DID YOU KNOW?
Rural communities comprise 19% of Washington’s population, and 16,000 children 0-4 live in rural areas. Healthcare is less accessible to families in rural parts of the state, and even harder to access for children and youth with special health care needs.13
The health and well-being of young children and their families creates a foundation for learning that can last a lifetime. The Early Learning Coordination Plan describes a range of strategies to create an integrated, whole-person, whole-health approach to wellness care. Below, you can see how the ELCP’s goals and strategies are intertwined with your role as a healthcare professional.
ACCESS
Integrating services —including physical and mental health, and dental care — to support whole-person care.
Consolidating services into single locations (i.e. health hubs) for families to access when and where they need them.
Enhancing support for healthy babies and prenatal care to eliminate disparities in infant and maternal mortality rates.
Increasing funding for and capacity to provide additional mental health supports for infants, children, families, schools and community providers.
Developing coordinated programs with the early learning workforce to ensure child care health consultations.
QUALITY
Coordinating new solutions to ensure healthcare services are culturally responsive and trauma-informed.
Delivering programs and services based on an understanding of how historical and generational trauma impacts health for underserved communities.
Opening safe pathways for immigrants to overcome their unique fears/barriers in accessing health services.
Focusing on health outcomes before, during, and after pregnancy.
COLLABORATION
Identifying gaps in continuity of services and eligibility, and how to develop creative and flexible system redesigns.
Supporting community-driven solutions to address high levels of stress that can affect parental and infant health.
Coordinating between health care professionals and the early learning workforce to ensure more responsive, trauma-informed services.
Offering the perspectives of healthcare professionals to be part of co-creating a more equitable early learning system.
Expanding partnerships with health care providers and communities to determine what additional health care supports are needed.
—Resource LINKS for HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS—
(COMING SOON)
