September is a month to celebrate grandparents and all the wonderful things they bring to the lives of their grandchildren. If you want to fully embrace those World’s Best Nana or Pop Pop titles, this is the program for you.

It’s easy to think that since you raised your own children (and they survived!) that you know what it takes to care for a baby. But things have changed over the years. In this informative and interesting workshop, grandparents-to-be will learn about practices to keep the pregnant woman, new mom, and grandbaby in their life healthy and safe. Program presenters Jean Davis, Ph.D., and Carmen Giurgescu, Ph.D., of the University of Central Florida College of Nursing, will discuss the precautions new grandparents can take to prepare themselves and their homes for grandparenting.

In this program, you can expect to also learn about:

• Important vaccines for grandparents to keep baby safe
• Safe sleep practices for (grand)babies
• Facts versus Myths: Safe guidance to give to Moms2B

This program is presented by UCF College of Nursing and hosted by the Winter Park Health Foundation.

About the Program Presenters:  

Jean Davis’ passion for community health promotion grew from childhood, listening to her aunt and mother, both nurses, discuss ways to help new mothers and babies in the community. Today the Jonas Scholar and assistant professor at the UCF College of Nursing channels her passion into research that focuses on physical activity support, promotion and habit formation to improve patient outcomes and address health inequities fueled by social determinants of health. Davis is particularly interested in supporting the health of vulnerable populations including Black pregnant people and veterans.

Carmen Giurgescu, the Chatlos Foundation Endowed Chair and associate dean of research at the UCF College of Nursing, is a pioneer and leader in eliminating racial disparities in preterm birth among Black women. She has strategically developed a focused program of nationally recognized research to identify fundamental factors that underlie high rates of preterm birth among Black women. Her pioneering research, which is built upon more than 15 years of clinical practice as a labor and delivery nurse and women’s health care nurse practitioner, has progressed from drawing attention to the roles of social stressors, particularly neighborhood disorder, and experiences of racial discrimination, to elucidating the complex and interacting psychological and biological pathways by which social determinants of health increase risk for preterm birth. Giurgescu’s work, which has been consistently funded and currently includes two studies totaling $5.6 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, has implications for interventions ranging from policies to personalized therapies.