JOHNSON CITY (AP) — A grant to East Tennessee State University totaling nearly $5 million will provide nurse home visit services for first-time mothers living in poverty in nine counties.

The Tennessee Department of Human Services awarded the grant to the university’s Nurse-Family Partnership program, the school said in a news release. The program provides services to women in Johnson, Carter, Unicoi, Washington, Sullivan, Hawkins, Hancock, Greene and Cocke counties.

The program provides service for mothers from prenatal care through the child’s age of 2 years.

The program is free to low-income, pregnant, first-time moms in the participating counties.