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“In Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV), each data point tells the story of a mother, father, family and child.” That was Nate Lubold’s take home message from the October 2019, Healthy Families America (HFA) Peer Review training. After the training Nate, Advanced Metrics Director of Solution Implementation, sat down with the Advanced Metrics team and talked about his experience.
Nate, what is the purpose of Healthy Families America Peer Review training?
First off, I want to say how nice it was that Healthy Families America (HFA) allowed me to attend the training. The purpose of the peer review training is for people intimately involved in the delivery of the Healthy Families America model to aid in the accreditation process and ensure agencies are adhering to the fidelity of the HFA model. It was an intense three-day training. I was able to dig into and gain a deeper understanding of the HFA model. This includes how to interpret the constructs and understand how they are applied in the field.
Why was it important you attended the Healthy Families America Peer Review training?
I think it was important that I attended the Peer Review training so that our team could really understand the HFA model. This gives us insight into why the collection of certain data points is critical. Especially, those related to health and safety accreditation standards. The training provided me with a deeper understanding of what it means to be a home visitor. This understanding increases my ability to train users on our home visiting software, Advanced Home Visiting.
Do you have a top take away (or two) from attending the HFA Peer Review training?
While at the training, I was reminded of the passion that home visitors bring to the work they do. Each attendee genuinely enjoyed being part of the HFA team. I also realized how important having a solution, like our Advanced Home Visiting software is, to home visitors. It enables them to more easily collect the data they need in both a guided and intuitive manner.
How do you think attending the HFA Peer Review training will benefit Advanced Metrics as a whole?
As a company, we now have a greater understanding of each of the constructs and the importance of adhering to the standards of the HFA model. This will naturally lead to even more informed enhancements to the reporting and accreditation features in our Advanced Home Visiting software. The team can fully appreciate the need for reports to be meaningful and generated with ease, so that home visitors and supervisors get the information they need. With the passion for the work and enthusiasm for the model that each home visitor has, no one should get burnt out or annoyed by clunky data collection and reporting—that should be the easy part.
So, you think attending this training will directly benefit home visitors, home visiting agencies and funders?
Users will benefit from me, as an Advanced Metrics team member, attending this training. Our business has a tremendous amount of first-hand knowledge about the data home visitors collect and why each data point matters. The team has a fuller appreciation of the home visitor and supervisor workflow after attending the peer review training.
Was there a compelling presentation or speaker at the training?
Leah McCallister, from the Healthy Families America National Office, was one of the keynote speakers. She told a story of conducting a peer reviewer site visit. She was administering an interview when a young woman approached her and said, “this program really saved my life.” This young woman credited the support of home visitors as saving her and her child’s life, as she had very limited support to draw upon as a parent.
Do you have anything else you would like to add?
This training reaffirmed to me that the team at Advanced Metrics is committed to being a mission driven company. It may take a little extra, but this embodies who we are as a company. I am also proud of the Advanced Home Visiting software solution and what it can bring to the home visiting profession and field.