The MIECHV (Maternal and Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting Program) is a new program at the Community Health Center, Inc. in Meriden. This In-Home Parenting Education and Support Program works with pregnant mothers and their child or children and their family system. The program is free and open to Meriden residents only.

Founded through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Service’s agency for Health Resources & Service’s Administration (HRSA), the MIECHV program aims to demonstrate improvement among eligible families participating within six benchmark areas. These areas include:

• Improved maternal and newborn health;
• Prevention of child injuries, child abuse, neglect, or maltreatment, and reduction of emergency department visits;
• Improvement in school readiness and achievement;
• Reduction in crime or domestic violence;
• Improvements in family economic self-sufficiency;
• Improvements in the coordination and referrals for other community resources and

The MIECHV initiative is a state wide program and The Community Health Center, Inc. is just one of the 14 CT based agencies that received the grant funding for the MIECHV initiative. The MIECHV program started at CHC the first of June, however with the program being brand new to CHC and the Meriden community, the program did not start to receive referrals until July/August 2013.supports.

The CHC team consists of 4 home visitors; Raquel Abbasi, Maria Rosado, David Ortiz, Tiasha Williams and Susan Brule, the Clinical Supervisor. Three of the four home visitors are bilingual in English and Spanish. The home visitors can work with each family for up to 5 years. The work that each visitor would do with the mother along with the father and family as a whole, utilizes the Parents as Teachers Curriculum to discuss topics and activities related to the parent and child bond and attachment relationship.

I asked the program manager, Susan Brule, MSW, to discuss the focus of this new initiative. Below are her comments.

“Currently in the Meriden community, there are in home programs that work with first time mothers and programs that work with mothers/parents who have severe mental health concerns. This new program at CHC is a nice medium if you will. The MIECHV program can work with high risk pregnant mothers however the program can work with mothers and fathers who may need lower levels of need as well. Currently the program has 14 mothers enrolled in the program and six fathers. Our goal is to work with 40 mothers by May 2014. We have many openings and would love the opportunity to speak with any CHC staff about the program. Referrals may be done internally or could also be DCF recommended or a self-referral from the family.”

Please contact Susan Brule, MSW, 203-237-2229 Ext:  6035 if you have any questions.