El Nido

The Junior Board of Rock Island (JBRI) is proud to announce new twice monthly meetings and a new location for its Spanish NEST program, “El Nido” – a program that provides prenatal and early childhood education for expectant and new mothers who are at-risk for having developmental, social, medical or educational delays.

The program, offered free of charge, will be meeting the first and third Wednesdays of the month at Casa Guanajuato at 525 16th St. in Moline from 10:00 am – 11:00am. The new location and twice weekly meetings have been designed to make the program more accessible to Spanish speaking new or expectant mothers, according to Dr. Allison Haskill, NEST program chair for the JBRI. “Our program complements many of Casa Guanajuato’s family initiatives and translation services already provided by the staff there,” said Haskill. “It’s our hope that these young women will feel more at ease in familiar surroundings and make the NEST program part of their weekly routine.”

Over the past several years NEST class topics have included breastfeeding, car seat safety, infant CPR and exercise during pregnancy, among others. “The goal is to ultimately educate participating mothers on self-care during pregnancy, childbirth and after their child is delivered to ensure the health and well-being of both mom and baby,” said Haskill.

To motivate participating mothers to attend sessions, doctor appointments and well-baby visits, NEST utilizes a point system redeemable for baby merchandise from Kmart in Rock Island, Illinois. Regular class attendance is rewarded through a monthly raffle drawing for baby gear such as strollers and baby monitors.

In addition to the Spanish NEST program, the JBRI runs and operates a NEST program presented in English at Trinity Hospital in Rock Island in Conference Room 3 on Tuesdays (5:30-6:30 PM) and Thursdays (5:00-6:00 PM) of each week.

NEST is operated solely through volunteers from JBRI and is funded by JBRI which has received recent grant funding from the Community Foundation of Great River Bend and the Moline Foundation. In 2010, over 120 expectant or new mothers participated in the NEST programs.

If community members have questions about NEST or would like to volunteer to be a guest speaker for English or Spanish NEST classes, they are urged to contact Alli Haskill at 309-235-8786 or allisonhaskill@augustana.edu.