Contact: Jennifer Hill, (614) 823-1605 or jhill@otterbein.edu
(Marysville) - The Ohio Reformatory for Women in cooperation with Otterbein College Department of Nursing have partnered to provide programming for the Achieving Baby Care Success (ABC'S) prison nursery program. The project, known as Partnering for a Healthy Future, is provided to senior-year nursing students in Otterbein's Community Health course.
Each of ten nursing students is paired with a nursery mother and her infant at the reformatory. Between 10 and 20 mothers participate each week. The students provide information on child health related topics such as nutrition, appropriate developmental tasks, and other topics at the mothers' requests. The program incorporates a mentoring component for the nursery mothers, as the Otterbein students also discuss various issues such as future educational endeavors and employment opportunities.
Prison Warden Sheri Duffey views this collaboration as a win-win situation. "The offenders and their babies benefit from receiving valuable parenting and medical information directly from the nursing students while the nursing students are getting real life experience as part of their educational course work."
The prison's nursery program, the only one of its kind in Ohio, opened in June 2001.Rather than allowing incarceration to negatively impact these infants, the Ohio Reformatory for Women offers this program which allows a non-violent, short-term offender to maintain custody of her baby while she serves her sentence. The program is designed to operate by allowing inmate mothers to make important life decisions regarding their infants and themselves. This will assist them in acquiring values, habits and skills that will help them to become good mothers and law abiding citizens.
"The ABC'S Nursery allows mothers the opportunity to keep the parental bond intact while providing a nurturing atmosphere for their infants," said Director Terry Collins. "It is very important to keep families together and equally important to be able to instill a sense of pride and self-worth in the incarcerated moms. This partnership we have formed with Otterbein College is a perfect example of lending a hand and second chances," said Director Collins. "Everyone benefits from this program - mom, baby and the nursing students."
"The opportunity for nursing students to provide care for this under-served population has been a unique and challenging experience as there was no model for this kind of practice," said Sharon Carlson, professor of nursing at Otterbein. "However, the students have responded with enthusiasm and interest developing learning activities centered on child care and development as well as interests identified by the mothers. Students have been well received by the mothers and staff."
For more information, contact Elizabeth Wright, the Ohio Reformatory for Women's Public Information Officer, at (937) 642-1065.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2008
News
OTTERBEIN NURSING STUDENTS MENTOR INCARCERATED MOTHERS
(Marysville) - The Ohio Reformatory for Women in cooperation with Otterbein College Department of Nursing have partnered to provide programming for the Achieving Baby Care Success (ABC'S) prison nursery program. The project, known as Partnering for a Healthy Future, is provided to senior-year nursing students in Otterbein's Community Health course.
Each of ten nursing students is paired with a nursery mother and her infant at the reformatory. Between 10 and 20 mothers participate each week. The students provide information on child health related topics such as nutrition, appropriate developmental tasks, and other topics at the mothers' requests. The program incorporates a mentoring component for the nursery mothers, as the Otterbein students also discuss various issues such as future educational endeavors and employment opportunities.
Prison Warden Sheri Duffey views this collaboration as a win-win situation. "The offenders and their babies benefit from receiving valuable parenting and medical information directly from the nursing students while the nursing students are getting real life experience as part of their educational course work."
The prison's nursery program, the only one of its kind in Ohio, opened in June 2001.Rather than allowing incarceration to negatively impact these infants, the Ohio Reformatory for Women offers this program which allows a non-violent, short-term offender to maintain custody of her baby while she serves her sentence. The program is designed to operate by allowing inmate mothers to make important life decisions regarding their infants and themselves. This will assist them in acquiring values, habits and skills that will help them to become good mothers and law abiding citizens.
"The ABC'S Nursery allows mothers the opportunity to keep the parental bond intact while providing a nurturing atmosphere for their infants," said Director Terry Collins. "It is very important to keep families together and equally important to be able to instill a sense of pride and self-worth in the incarcerated moms. This partnership we have formed with Otterbein College is a perfect example of lending a hand and second chances," said Director Collins. "Everyone benefits from this program - mom, baby and the nursing students."
"The opportunity for nursing students to provide care for this under-served population has been a unique and challenging experience as there was no model for this kind of practice," said Sharon Carlson, professor of nursing at Otterbein. "However, the students have responded with enthusiasm and interest developing learning activities centered on child care and development as well as interests identified by the mothers. Students have been well received by the mothers and staff."
For more information, contact Elizabeth Wright, the Ohio Reformatory for Women's Public Information Officer, at (937) 642-1065.