Funded Projects
- The Child Care Healthline Project
Promoting Nutrition and Physical Activity in Child Care Centers
Health and Physical Development Foundations for California’s Early Care and Education
California Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (CECCS)
Integrated Pest Management Educational Materials for Child Care
SIDS Education in Underserved Early Care and Education Programs
Integrated Pest Management in Child Care
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The California Child Care Healthline
The California Child Care Healthline provides information that promotes the health and well-being of children and caregivers in a variety of early care and education settings via free telephone consultations to California early care and education programs and families. Most materials developed by the Healthline are available in both English and Spanish through this Web site. Healthline is a project of the California Childcare Health Program (CCHP), and is funded by the California Department of Education, Child Development Division.
Healthline Project Goals
- To support the provision of quality early care and education programs through consultation by child care and health professionals, creation of linkages between child care and health care professionals, and provision of health and safety resources for the child care community.
- To improve the quality of infant/toddler out-of-home child care through the creation and dissemination of specific health and safety resources for child care providers, parents, training programs, and public policy initiatives.
- To support the inclusion of children with special needs in out-of-home child care settings by reducing barriers to their enrollment and integration in all types of early childhood programs.
Services Provided by Healthline
Telephone and email consultation. Healthline staff answer questions on health and safety issues common to the child care field, such as: behavioral problems, prevention of infectious disease, injury prevention, nutrition in child care, caring for children with chronic health conditions and other special needs, child growth, staff health, child abuse and violence prevention, oral health, and access to special services and resources. - Publications. Healthline publications include:
- A bi-monthly newsletter, Child Care Health Connections ;
- Health and Safety Notes for child care providers, which provide information and recommendations for providers on their most common questions;
- Fact Sheets for Families;
- Series of mini-posters for use in child care settings, on topics of disease prevention and injury prevention.
- Online materials including the above as well as seasonal articles or interest and links to relevant resources from other agencies.
- Infant/Toddler Quality Improvement. In order to better serve the child care community of California, the Healthline project addresses the need for improved quality infant/toddler child care. Our Infant/Toddler health and development specialist provides information and resources on health, safety, and quality infant toddler care to child care programs, providers and training programs.
Promoting Inclusion of Children with Chronic Health Conditions and Other Special Needs. The Healthline promotes the inclusion of children with special needs into child care by addressing barriers to inclusion found in all types of early childhood programs, and facilitating the development of policies and procedures that facilitate safe and successful inclusion. Reaching Underserved Communities. Healthline focuses on outreach to underserved areas, using a comprehensive targeting of materials based on the type of phone calls received. An updated database for all calls allows the Healthline staff to evaluate what regions of California are utilizing Healthline services, and to identify the most common issues among providers on a regional level. Outreach. Healthline outreach efforts include the distribution of CCHP's health and safety materials, via direct mailings, web-site articles and targeted marketing. Healthline staff also present workshops at professional meetings and conferences throughout the state, including the annual meetings of the California Association for the Education of Young Children (CAEYC), the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network (CCCRRN), and the Professional Association for Childhood Education (PACE). Presentation topics emphasize health and safety issues including: communicable disease, successful inclusion of children with chronic health conditions and other special needs, child development and behavioral challenges, and staff health. Supporting Child Care Health Consultants and Child Care Health Advocates. Working more closely with the Child Care Health Consultants and Child Care Health Advocates in the 21 counties is another function of the Healthline staff in providing technical assistance and training. Promoting Links. Enhancing the link between the child care community and other professionals involved with health and safety concerns for children means being visible in the community which is apparent through the participation in and presentations at various early childhood education public health forums at the local, state, and national level, as well as strategic involvements in advocacy efforts. Healthline provides continues support and technical assistance to achieve other objectives funded by SECCS (State Early Childhood Comprehensive System), First 5 and Healthy Child Care America funds.
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DHHS, HRSA, MCHB, subcontract under University of North Carolina
(7/01/08 – 08/30/10)
This is a multi-state (CT, NC, CA) randomized, experimental study on effect of a nutrition and physical activity intervention, provided by a trained child care health consultant, on 3-5 year old children attending licensed child care centers’ BMI, activity and nutritional intake at the center. The study will be conducted in 4-6 child care centers in each state. This multi-state study is being conducted with colleagues at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill School of Public Health and Yale University School of Nursing.
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WestED (9/1/07-2/28/09)
This project supports the development of research-based foundations for the State of California’s 4-5 year olds attending child care programs on their physical development and general health. The foundations will be reviewed by a national panel of experts and California’s child care agencies and providers. The final Foundations will provide the guidelines for new state curricula for 4-5 year olds.
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US Department of Health and Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, CA. Dept. of Public Health, Maternal Child and Adolescent Branch (1/1/08–7/30/09)
This grant supports our listserve and bi-monthly electronic newsletter (eNews) written to maintain contact with California’s trained child care health consultants. The eNews provides consultants with up-to-date health and safety resources, references and information to maintain active consultation in their communities. This work is part of a larger CECCS project under the direction of Dr. Pat Fox, Principal Investigator UCSF School of Nursing Institute for Health and Aging.
Additional Information, please contact:
SECCS Project Coordinator
1615 Capitol Ave., MS 8306
Sacramento, CA 95899-7420
(916) 650-0388
(916) 650-0306 (FAX)
www.mch.dhs.ca.gov/programs/seccs/default.htm
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California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (7/1/08–6/30/09)
This one-year project supports the development of new articles written for the Child Care Health Connections newsletter and as Health and Safety Notes on environmental health issues in child care.
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CJ Foundation
(7/1/08-6/30/09)
Eight continuing education workshops in English and Spanish will be provided to child care providers in 6 California counties on Safe Sleep Practices and SIDS Prevention. Written Safe Sleep and SIDS Prevention materials will be translated into Spanish and available on the CCHP website.
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California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation
(11/1/08-1/31/11)
An integrated pest management (IPM) Toolkit will be developed for child care staff to reduce the exposure of pesticides for children and staff in child care programs. The English- and Spanish-language Toolkit will include curriculum and complimentary publications, handouts, and posters. The Toolkit will be disseminated at workshops, through Child Care agencies, and on the California Childcare Health Program website. To develop a standardized research instrument to assess pest control practices, an IPM Checklist will be developed and completed in 10 local child care programs. This collaborative project includes colleagues at UC, Berkeley Center for Children’s Environmental Health Research and UC, Davis.
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