FAMILY SOLUTIONS

Every family deserves equal access to the healthcare system. Family Solutions works to reduce infant mortality, expand community education and improve health outcomes for pregnant women and their families.

About

Family Solutions, a program of the South Carolina Office of Rural Health, is dedicated to improving the quality of life for parents and children in rural communities. Family Solutions is the home for Healthy Start and Nurse-Family Partnership, community-based initiatives with three main goals:

  • To reduce infant mortality
  • To improve health outcomes for women and their babies
  • To support families through educational programs

In addition, Family Solutions administers the HealthySteps program within a practice locally and facilitates reflective supervision with a group of specialists throughout the state. HealthySteps is an evidence-based, interdisciplinary pediatric primary care program designed to promote nurturing parenting and healthy development for babies and toddlers. With the HealthySteps approach, the entire practice works as a team to implement eight core components that strengthen the relationship between families and the practice and support strong parent/child attachment.

Did you know?

With a history spanning two decades, Family Solutions has provided services to 24,000 women and families in Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Hampton, and Orangeburg counties.

Services Provided

Healthy Start is a community-based program designed to eliminate disparities in infant deaths and improve the health of women and infants. Nurse-Family Partnership is a program for any woman living in Orangeburg County who is pregnant with her first child and meets income requirements.  A registered nurse visits enrolled mothers in the home throughout the pregnancy and until the baby is 2 years old. Services provided through these two programs include:

  • Case management & social work services
  • Home visits
  • Childbirth and breastfeeding classes
  • Reproductive health education
  • “Opportunity Knocks” fatherhood initiative
  • Motivational interviewing & goal-setting
  • Referrals for healthcare, childcare, job training and other support services available in the community

In the HealthySteps program, a child development professional, known as a HealthySteps specialist, offers families parenting guidance, support between visits, referrals, and care coordination, all specific to their needs. The HealthySteps specialist offers support for common and complex concerns that physicians often lack time to address, including:

  • feeding
  • behavior
  • sleep
  • attachment
  • parental depression
  • social determinants of health
  • adapting to life with a baby or young child.

Program Contact

Lamikka Purvis Samuel currently serves as the Director of Family Solutions. Prior to her work at the SC Office of Rural Health, Lamikka worked at one of South Carolina’s major hospital systems providing case management for adult patients with  cardiovascular conditions, and also in the neonatal intensive care unit helping families of premature, low birth weight, and/or critically ill babies to cope with unexpected and sometimes devastating birth outcomes.

Contact Lamikka

Meet our Family Solutions Team