ESC Annual Report 2019

Children are Ready for School
HEAD START AND EARLY
HEAD START‘S MEDICAL
AND DENTAL SERVICES
Children in Head Start and Early Head Start receive
many preventative health services. When children
are healthy they are ready to learn. First, we ensure
each family has a medical and dental home within their
local community. If follow-up needs are identified,
HS/EHS works to ensure the family has no barriers to
obtaining those follow-up services. The charts below
show the results of medical and dental services for
Early Head Start (EHS), Head Start (HS) and Child Care
Partnerships (CCP).
Because a healthy child is more likely to succeed
academically, Head Start and Early Head Start
(HS/EHS) ensures prenatal women and children
receive preventative medical and dental care. HS/
EHS conducts several health screenings within the
program, such as hearing & vision, health & nutrition,
and oral health screenings.
Children who are up-to-date
on their health care and Health
immunization schedules Care Immunizations
Early Head Start 100% 100%
Head Start 100% 100%
Child Care Partnerships 100% 100%
Dental Exams
EHS EHS-CCP
Number of children with
ongoing access to dental care 98% 98%
Dental Treatment
Percent of Head Start children
with ongoing access to dental care 100%
Percent of Head Start children
needing dental treatment 21%
Percent who received dental treatment 90%
Working with the Community
for One Child’s Health
This is how ESC’s Head Start provides comprehensive services.
In this example, the child had severe dental issues. Our Head
Start worked within the community to arrange for prompt care
for the child.
ESC’s Early Head Start staff, Marine Crejudo was working with Ms.
Maryli Gallardo-Gamino through our prenatal mom home visitor
program and Ms. Samantha Nunez in her Early Head Start (EHS)
home base program and we had Gema Nunez in Noel Head
Start. The family was really struggling with dental care for Gema,
when they found out their rent was increasing. Ms. Crejudo
helped locate and direct the family to a new affordable place
to live in Southwest City. ESC helped get Gema to Springfield’s
Jordan Valley Dental Clinic to get Gema an evaluation. Jordan
Valley gave them a dental work estimate. This is when ESC’s
Head Start started working on figuring out with the family how
to get the financial support for this important dental treatment.
What we didn’t know at the beginning was Gema did not qualify
for Missouri Medicaid and the family had no other insurance.
The family was struggling to come up with the $1,500 for
her treatment. We reached out to our Head Start Health
Coordinator, who felt this was important to the child’s
wellness, so she reached out the Head Start Director to see
if we could help with this much needed healthcare. ESC’s
Head Start was able to assist with some financial funds.
When we explained to Maryli that we were going to be able
to pay for her treatment, she cried because she knew how
much pain Gema was experiencing with her teeth in their
current condition. ESC contacted Jordan Valley and made
the financial arrangements. Our timing couldn’t have been
any better. When we called them, they had just received a call from someone that had canceled their
appointment. They said Gema could have that appointment, then she could have her surgery next
week. ESC’s Head Start was able to take Gema and her mom to get a required physical done the next
day, we faxed it to Jordan Valley, and the surgery was scheduled. The family moved over the weekend
and Gema had her surgery the next Tuesday. Maryli said ”Thank you for helping my little girl feel
better and making the pain go away so she smiles again.”
Head Start helped two children in the McDonald County Area pay for extensive dental treatments.
One of Head Start and Early Head Start’s program goals is that “children are ready to learn.”
It is difficult to do that when you are suffering from cavities and mouth pain every single
day. With the help of Head Start we were able to repair over 36 cavities. These children
can now fully participate in classroom activities and savor the delicious food that we
prepare out of our centers.
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