Travis County Commissioners Court
April 20, 2010,
Item 5
Ready for number 5? Number 5 is to receive update from healthy families travis county.
>> good morning, judge, commissioners, sherry flemming, executive manage for health and human services and veterans service.
>> good morning.
>> this april is national child abuse prevention month. And so our investment in the prevention of child abuse lies in a variety of programs through health and human services and the frag --flagship i would say is the healthy families program. We have families here to give you a brief update on the program and our performance and it continues to be a shining star in the crown of prevention programs that you provide to your residents. With that, i'll have staff introduce themselves and we'll have a brief presentation.
>> i'm jim wearman with the children's service.
>> natalie hen drix, one of the pricers with healthy families.
>> door is edwards, also a supervisor.
>> we provided a packet of information about our program about --but we wanted to emphasize highlights in terms of child abuse prevention efforts. I think you all have the packet with you. On the fourth page, if you will look at that along with us. We wanted to emphasize this information in particular. Research states that in order for prevention program to be effective, it's best to begin services as early as possible. Prenately ideally, and we wanted to let you know that we offer services prenatally 95 percent of the time. Also research indicates that home visits must be made on a regular basis in order to truly benefit families. For our purposes, our goal is for our home visitors to make their home visits at a rate of 75 percent. Our most recent quarter, we had, our home visitors making 81 percent of their home visits. We are very proud of that. In addition, since 1997, 561 families have participated in the home visiting services. Along with that, we also provide information and referral services to families. So all together we have served over a thousand families.
>> good morning. Also some of the things that healthy families does the prevent child abuse, we have staff in the back, family assessment workers and family support workers who make frequent visits to the home. Some of their efforts are by teaching the families and engaging with the families and children by singing and reading and encouraging that. Also encouraging bonding and attachment. We have noticed that with a lot of consistent work with the families, that helps to educate them in connecting with community resources as needed, really helps impact the family. We appreciate our wonderful workers that really do a really good job and maintain confidence with the families.
>> salutes to them.
>> we wanted to point out performance outcomes for this particular quarter and compare them to statewide and national statistics. According to the state, there were over 7,000 confirmed allegations of abuse and neglect in the city of austin region and for the family to participate in our program there were zero cases of substantiated abuse and neglect.
>> woo-hoo.
>> we are very proud of that.
>> (applause)
>> some of the other things that we work on with families, again, this is on page 6, we compared it to county, state and national data. Our immunization rates. You can see this is page 6 in the red box at the bottom. The immunization rate for travis county are 86.9 percent. This is on data from last year. For texas it's 82.9 percent and for the nation it's 79 percent. Four our families over on the right, it's 96 percent of the families are up to date with immunizations. In addition, 100 percent of our families have established primary medical providers. 96 percent are up to date with their well child check. 93 percent of the children in our program are functioning at age appropriate levels.
>> okay. Also if you like to look at the last two pages on your packet, we have some information or feedback from some of our families who really appreciate it. I would recommend this program to my friends. It is super and offers much help to new . Moms. If you like more information, there's our website. And pictures of our gatherings. We also provide information to tam list through newsletter and this year we purchased some mintsthat say thanks for your commitment to preventing child abuse. If i can come and show you, give you some of our newsletters and mints, i'd appreciate.
>> thank you for letting us visit with you today.
>> do we need the names of the other participants? Since they were bold enough to come to court.
>> sure. Come on up.
>> thank you.
>> two or one?
>> you can have three.
>> thank you.
>> child sperbist and family assessment working.
>> thank you.
>> hello, month i name is alexanderdra and i'm a family support working.
>> my name is virginia rosette and i'm a family support workin.
>> good morning, my name is janet gonzalez and i'm a family support working.
>> good morning, i'm dooran aceda, also a family support worker.
>> good morning, i'm maya con con year and i have been with the program 13 years.
>> good morning, i'm jacqueline mcdoweland i started with the program and i really love it.
>> hi everybody. My name is cynthia aristi and i have been around since '98.
>> is that everybody?
>> i think so.
>> commissioner eckhardt.
>> i just have one quick question. You already answered all my other questions in the presentation. The data was great. The metrics were fabulous. My god, what outcomes. Toon have them side by side with state and national statistics to really show how this makes a difference is amazing. I wanted to ask the davis question. What telephone number do you call if you want to participate as volunteer or as a client or know somebody or have a family member that you would like to get to participate as volunteer or client?
>> you can call the main health and human services number. It's 854-4100, and ask for healthy families, and they will direct you to the right staff person.
>> what was that again?
>> 854-4100.
>> thank you.
>> and jim, what a dashing picture.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> keep up the good work. Thank you.
>> (applause)
>> you get an a for being brief. This is real a briefing. Brief.
>> great, isn't it?
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 1:53 PM
