Tuesday, November 17, 2015

New Be Active Kids trainers!

The latest Be Active Kids train-the-trainer was held Friday, November 13th in Clyde, NC.



Four Child Care Health Consultants attended the training along with the western region CCHC coach, Theresa Stenersen. Picture above, left to right, are Laurel Marshall from Clay county, Janelle Midgett from Haywood county, Elka Gibbs from Macon county and
Meghan Phillips from Graham county - all part of Region A Partnership for Children.

The training was held by Keelin Schneider and the Be Active Kids Clubhouse Team - Swing, Leap, Dart, Blue and Glide.

 For more information about Be Active Kids, contact Keelin Schneider at keelin AT beactivekids.org

Friday, October 30, 2015

Transylvania is prepared for emergencies!


As of October 27th, 2015, two staff members from every licensed child care facility in Transylvania county, NC have completed the Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training!

Child Care Health Consultant Amanda Lambert - funded by Smart Start of Transylvania county and employed by the Transylvania County Department of Public Health has provided these trainings. 

In addition to Child Care Health Consultation, Amanda provides Care Coordination for Children (CC4C) care management and is the Enhanced Role Nurse for Child Health in her county. Way to go, Amanda!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

And now from Go NAP SACC's facebook page...

Even with the rain, we had too much fun with the wonderful Terri Walls yesterday. She's been using NAP SACC with child...

Posted by Go NAP SACC on Friday, October 2, 2015

Monday, September 28, 2015

Vaccines save lives!

Vaccines save lives! This was the message shared by Child Care Health Consultant Dorothy Rawleigh on September 24 at the Chatham County Public Library. Rawleigh, who works with the Chatham County Public Health Department, presented a training on Childhood Immunizations to a group of 25 early educators.


Rawleigh dispelled common myths about vaccines and encouraged early educators to work with parents to ensure that children in early care settings are up to date on their shots.

For more information about immunization requirements in NC : http://www.immunize.nc.gov/

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

CCHCs celebrated!

Two Child Care Health Consultants covering Jackson, Haywood and Swain counties in western North Carolina were celebrated recently by Safe Kids Jackson County for their role in preventing childhood injuries!

Meagan Cagle (far left) and Janelle Midgett (4th from left) finished their CCHC training course this year and are both certified child passenger safety technicians.

Meagan works with child care facilities in Jackson and Swain counties and Janelle works with Haywood county. They are both employed by the Jackson county health department and are funded by Region A Partnership for Children.

Articles about the celebration appeared in the Macon County News and other local papers.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Newest CCHCs in training!




On September 1, the latest cohort started their journey to becoming qualified Child Care Health Consultants when they met at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill.

Shown here - left to right - is Lisa Harrell from Martin county, Kelly Mendenhall from Alamance county, Natalie Williams from Yadkin county, Elka Gibbs from Macon county. In the back row is Jeannie Reardon, Jen Kozaczek and Mary Cleary representing the NC Child Care Health and Safety Resource Center, Missy Jablonski from Iredell county and Meghan Phillips from Graham county.

Please help give them a warm welcome and wish them much luck on their journey!

Monday, April 13, 2015

Sessions

2015 Annual Child Care Health Consultant Association Conference

The 2015 Child Care Health Consultant Association conference was held on March 24 and 25th at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The theme this year was Healthy Child Care: It's Not Magic! Seventy four CCHCs from across North Carolina and even from other states like Maryland and North Dakota attended the conference. The event was sponsored by the NC CCHC Association and the NC Division of Public Health, Children & Youth Branch and supported by the NC Child Care Health and Safety Resource Center




Some of the session highlights were:

Session I: What's happening at the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education (SESSION SLIDES) with Lorie Pugh, Regulatory Services Assistant Section Chief. This session featured updates to the Emergency Preparedness and Response rules, which were voted on by the North Carolina Child Care Commission on November 17, 2014 and will take effect June 1, 2015. Read minutes from the Child Care Commission's meeting here. 


North Carolina's CCHCs will play a crucial role in training early educators based on the revised Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training which is slated to open for registration in May 2015. In the training, trainers will receive a trainer’s toolkit with all the materials needed to deliver the in-person training to child care facilities. The training for child care providers will be an in-person two-session training, two hours per class, with an hour of homework to complete between the two classes. 



Session II: Next up was Updates from DHHS Environmental Health Section (SESSION SLIDES CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE) with David Brown, Surveillance Coordinator with the Department of Health and Human Services Children's Environmental Health Program



Session III: Christina DiSalvo, Early Care and Education Program Officer with the NC Partnership for Children spoke next on Strengthening the NC CCHC Infrastructure: The ELC CCHC Project Update.  (SESSION SLIDES)

 



And for Session IV the regional CCHC coaches Sharon Brown, Rhonda Rambeaut and Theresa Stenersen along with Sharon Ware, state child care nurse consultant joined Christina for a panel discussion to answer questions posed by CCHCs across the state and to discuss ways that new tools including the CCHC Model, the NC Health and Safety Assessment can be incorporated into the daily work of the CCHC. 

