Staff Report
BUCYRUS―Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America) recently announced that the Healthy Families America (HFA) affiliate, Crawford County Public Health Help Me Grow Division, has been accredited as a provider of high-quality home visiting services to families who want to improve their child’s health, nutrition and developmental outcomes.
“Our home visitors received extensive training in a wide range of areas that can be potential stressors for new parents: caring for a new baby, ensuring the baby is receiving the nutrition needed, promoting healthy child development as well as other worries such as financial, housing, partner relationship, etc., that may become heightened with an addition to the family,” said Pam Kalb, Help Me Grow Contract Manager . “We are proud to achieve accreditation and to use our training to help families in our community.”
Expectant and new parents have common questions about their child’s development. Healthy Families America is a signature program of PCA America that has been providing home visiting services for more than 20 years. HFA connects with families through community partners like hospitals and pediatricians to find the answers to their questions, meeting within the familiarity and convenience of the family’s own home.
“The American Dream starts with a happy, healthy childhood,” said Dan Duffy, President and CEO of PCA America. “As parents, we all have questions from time to time. Our HFA professionals offer evidence-based best practices to provide answers to questions, individualized support when needed most, and linkages to community services.”
The accreditation process is based upon a stringent set of 12 critical elements grounded in more than 30 years of research. The process involves an in-depth examination of the site’s operation, as well as, the quality of the visits made by HFA home visitors.
To learn more about the free and voluntary Crawford County Help Me Grow services, call (419)562-4667 or visit their website. You can also keep up with their events and family activities on their Facebook page.