Multnomah County nurse program sounds alarm after being cut from proposed budget

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Several Multnomah County programs are looking at serious cuts in the new proposed budget. But some, like the Nurse Family Partnership program, would be completely eliminated.

NFP pairs someone who is pregnant with a nurse who visits them at their home during the pregnancy and then for the first two years of the baby’s life. They also connect families to health services or give health assessments.

County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said her budget is built to prioritize direct services, or those most important to the people who need to rely on the county. Hannah Snyder is a nurse who works in the NFP program and she said not only is it a direct service, but it is essential.

“We serve a population that is really at the highest risk of being left behind by our healthcare system,” she said. “And so we are able to, through kind of building relationships with them, help them kind of meet those goals that they have for themselves.”

Snyder said they serve low income people, those facing housing insecurity, refugees, or even people who have had negative healthcare experiences in the past.

“It helps to work with people who – not only are facing that major transition into parenthood that everybody finds to be difficult – but they have a lot of other barriers facing them.”

When talking to media on Thursday, Vega Pederson said she knows a lot of people probably will not be happy with the proposal.

“There were cuts to programs that have an impact,” Vega Pederson said. “And areas of service that we know are important, whether it is health-related programs or human services related programs. This is the reality when we have a budget deficit.”

Snyder said the NFP program actually helps save money. A University of Utah study on NFP in Oregon even shows every dollar invested saves over six dollars in future costs for those vulnerable populations.

Although Snyder said emergency care visits, prisons and jails are all expensive things for the community, she notes NFP can reduce those costs down the road.

“People are really able to transform their own lives with just a little bit of extra support and with a nice, trusting relationship that happens over the long term,” she said. “And so the prevention that can happen before a child is born. And in those first two years of life, it can really shape the whole lifetime of that family.”

Snyder added that, until the board votes on the budget, the nurses are bringing a lot of attention to the issue with petitions. Plus, they plan to attend county commission hearings.