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5 <br />Orange County Partnership for Young Children <br />CHILD CARE HEALTH CONSULTANT <br />PROJECT ABSTRACT <br />Project Title: Child Care Health Consultant <br />Applicant: Orange County Health Department <br />Purpose of Project: This project provides Child Care Health Consultant services to promote healthy <br />and safe environments for young children in the 120 licensed child care centers and homes in Orange <br />County. To this end, the Public Health Nurse II will make available to child care providers a range of <br />services from policy assistance related to health and safety issues to linking staff, families and children <br />to community health resources. Furthermore, the nurse will address health and safety issues identified <br />through environmental rating scales being used for licensure (such as ECERS or FDCRS), thus <br />improving the health of children enrolled and improving the compliance with health regulations and <br />child care standards by child care centersihomes. The nurse will review emergency care plans and <br />offer technical assistance as needed to staff related to learning about diagnoses and learning technical <br />skills related to specific cares needed to maintain children with special medical needs in their child <br />care site. Families of special needs children in child care centers will be connected with early <br />intervention, Child Service Coordination, medical, and/or school system special services as indicated, <br />The nurse will assess access to preventive health care, insurance, and immunizations by enrolled <br />children and will be a liaison between child care providers, parents, and community health care <br />providers, <br />The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that every child care center or family child care <br />home should have access to a child care health consultant who has expertise in child health and <br />development.' According to the NC Division of Child Development, there are -120 licensed centers <br />and home child care centers in Orange County, Child care providers surveyed through an Orange <br />County Partnership for Young Children review this year indicated that providers want more training, <br />especially on topics such as: diapering, hand washing, immunizations, CPR, identifying child abuse, <br />food and nutrition, infant related topics, asthma and allergies, safety, bloodbome pathogens and <br />infectious diseases." These areas of consultation needs mirror data reported by the NC Rated License <br />Assessment Project that show that across the state of NC child care providers' completing <br />environmental rating scales score lowest on these items (items identified especially low were related to <br />cross-contamination, diapering techniques, and hand washing practices)."' <br />Collaboration: This project will collaborate with Child Care Services Association staff to jointly <br />provide technical assistance, training and planning services related to health and safety issues/topics, <br />particularly focusing on centers/homes scoring low on environmental rating scales, The nurse will <br />honor existing contracts between OCHD and the Child Developmental Services Agency and Early <br />Head Start. Orange County Cooperative Extension Services will collaborate by sharing information, <br />resources, and materials (focusing on Child Care homes). The nurse will collaborate with other <br />programs within the Health Department, such as Child Service Coordination, Nutrition Services, <br />Immunization Tracking, Health Promotion and Education, and Environmental Health. The nurse will <br />serve on the Technical Assistance Advisory Council and the Orange County Preschool Interagency <br />council to coordinate activities. As the project develops, further collaborative relationships are <br />anticipated with preschool services of Orange County Schools and Chapel Hill Carrboro Schools, <br />Piedmont Health Services, private pediatricians, OPC Mental Health, and other agencies/individuals <br />with vested interests in the wellbeing of your children in child care settings. <br />Evaluation: The evaluation method will be through a variety of data collection and analysis along <br />with surveys and screening tools. Child care center/home staff will be surveyed annually regarding <br />their satisfaction of the services offered, They will also be given the opportunity to indicate areas of