First Born® Program's twentieth anniversary (1997-2017)

Category: Community News Community News
Published: 14 December 2017 14 December 2017

vicki johnsonVicki Johnson (left), founder of FBP, conducts a home visit with a family in Grant CountyThe First Born® Program (FBP) has its roots in Michigan and was established in l997 in Grant County by Vicki Johnson, with the support of several community members. The first home visit was held in Silver City in November of 1997.

FBP was named one of the nation's 10 most innovative and exemplary prevention programs in 2002 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and several other collaborating national agencies, and has currently met all the requirements to become an evidence-based home visitation model.

First Born® is a community outreach program of GRMC, open to any first time parents, with trained staff coming to the home to support families with their first baby.

Vicki Johnson's commitment to the health of New Mexico communities and families has been key to the success of the program. Her visionary approach to prevent or mitigate Adverse Childhood Experiences through home visitation is one of the greatest contributions of her model.

First Born® has been replicated and operates successfully in 17 sites across New Mexico. The following are the Counties and areas providing these services: Grant, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, Bernalillo, Valencia, Southern Sandoval, Luna and Doña Ana, Socorro, San Miguel and Mora, Hidalgo, Los Alamos County and Northern and Northwest New Mexico. The Grant County program was the first program and the Gila Regional Medical Center has been the program's fiscal agent since the beginning. The collaboration with the hospital, our maternal child community health care providers and other community partner organizations have been a significant component of the program's success.

photo 2L to R: Marcy Santamria, Veronica Maynes, Carmen Ortiz and Chris Jepson

Within this celebration message, we also wish to convey sincere appreciation to Marcy Santamaria, Veronica Maynes Carmen Ortiz, and Chris Jepson who have been with the program for over 15 years and have been instrumental in making quality home visitation an institution and expectation for families in our community. Several of their former clients are teens today and to date their parents continue to express gratitude for the role each of these home visitors played in their lives.

Thanks to Vicki's contributions and the efforts of home visitors like the seasoned professionals mentioned above, numerous families parenting for the first time have been supported in developing strengths and competencies through relationship, education, and community resources which translated into a greater number of healthy pregnancies and healthy families in Grant County.

Congratulations to Vicki Johnson, founder and author, on the 20th anniversary of the First Born® Program.

*To learn more about the First Born® Program visit www.firstbornprogram.org

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