Funded Projects

Community Connect

Project Year

2022

City & State

Oak Park, Illinois

Program Name

CATCH Implementation

Topic

Child Development/Developmental delay

Program Description

Problem Social determinants of health (SDOH) or the conditions where people live, learn, work and play, have a profound impact on an individual’s health status, medical care, development, behavior and long-term functioning (CDC). This is particularly true for young children whose needs and daily context extend beyond the child to include family. Children experiencing unmet social needs are at significantly greater risk for chronic disease, mental and behavioral health concerns, and decreased life expectancy (Gottlieb, Hesler, Long, Amaya & Adler, 2014; Peterson 2017). There is increasing data to suggest that screening and providing resources for basic social needs of young children and families has potential to not only improve individual health outcomes, but also to reduce the impact of health inequity and create long-term community health benefits (Berman, Patel, Belamarich, & Gross, 2018). Project Goal Given these compelling data, the current proposal seeks to develop and implement a community-based SDOH screening, triage and referral model. A successful SDOH screening initiative requires use of an evidence-based tool that addresses the main categories of SDOH including health and healthcare, economic stability, built environment, education and social and community context. It also requires collaboration between community and systems of care in order to reach children and families across a variety of settings and connect them in a timely way with meaningful and appropriate resources. Intimate knowledge of community-based services and closed loop referral systems are also important for effective community-based screening and referral processes (Children’s Hospitals Association). Primary Setting, Number of Children Affected and Proposed Intervention The Collaboration for Early Childhood has spent over a decade designing and implementing a coordinated system of vision, hearing and developmental screening and referral for children 0-5 in our community. Our service area consists of Oak Park, River Forest and other neighboring communities. Since launching this program, we have developed partnerships with local providers (23 currently) to deliver 1500-2000 screenings to families in our community each year. The proposed initiative will build on this successful community-based screening and referral model and integrate a SDOH screening tool (the Environmental Screening Questionnaire; ESQ), to directly assess social determinants of health. We will capitalize on current partnerships with early childcare providers and local pediatric medical practices to integrate the ESQ into existing screening protocols of 10 of our community partners. Families will complete the ESQ electronically. Members of the Collaboration’s staff will receive and triage responses and subsequently provide appropriate referrals to respondents. In addition, our Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant will help connect families, who require a higher level of care, to appropriate resources. Anticipated Outcomes We strongly believe that the integration of SDOH screening into our current protocol will result in a robust and comprehensive community-based early childhood screening and referral process with potential to shift and ultimately improve the health outcomes for children and families we serve.

Project Goal

We strongly believe that the integration of SDOH screening into the Collaboration for Early Childhood's current protocols will result in a robust and comprehensive community-based early childhood screening and referral process with potential to shift and ultimately improve the health outcomes for children and families we serve.

Project Objective 1

The Collaboration for Early Childhood staff and consultants (overseen by Dr. Stephanie Weller and the Collaboration for Early Childhood's Health and Development committee) will design and implement a system to improve the health of community families with young children (age 0-5), by integrating screening for social determinants of health into at least 10 existing or added members of an established community network of early childhood providers, home visiting programs and medical practitioners, by July 1, 2022.

Project Objective 2

Ten percent of the families of children age 0-5, who are engaged with participating programs will express social determinant of health status and needs using the Environmental Screening Questionnaire via an online, passcode protected platform by June 20, 2023.

Project Objective 3

By June 30, 2023, one hundred percent of the families with a score of 30 and above in any area of the Environmental Screening Questionnaire (ESQ), or when the caregiver has indicated or has voiced a concern while completing the questionnaire, will receive resources and information to help meet their social determinant of health needs within 30 days of screening completion.

AAP District

District VI

Institutional Name

Collaboration for Early Childhood

Contact 1

Stephanie Weller