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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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