VISION: Empower families in our community through prevention, education and advocacy to enhance health outcomes, life skills and family self-sufficiency.
Services provided to pregnant and parenting teens and low-income women:
• Education related to pregnancy and parenting, including breastfeeding support (click here for more >>)
• Help getting prenatal medical care
• Support and counseling
• Links to community resources
Location
Services are offered in clients’ homes and at the Health Department.
Fee
None.
For urgent, pregnancy-related health concerns, please call your doctor or the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Emergency Department at (785) 840-3072.
For general pregnancy program information, call (785) 843-0721 or e-mail pregnancyservices@ldchealth.org
Pregnancy and Parenting Services help families implement healthier lifestyles and promote breast feeding. In 2008, there was a notable decline in clients who smoked during pregnancy and clients who initiated breastfeeding.
FAQs
I’m pregnant and I don’t have health insurance. What should I do?
We suggest you call the Health Department at (785) 843-0721 and ask to speak with a Pregnancy and Parenting Services nurse who can help you find options for paying for prenatal care based on your individual situation.
Do you provide medical care for pregnancy at the Health Department?
No, but nurses from our Pregnancy and Parenting Services can help you find ways to pay for prenatal care provided by doctors and nurse midwives in the community. For assistance, call (785) 843-0721 and ask to speak to a Pregnancy and Parenting Services nurse.
LINDSEY'S STORY
If it wasn’t for the Teen Pregnancy Case Management grant, 23-year-old Lindsey Sleeper’s life would be on a much different path. 
Currently living on her own with three children and on her way to completing a medical transcription degree six months ahead of schedule, Lindsey entered the program when she found out she was pregnant at 16.
The state-funded grant, which was cut in July 2009, paired a nurse case manager with a teen mom until she turned 21. The program specifically focused on the challenges unique to teen mothers – finishing school and setting goals – all while trying to support a child.
Because of the budget cuts, teen mothers and other at-risk moms now have just one year with a nurse case manager to set goals and get the healthy start they need.
If it wasn’t for the program, Lindsey said she wouldn’t have gotten all the help she needed from her case manager – help with everything from finding an affordable place to live, day care for her children, breastfeeding, parenting skills and navigating a difficult divorce.
“A lot of the things that you need help with don’t happen in the first year, especially when you’re that young,” she said.
Discharging her from the program at her child’s first birthday, “… wouldn’t have helped me with college, which was a big thing,” Lindsey said.
Ensuring that she graduated from high school was Lindsey’s case manager’s biggest focus.
“That was Diane’s biggest goal for me – to get me through school,” Lindsey said. “I’m smart, I just have a lot of obstacles and I don’t have a lot of family support.”
“They’re really more my support than my family on wanting me to get through school and making sure I can do it. They’ve been a big part of that.”
Though the teen case management program is no longer available, Lindsay is still able to see a nurse case manager through another Pregnancy and Parenting Services program.
Clients respond to the question,
“What have you found most helpful about HEALTH DEPARTMENT services for pregnant and parenting families?”
Now I have someone to talk to.
The nurse teaches me as well as my children how to be a family.
When no one else was there, my nurse was there to care. She was there to help me cope with the early birth of my child and the problems due to it.
Most helpful was the extra help to find solutions to my personal life in order to improve my children’s lives.
When a person is not from Lawrence, all the help you give them helps to open their options in the community.
Most of all, it was someone there to talk to and help me find the resources I needed or just to answer the questions I had.
My nurse helped me breastfeed. I’d like to thank her for that.
