Healthy Homes - Healthy Children

By Katie Huser

The Healthy Homes - Healthy Children (HHHC) program offers critical services, education, and outreach opportunities to the community. This summer I have been working with Dr. Caryl Waggett to redesign and update our HHHC website. I have spent a day at Second District Elementary School for Parent/Child Day to educate nearly 100 parents and children on our Healthy Homes – Healthy Children program. I took interactive activities such as “Pick Your Poison, Mistaken Identities” and the dollhouse to make my demonstration interactive with the younger audience. I also continued educational outreach by helping Gail Raspanti and Melissa Millerschoen, HHHC research assistants, at the Conneaut Lake Elementary School Math and Reading Open House. Additionally, I spent two days at Women, Infants, and Children talking with patients and families about HHHC’s free in-home assessment services. I interacted with the children that wanted to play “house” with me, with our demonstration dollhouse.

This summer I will still be creating a video for our free in-home assessments to inform local families and non-profit agencies in the region about this essential service and intervention program.  In addition to this promotion work, I am also working with Dr. Waggett to develop a pair of community advisory boards that will help guide Healthy Homes-Healthy Children in its long term planning. These boards include a Parents Advisory Council and a Community Advisory Committee, comprised of key representatives from community partners whose work unites with HHHC’s mission to improve childhood health. These advisory boards will help sustain the HHHC mission into the future. This effort expands on work that I have already initiated with HHHC community partners to develop clear points of alignment and memorandums of understanding.  Finally, I am continuing to expand and enhance current classroom and community outreach activities that will help promote our role and our community partners in the local area. I am focusing on pre-kindergarten and elementary school programming along with high-risk schools around Crawford County.