Family Health Services

Home VisitsMcLeod County Public Health promotes healthy families and safe, nurturing environments for children. Public Health Nurses are available to meet with pregnant and/or parenting families in the convenience of their home at no cost to them. Visits are voluntary and are tailored to the individual family’s interests and needs with the hopes of making parenting fun and meaningful. 

Home visiting supports families as they learn about:

  • Healthy pregnancies
  • Positive parenting
  • Infant and child growth and development
  • Health and nutrition
  • Breastfeeding support
  • Childhood safety and injury prevention
  • Strengthening family relationships
  • Community resource
To request a home visit, please call (320) 864-3185.

Breastfeeding VisitsBreastfeeding visits are provided by a registered nurse who has had further training in lactation. These visits take place in the office or in your home.  The nurse can answer questions, help with positioning, latching, expressing milk, and monitor the baby’s weight gain.

For more support contact the Crow River Area Breastfeeding Coalition.

Additional ServicesFirst-time moms may also qualify for free, confidential support from a Supporting Hands Nurse-Family Partnership Nurse. To learn more about Supporting Hands Nurse-Family Partnership visit: http://shnfp.org/

Project Harmony is grant-funded through the Department of Human Services and supports pregnant women as they find and embrace a path of recovery from substance use. A Public Health Nurse and a Peer Recovery Specialist help women reduce barriers to sobriety and provide support for healthy parenting. This project serves women who are pregnant and/or parenting kids birth to age 10.

Family Planning is a voluntary and confidential program for individuals to obtain information about pregnancy prevention. Family planning involves preventing, spacing and achieving pregnancies. This service provides referral and education. Testing and treatment of chlamydia and gonorrhea is provided at no cost.

Child and Teen Checkups provide outreach and assistance to enable well-child checkups for children and teens under the age of 21 who are on Medical Assistance.  Its services include locating appropriate clinics, assisting in making dental and medical appointments, plus arranging for transportation to and from those appointments.  Also, assistance arranging interpreters if needed. To find your local providers, this guide will assist you. Call 320-864-3185 or visit Child & Teen Checkups (C&TC) for more information.

Follow Along Program is available for all children birth through 3 years. Questionnaires are sent to parents every four months for parents to evaluate their child's development. They also receive information helpful to stimulate child development. Enroll online now at https://followalongprogram.web.health.state.mn.us/ 

SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) information and resources are available through Health and Human Services

Early Intervention Services for infants and preschoolers provides assistance to families with children who have (or may have) a developmental delay. A multidisciplinary team, consisting of a nurse, an educator, a social worker and a rehabilitation specialist (Physical, Speech and Occupational Therapy), is available to identify and treat children with development delays. http://helpmegrowmn.org/HMG/index.htm

Help Me Connect Caring for young children can be one of life’s most rewarding experiences and it’s difficult to know where to start looking for resources when families want help supporting their little ones! Minnesota Help Me Connect (www.helpmeconnectmn.org) is an online navigator that connects pregnant and parenting families with young children birth to 8 years of age with services in their local communities that support healthy child development and family well-being.

The Help Me Connect navigator was built to support early childhood service providers across the state and enhance their partnership with families in finding resources they want or need to be healthy, strong and safe. Providers can search for a variety of available programs and services closest to a family’s home address such as health and well-being services, early learning and child care programs, disability resources and services, basic needs, COVID-19 resources, and Tribal Nation programs and services (See Help Me Connect Provider flyer). Providers can also create a unique account to save favorite searches and resources for future use. 

 

 

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