Julie Ackerman, a Colorado Nurse-Family Partnership® (NFP) nurse in Boulder, Colorado, has recently received the Tenacious Caregiver Award from the NFP National Service Office. This prestigious award is given yearly to one nurse who exemplifies an extraordinary commitment to delivering the NFP model and achieving positive outcomes for families. We are so proud of the amazing work Julie and all of our Colorado NFP nurses do every day to support children and families.
Julie has been an NFP nurse for seven years and has completed more than 4,000 visits to new moms and families in Boulder County. Our team is so proud of Julie’s dedication to clients, and how she partners with them to achieve positive outcomes for themselves and their babies.
JULIE’S PASSION FOR SUPPORTING FIRST-TIME MOTHERS
We asked Julie to tell us about the best part of her job. “The best part of being a nurse home visitor is having the opportunity to build a respectful, trusting, and long-term relationship with first-time mothers who enroll in Nurse-Family Partnership. I cherish connecting with families to support and empower them on their pregnancy and parenting journey. It is a true honor to be invited into their homes and lives to witness and celebrate the amazing milestones they experience during the years we work together.”
Julie also shared, “Nurse-Family Partnership is relationship based so the connection with each client is unique and precious. I have witnessed and shared joys and challenges with every family and I am honored that they have entrusted me with their personal stories. Every client has impacted me, and I can only liken it to completing a big, colorful jigsaw puzzle where every piece matters. In the end, it’s simply about showing up with love and respect and being present for every family, every visit.”
THE 
TENACIOUS CAREGIVER AWARD GOES TO…
When Julie found out that she won this special award, she said she was speechless and moved to tears. In Julie’s words, “As reality began to sink in and I had more time to reflect on the meaning of this award, I knew it truly wasn’t mine alone. I will always think of it as recognition I share with the amazing and dedicated Nurse-Family Partnership team in Boulder County and ultimately with all nurse home visitors across the nation. I believe tenacity is one of the strengths we all display while doing this important and rewarding work. This award is the highlight of my long nursing career and I remain humbled and honored to have received such meaningful recognition.”
Julie’s words are a true inspiration to all of us at the Invest in Kids team, and are the reason why we are so motivated to be the bridge between research and practice for all NFP nurses in Colorado. Allison Mosqueda, our Invest in Kids’ NFP consultant for Boulder County says: “Julie is a wealth of NFP knowledge and a long-standing nurse who we have called upon to share her expertise. She has taken stakeholders out on home visits, supported nursing practice as a member of our Colorado Nurse Practice Council, provided mentoring on our New Nurse Community of Practice, and graciously volunteered to demonstrate breastfeeding assessment and interventions over telehealth webinars. She is fully deserving of the Tenacious Caregiver Award.”
Thank you to Julie for your dedication to improving the health and well-being of families and communities in Colorado. We are grateful to all the amazing nurses, nurse supervisors, and our nurse consultants for supporting thousands of Colorado children and parents each year.
Learn more about NFP services offered in Colorado here.
ABOUT NURSE-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP
Nurse-Family Partnership® (NFP) is a relationship-based program that partners highly-trained registered nurses with first-time mothers and their babies. The program empowers first-time moms to transform their lives and create better futures for themselves and their babies. More than four decades of research has consistently proven that NFP succeeds at meeting its goals, providing improved pregnancy outcomes, promotion of child health and development, and the encouragement of economic self-sufficiency for families.
Visit the national Nurse-Family Partnership office’s website here.