This new mom program works: Does yours?
$60 gift certificates, $5 coupons sell service
It’s just what every woman needs after going through a day or so of labor and childbirth a little extra help when she returns home from the hospital.
However, many private duty agencies were finding that not all such programs were profitable. But take the following example:
St. Luke’s Comfort Care, a small agency that is based at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, recently started a new mom program that is working. This program enables a new mother, her family members, or friends to purchase four or more hours of companion care or certified nursing assistant (CNA) service.
St. Luke’s markets the service through newspaper and telephone book advertisements, hospital bulletin boards, and by giving away $5 coupons that are placed in a local grocery store’s gift baskets for new mothers.
Also, the agency sells gift certificates for $60 for four hours of the CNA care. These are sold through the hospital gift shop.
"A lot of people buy them for shower gifts," says Ramona Williams, RN, case manager.
The 5-by-7 gift certificate, called "A Gift of Time & Rest," is purple and decorated with a drawing of a Teddy bear and play blocks.
It reads:
This certificate was purchased especially for you. Enjoy peace of mind while a St. Luke’s Comfort Care nursing assistant helps make your early days back home easier. She can help you grocery shop, run simple errands, prepare light meals, and carry out light housekeeping duties. She can also help you get around and get comfortable.
The mother’s helper will provide anything else that will give the mother more time to spend with her baby.
"It’s not babysitting, and the stipulation is that the caregivers cannot be left alone in the home with the baby," says Williams.
It’s become quite popular since the agency started the program a year ago, she says. "Right now we have four assistants out in homes with new moms."
The service provides care by a CNA for $14 to $15 per hour for a minimum of four hours. The person is allowed to help the mother walk and bathe and may assist the mother in taking care of the baby, as well providing companion and light housekeeping services.
The CNA service is especially helpful to women who have had cesareans, Williams says.
"We had one case of a mother who had a C-section, and her wound opened up after she came home," Williams says. "The woman could do her own wound care, but the nursing assistant was there and she brought the baby over to the mother so the mother didn’t have to lift or do anything strenuous."
Another client was a woman who had given birth to twin girls. The woman also had two toddlers and desperately needed someone to entertain her boys while she spent time with her babies, Williams says.
The woman used the CNA service for eight hours on three consecutive days. "She had family in town, but she still needed help," Williams adds.
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