Live from Home Visiting Conference: Innovative Problem Solving

Jessica Stewart-Gonzalez: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Parenting Brief. I’m your host, Jessica Stewart-Gonzalez. This week, the podcast is coming at you live from the 14th annual Strong Families AZ Home Visiting Conference, where we’re celebrating those who have gone above and beyond for families. I’m here with Nereida Gomez, who’s a community health worker here in Arizona.

You do a lot of work for young families. What are some of the biggest challenges you see these families facing? 

Nereida Gomez: That’s a good question. ’cause I live in a rural, very rural community. I’m by the border of Arizona and Mexico, Nogales, to be precise and it’s, um. The barriers we have lack of transportation, lack of resources.

We try and connect them with as many as we are, have available in the community. But we have to look outside Tucson, um, Pima Pinal, um, Phoenix. So it’s, it’s basically getting them what they need is our biggest [00:01:00] challenges. 

Jessica Stewart-Gonzalez: And what does it look like to help them navigate parenthood in that type of community?

Nereida Gomez: Well, the parents, most, the majority of the families I work with are very resilient. Whatever it is that they need to get done for their kids, they will do it. They, if they need to drive themselves out of there, they’ll do it. Um, they. A lot of the families, like I said, I work with, they are not afraid to ask for help.

Um, some might kind of shy away of embarrassment, but most of the time they’re good about, um, reaching out one way or another. Even asking family members to friends to what do you do in this case? Um, which it’s a, i I think it’s a, it’s a big step for them to take. 

Jessica Stewart-Gonzalez: It sounds like there’s a lot of that sense of community relying on each other, asking for that help, really word of mouth in order to like access services.

I feel like a lot of the ideas we’re talking about are applicable really to any family. I hear a lot of parents saying that once they left the hospital, it suddenly felt [00:02:00] like they were on their own. What would you say to that? What do you say to that, to the families that you’re serving? 

Nereida Gomez: I try and reach out to them, uh, before that happens, when they’re gonna give birth.

I really try and let ’em know, whatever happens at that moment, please let me know. Do you need to, how you’re gonna get there? How you’re gonna get home? Is anybody gonna be there while you’re there? I really try and offer, um, my services as far as being supportive. Um, I’ve been in that situation where I get discharged, I’m like, oh my God.

I go home with. this baby. Now what do I do? Like, it freaked me out. So I, I kinda, I know what they’re going to through and I, I would hate for them to feel like I don’t know what else to do. Like it’s just me and the baby now. So I really try and be as supportive as, as I can for them. 

Jessica Stewart-Gonzalez: I love that this year you have won the Innovator Award.

You know how to get things done even if you have to find a creative way to do it. Can you tell us about a time you found a creative solution for a family? 

Nereida Gomez: I work a lot with teen [00:03:00] moms. I think I, I really, um, I wasn’t a teen mom, but for whatever reason I get along really well with them. I, I, I, I understand them.

I have teen, teen, um, teen kids, myself, a 15 and a 16-year-old. So, um. I kind of put myself like, what would my daughter do or where, what would she think if she, if she has questions, my daughter, like, mom, I heard this. What do I do? So I kind of try and think of like, what would. My daughter Camila do, or my son, where would he go for help?

So then I, I kind of talked to them like I would talk to my kids because they’re in the same timeframe. Yeah, they’re going through something difficult at the time. Um, but they’re still kids and they still need that sup, that extra support that maybe that parent they didn’t really have. ’cause they’re being raised by grandma.

So giving them that type of guidance, that type of like, you know what, you can do this. You’re 17, but you can still do this. 

Jessica Stewart-Gonzalez: Thanks so much for joining us on the show today. 

Nereida Gomez: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. And I just wanted to add that this work that [00:04:00] I’m doing, the families I work with is just something I honestly, truly enjoy and, um, I’m glad I’m able to make a difference.

Jessica Stewart-Gonzalez: And thank you listeners for following along this week. We’ll be back again later today to share what we’re learning and the takeaways parents and professionals can.