Attending the CHA Community Service Award presentation were (l-r): Patrick Charmel, chairman, CHA; Manisha Juthani, MD, commissioner, Connecticut Department of Public Health; Christopher O’Connor, CEO, Yale New Haven Health; Anne Diamond, DBA, JD, president, Bridgeport Hospital; Magna Dias, MD, medical director, Family Bridge; Majeda Basilio, RN, supervisor, Universal Nurse Home Visiting; Gregory Buller, MD, chair of Medicine, Bridgeport Hospital.
Bridgeport Hospital recently received the Connecticut Hospital Association’s (CHA) 2025 Community Service Award for its Family Bridge program, which offers home visits by nurses and community health workers to all families with newborns who deliver their babies at one of the two Bridgeport hospitals.
The award recognizes a Connecticut hospital or health system that has made an outstanding contribution to its community, including developing and implementing an innovative program or service that meets a specific need or addresses the concerns of a targeted segment of its community.
Under the Family Bridge program, each eligible family receives up to three free visits from a maternal-infant health nurse, who conducts physical assessments of both mother and baby, performs screenings and provides education on newborn care. Certified lactation consultants can also offer breastfeeding support. Approximately 45 percent of participants continue with the community health worker, who helps connect them to vital resources such as diaper banks, food banks and assistance programs such as WIC and SNAP. Families can stay engaged with the program for up to six months after delivery.
“The Family Bridge program addresses a vital need in our community by supporting mothers and families during a pivotal time when they return home from the hospital with a newborn,” said Magna Dias, MD, program medical director, chair of Pediatrics for Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital’s Bridgeport Campus and professor of Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine. “By meeting families where they are, the program provides essential support that many may not have known was available or even necessary.”
Family Bridge is primarily funded by five state agencies: the Office of Early Childhood, Department of Public Health, Department of Social Services, Office of Health Strategy and Department of Children and Families.
