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Policy

Program staff will support families in establishing a medical and dental home (an ongoing source of medical or dental care) for their child within 90 days of the child’s first day of class. Procedures will be in place to make a determination about whether the child is up to date on well-child care within 90 days. If any medical or dental follow-up is required, a follow-up plan will be developed to assist families in accessing needed treatment.

Procedure

Regional Assistant (RA) Responsibilities:

  1. Assess whether the child has a medical and dental home.  This should initially occur during the registration interview:
    1. If so, the names of those providers and any insurance or OHP information should be entered into Child Plus.
    2. The Health Appraisal form should be signed by the parent and forwarded to the Health Assistant.
  2. If they do not have a medical or dental home, the RA should try to ascertain barriers and note these in Child Plus.  If financial limitations are the only barrier, they should be given information about community resources, and encouraged to apply for the Oregon Health Plan- otherwise, the Teacher/FSC has primary responsibility for addressing barriers.
  3. The RA should encourage parent or guardian to sign the Authorization for Dental Hygiene services so that preventive dental care can occur in the Head Start setting in coordination with the child’s dental home. If there is no dental home in place, the Dental Hygiene Exam will assist us in connecting family with appropriate community resources for dental care.

Teacher / FSC & Responsibilities:

  1. Teacher/FSC  should ascertain which families do not have medical and dental homes by using Child Plus.
  2. For any families who do not have a medical or dental home established in 90 days, there must be documentation in Child Plusof all barriers, and a plan of action must be developed with the family.  Ideally this should be incorporated in with the Strengths and Needs Assessment.
  3. If the Teacher/FSC  is unable to get a family to participate in a plan to establish a medical and dental home, the Health/Safety Consultant (HSC) should be contacted for support.
  4. As soon as a medical & dental home is established, the Teacher/FSC  should have the parent complete the Health Appraisal form and forward that to the Health Assistant.  They should also update Child Plus with the Medical/Dental Home information.
  5. If the Teacher/FSC  learns of medical or dental issues that require ongoing follow-up they will document this in Child Plus, and request assistance from the Health Team in developing a follow-up plan. (Health Assistant, HSC).

Health Assistant and Health Safety Consultant (HC) Responsibilities:

  1. Health Assistant and HSC will work together to get Health Appraisal form completed by the child’s medical provider in a timely manner.
  2. RA will use the dental Hygiene Exam form to document dental needs in the screening section of Child Plus.
  3. Health Assistant will input information from Health Appraisal form into Child Plus and will notify HSC of any that come back indicating that the child is not up to date on Well Child Care.
  4. If child’s Healthcare Provider responds that the child is not up to date on Well Child Care, the Teacher/FSC and the family will work together to develop a plan to bring the child up to date on Well Child Care.  The HSC will document this in Child Plus.
  5. If the Health Appraisal form indicates that the child has ongoing medical issues that require follow-up, the HSC will develop a follow-up plan and document this in Child Plus.

This policy complies with Head Start Performance Standard 45CFR Section 1304.20.
Policy Council approved it on September 10, 2002.
Created May 29,2002.

Updated June 21, 2004. July 2013. April 2021

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REVIEWED: April 2021