 We started off Wednesday morning hearing keynote speaker Mike Lanza talk about Neighborhood Play, Everyday. (SESSION SLIDES)




Mike talked about how children hardly play outside on their own in their neighborhoods and how they are suffering in many ways as a result. He described how we can give children a life of neighborhood play, every day. First we looked at how this problem is social in nature and why individual solutions like limiting screen times or providing structured activities are, by themselves, inadequate. He then described many innovative communities - including his own front yard - that have vibrant play cultures for their children. We were provided with a comprehensive set of step-by-step solutions for parents and caregivers. You can read more about Mike's work by visiting his blog at Playborhood.com and reading his book "Playborhood" available at  Amazon. 

The keynote address was followed by a number of breakout sessions: 

I A: Nurturing the Brain through Responsive Relationships (SESSION SLIDES) was presented by Nicola Finch, Natalie Tackitt and Joy Herrera. This presentation defined types of stress and how each affects the developing child's brain and body. 

I B: Glenda Linens of Alamance County Health Department and Tony Geiger with Kids in Parks presented Engaging Child Care Facilities in Community Physical Activity Programs. Glenda presented the Alamance County Physical Activity and Recreation Challenge program (SESSION SLIDES) and Tony Geiger introduced the Kids in Parks program's TRACK Trails (SESSION SLIDES)



 
I C: Lisa Johnson with the Pediatric Asthma Program and Megan Hoert Hughes with the UNC Center for Environmental Health and Suceptibility presented Understanding the Clinical and Environmental Aspects of Managing Asthma for Children and their Families to provide professionals with the knowledge critical to helping children and their families understand asthma management.


 II ABeth Meadows, Field Services Unit Manager with the NC Immunization Branch gave updates in a session called Saving Lives - One Vaccine at a Time. (SESSION SLIDES CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE) Beth gave an overview of the upcoming 2015 Immunization Law changes, including changes to the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine requirement.



Download more information about what will be required starting on July 1, 2015 by clicking on the images below. (.pdf)

PCV Requirements for children born on or after July 1 2015
PCV Requirements for children born on or after July 1 2015


II C:  Ashley Mercer and Latonya Brown gave a presentation called Orange County Wellness at Work which included a worksite wellness toolkit developed in Orange County and how their work can be replicated in a child care setting

III A: Next David Brown, Surveillance Coordinator with the Department of Health and Human Services returned to talk about Lead Exposure, Treatment and Remediation in Child Care

III B: A Healthy Start for Young Children: How do I Play a Part? was presented by Natasha Bowden of Smart Start of Buncombe County (shown below with Juliana Whitaker of Lincoln County). Natasha is the Shape NC Hub Specialist for the western counties. 




III C: Tiffany Graves, Investigations Supervisor with the DCDEE gave a presentation of Interagency Investigations of Child Abuse and Neglect in Child Care Facilities. 


Stay tuned to this blog for more highlights from the annual conference! And be sure to follow on Twitter and Facebook.


Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Craven County Child Care Health Consultant Presents at....

the 9th Annual Building Brighter Futures Early Childhood Conference! This conference is hosted by Craven Smart Start in collaboration with Child Care Resource & Referral, as a professional development day for early childhood educators. Terri Walls RN, Child Care Health Consultant and Letha Ricks, Quality Enhancement Coordinator for Craven Smart Start presented Loose Parts: Empowering Children's Creativity, to a full room of 40 early childhood educators.
"Look at what I made....can't I play a little longer?" Those who value the concept of play-based learning joined us to learn about "loose parts". Loose parts are objects or materials that children can move, combine, take apart, control or change in multiple ways while they play. Loose parts are natural or synthetic items that provide endless possibilities with no set of directions. Here are some ideas of loose parts: stones, seashells, boxes, buttons, stumps, rocks, buckets, fabric, sand, seed pods, plastic containers, thread spools, twigs, pine cones, paper towel tubes, yarn, wood, acorns, trays, string, tree cookies, bark, cartons, ribbon, logs, flowers, crates, beads.






In play environments that offer simply fixed play equipment, children have a tendency to take risks (jumping from high places, sliding down the slide backwards) while playing due to the limited choices. When children manipulate their own environment and takes risks, they are less likely to have accidents and get in trouble. Marc Armitage reported a reduction in minor accidents and a general decline in unwanted behavior with the introduction of loose parts in the play area (2009).

Armitage, Mar. 2009. Play Pods in Schools: An Independent Evaluation (2006-2009). United Kingdom: Playpeople.