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Did you know? • Experiences in early childhood influence lifetime health status in heart, diabetes, mental health, and other conditions that impact a majority of preventable morbidity and premature mortality.1 • Children who participate in quality structured Early Childhood Development experiences (including health care, parent training and support as well as education) showed long term positive results in economic and health outcomes and there is a very positive return on this investment.2 • A large national study of incoming kindergarten students found 56% were not ready for kindergarten. Of these, 25% had delays in cognitive development, 30% lagged in socio-emotional development, and 36% had one or more health concerns. Thus, health concerns were the most prevalent problem students not ready for kindergarten.3 |
“Change
the First Five Years and You Change Everything”
St.
Joseph Community Health is responding to an alarm in New Mexico that
represents one of the most urgent needs of our times – the need
to give young children a healthy start. In 2009 Kids Count, a
national reporting system, ranked New Mexico 43rd in children’s
well being, based on 10 indicators: low birth weight, infant
mortality, child mortality, teen death rate, teen birth rate, high
school dropout rate, teens not working or in school, underemployed
parents, children living in poverty, and children in single-parent
families.
Every child in New Mexico needs a strong
foundation if we hope to break the terrible cycle that exists today.
Research has shown that early experiences determine whether a child’s
developing brain architecture provides a strong or weak foundation
for all future learning, behavior and health – and 80% of the
brain develops between ages 0 and 5 years. Half of the academic
achievement gap evident in grade 12 can be attributed to gaps that
already existed in first grade. This plays out with dropout rates of
53.8% in APS and 46% state-wide. And in 2006, the poverty rate for a
high school dropout was twice the rate for a high school graduate –
the cycle continues.
The challenges confronting vulnerable NM
children are already evident in grade school. 41.8% of 3rd grade
students do not read at grade level and 56.1% are not at expected
math proficiency levels according to a 2008 report from the NM Public
Education Department.
SJCH also recognizes that you cannot
deal with a child in isolation. Positive experiences begin at home.
Providing support and education to parents is critical, especially in
NM where our teen birth rate is almost 50% higher than the national
average and 68% of the births in NM do not meet the national standard
for healthy births.
The health of our children is foundational
and SJCH will work to make a difference by focusing on initiatives
and programs that have proven to enhance positive development in the
first 5 years of a child’s life. We want to provide the
greatest opportunity for a child to develop into a healthy adult and
SJCH will utilize evidence to improve outcomes in health for
vulnerable children. By focusing on issues that impact young
children, SJCH seeks to bring about systemic change – change
that will be sustained over time and that will have a positive impact
on the future health of our community.
We are excited about
the future and hope that you will consider joining us by giving of
your time, talent or treasure. Together we can make a fundamental
and long-lasting change in the health of our community.
Our
Programs:
St. Joseph First Born® Home Visiting Program
This
home-based program provides mothers, fathers and primary care
providers with education and support to encourage normal growth and
development of happy, healthy babies in positive, nurturing
families.
St. Joseph First Connections Referral Program
This
program will put children and families at the center of a community
of support services. The program is closely linked to, and
integrated with, the St. Joseph First Born Home Visiting Program.
Children and families served currently are those enrolled in the Home
Visiting Program. This is a “strength-based” referral
program that is respectful of individuals and builds on the needs
identified by, or with, the individual or family.
Advocacy
St.
Joseph will focus its advocacy efforts on issues that impact the
health of the young children of New Mexico.
Women’s
Design Collective
This
is a grant-funded program that assists women, especially those with
small children, in developing micro-businesses to provide economic
stability which is vital to children’s health. This program is
operated under a grant from the Catholic Health Initiatives Mission &
Ministry fund.
For
more information about our programs, please click on the any of the
links above.
REFERENCES
1.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “Overcoming Obstacles to
Health”, 2008.
2. Nisbet, Richard. Intelligence and How to
Get It, 2009.
3. Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 1998.