Health Services
If children aren’t healthy, they can’t learn. Early Head Start helps families access ongoing, continuous health care for their child and promote healthy, safe behaviors in centers and at home. We seek to provide comprehensive health services to children and families through prevention and early identification of health and developmental concerns. Through links to community health services, each family is encouraged and supported to establish a “medical and dental home.” Their children will receive routine health care and establish preventative dental services and treatment. Our goal is to facilitate an ongoing relationship with health care providers and help ensure our parents that their infants’ and toddlers’ teeth and gums are healthy. Effective oral health practices vary depending on the developmental skills of each child. Tooth decay is the most common preventable childhood disease. EHS, along with the Peoria City/County Health Department, works with parents to establish dental homes and obtain their child’s first dental exam by the age of 12 months. We create and assist parents with opportunities to be well-informed of early dental needs
EHS stays current on local and national health concerns that affect the children and families of the program and health care conditions that potentially face these children and families. We are committed to addressing the Peoria City/County Health Department’s Health Indicator Report findings in Maternal and Child Health. These findings include infant mortality, sexually transmitted infections and teen birth rate. Peoria has some of the highest rates in the country surrounding these health concerns.
Early Head Start strives to educate our parents on good nutrition for their children and family. We provide many opportunities for nutrition education and make the necessary referrals as needed. By providing nutrition education to our families, we hope to communicate the importance of eating right and maintaining appropriate body weight as it relates to their child’s health and development.
