Those who need it most are going to be able to get this wonderful benefit,” Morrisey said. “This provides moms and newborn babies with important supplies and information.”
The program is managed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs (IEA) in coordination with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). HRSA administrator Tom Engels said the federal government was investing $5 million to launch the program nationwide.
“This is so important to so many young mothers across the country, but here in West Virginia and rural areas it’s vitally important,” Engels said. “As the governor mentioned, that first starts, and those first few days are so important, and that new mom has to focus on so many things.”
Engels said the kits give families the best possible chance for a healthy beginning, especially in communities that are medically underserved. The kits are expected to help parents learn to make prudent choices that will help them raise happy children that will be part of productive families. The kits also contain contact numbers parents could need to address a variety of questions and situations.
“The start of a healthy child leads to a healthy relationship for that family and leads to great outcomes moving forward,” Engels said. “That is a healthy family; that is a healthy West Virginia.”
The governor said this is one of the small federal programs that could have a huge impact on the state in decades to come. By improving outcomes one family at a time, Morrisey said the benefits could outweigh expectations in decades to come.
“Maybe we can get more people back into the workforce,” Morrisey said. “When that happens, that starts to strengthen the economy and ultimately allows more money to get invested into people and back into communities—it is a wonderful cycle.”