CSP partners
with Healthy Child Care Ohio to help child-care providers in
Southeastern Ohio
by Tara Beverly
An innovative
program to improve the health care of children in
day-care settings will continue for another year in
Southeastern Ohio. Now in its second year, the
Healthy Child Care Ohio (HCCO) Nurse Consultants
program is a statewide partnership which bridges the
health-care and the child-care communities. The
program is sponsored by the Ohio Department of
Health and the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral
Association.
The program,
administered through OU-COM’s Community Service
Programs, provides registered nurses — known as
Child Care Health Consultants — who give free
assistance and guidance to day-care centers and
family child-care homes.
“HCCO nurse
consultants do not go to centers or homes to
regulate day-care providers but, instead, to answer
the questions that providers have,” says Sue Meeks,
R.N., who, along with Debbie White, R.N., is a nurse
consultant. Meeks and White serve child-care
providers in 18 counties throughout Southeastern
Ohio.
Meeks and
White provide a variety of valuable services to child-care
providers. They address topics such as immunizations; prevention of
communicable diseases, such as strep throat; nutrition; child abuse
recognition; insurance programs; and caring for children with
special needs. They also provide education for providers and vision
screenings for children.
“We also get a lot of calls about
behavioral issues with kids,” says Meeks.
Consultants
are available to aid anyone who cares for children: public or
private day-care centers, Head Start, preschools or in-home day-care
providers. They often provide training for in-home providers through
the Department of Job and Family Services.
The program has been a success.
Since last year, funding for the program has almost doubled, says
Kathy Trace, director of CSP. “HCCO is very happy with the services
we’ve provided.”
“It’s a great program,” says Meeks.
“I’m really thrilled to be a part of it. Child-care providers have
been around forever without this kind of immediate assistance,
unless the moms or dads of the children were health-care
professionals.”
“Providers want to know where
families can get help. Whatever it is they need, we try to help them
with, teach them about or come to their centers to facilitate
changes,” she adds.
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