Charleston, SC | Breaking News, Sports, WeatherPartnership helps expectant moms in lowcountry

Partnership helps expectant moms in lowcountry

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCIV)--- Sarah Ridgeway had dreams of being a cosmetologist. She took classes while in high school, but then the unplanned happened--she became pregnant. Now at the age of twenty, she is a mother of a ten-month old baby girl.

Lucky for Ridgeway, a mentor helped her get back on track to achieving a cosmetology license.  She is now a mother and works at a salon.

"She really helped me get in the mindset of finishing school and having a job,"   Ridgeway said.

Ridgeway is one of the 187 clients that the Nurse Family Partnership has helped since it launched in the lowcountry in 2009. It is a national program that provides low-income and first-time mothers with a registered nurse who makes regular visits at the home before and after pregnancy, up until two years in age.

"Sometimes in life they just need that extra support and we like to consider ourselves the cheerleaders," Tammy Richardson, registered nurse, said. "We can help them get through this tough time and help them enjoy and celebrate all their success after."

Raising a child isn't easy. For Ridgeway the NFP has only made her a better mother.

"I have learned so much about myself during the pregnancy and after, she said.

The partnership hosted a special event in Mount Pleasant at Seacoast Church to share with community members is success rate over the past two years. Ridgeway was the special guest speaker with her daughter Lilly.

The program has five registered nurses on staff. The partnership so far has welcomes 123 healthy newborns.