New Jersey is continuing to plant its flag in the women's health space holding the state's seventh annual maternal health awareness day as the Murphy Administration tries to chip away at disparities in maternal Health outcomes that have overshadowed progress for years New Jersey still has one of the country's worst overall maternal mortality rates today first lady Tammy Murphy launched family connects NJ it's a Statewide Universal home visit program that'll connect parents with nurses for a home visit within the first two weeks after giving birth an initiative first proposed 3 years ago as part of the first lady's larger Nurture NJ program but as senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports the line is getting blurred on Murphy's Mission now that she's announced a US Senate run.

Postpartum care is just as important as prenatal care with four kids of her own assemblywoman Shanique Speight lived the experience she joined Advocates to welcome the official launch of family connects NJ a program offering at least three in home visits by a nurse to mothers in their newborns it's Critical Care in New Jersey where black mothers are far more likely to die of pregnancy related complications than white moms and just being a black woman in this space I remember um times when four times I came home after delivering a baby feeling disconnected feeling alone not sure who to talk to and then you also embarrassed about how you may feel the program is designed to be Universal whether parents are insured or not and open to everyone income and immigration status not with standing only Oregon offers something similar its most vocal proponent first lady Tammy Murphy supported the concept before she announced her run for US Senate the challenge overcoming problems posed by inequity I believe those practical problems are the very same ones at the heart of our maternal Health crisis and are the direct result of systemic racism nurses with family connects and J will screen for postpartum depression child abuse or neglect and potential partner violence they'll offer guidance for breastfeeding infant care and development and they'll help connect families to Social Services like housing and economic assistance says legislative sponsor Senator Teresa Ruiz just to check in and say are you okay to take a look around because there are things that you'll notice is there food in the refrigerators does the house look tidy are they living in a safe space the program set specific goals to reduce New Jersey's maternal mortality by half within 5 years and to eliminate racial disparities and outcomes we still have a long way to go but this I think is is a GameChanger but in political terms what differentiates this event from a campaign function for Tammy Murphy one of her primary opponents calls it an unfair Advantage so at this point I am calling for the first lady to actually stop uh using her official role as first lady uh in going to places to campaign they claim they're not campaigning but they're actually getting access because she's still keeping her title so the concern is real is there a lot of cross-pollination that's happening listen anything that I'm doing in my life I am completely consistent and this is something I've been supporting and working with uh nurture NJ is something I it's it's something I've been working on for years so uh as first lady I'm really thrilled to be here right now and helping to get the word out on this Murphy says the $35 million program rolls out first in five counties Cumberland Gloucester Mercer Middlesex and Essex where it's operated as a pilot program and will expand annually until the entire State's covered I've heard a lot of good feedbacks from the moms there like why where was this program when I had my first child the program does need to hire 250 more nurses the website's active at familyconnectsnj.org in Trenton I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight [Music] news