OC Children & Families Commission Renews Commitment To Provide Nursing Care For Thousands Of OC Kids

Posted September 8, 2005
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Last year more than 6,000 children received nursing and preventative screening’ house calls;’ 12,000 health care referrals were provided to area families

IRVINE – Following successful completion of a 2004-2005 outreach program that provided nursing and preventative health care screening services to more than 6,000 area children, the Children and Families Commission of Orange County has renewed support for a community nursing program through mid-2007.

The program, known as the Public Health Community Nursing program provides nursing services and house call-style health care to Orange County children who typically have no traditional health care services or are not currently receiving preventative care. It is supported by the Commission’s Family Resource Center Health Access Program.

During its September monthly meeting, Commissioners approved $1,331,400 for additional nursing services to run through June 2007. The program is funded by the Children & Families Commission of Orange County and administered as a partnership with the Orange County Health Care Agency (HCA). The nursing program will run for the next 18 months and is scheduled to include 8 full-time public health nurses for house calls and referral services.

During the previous year’s program, the same program achieved the following results:

• 4,214 children ages 0-5 were provided service through the health access program;
• 3,022 home visits were conducted by licensed nurses including age appropriate developmental assessments and home safety assessments;
• 1,399 children were screened and linked to health insurance, if needed;
• 1,045 children were screened and received age appropriate immunizations if needed;
• 12,606 referrals were made to other needed family support services programs

The Children and Families Commission of Orange County was created by Proposition 10, the California Children and Families Act of 1998. The proposition added a 50-cent sales tax on tobacco products sold in California and requires that funds raised be used to support education, health and childcare programs promoting healthy early childhood development from the prenatal stage to age five. The Children and Families Commission of Orange County is responsible for overseeing the allocation of tobacco tax revenues received annually from the State Commission. For more information, please visit the Commission’s website at www.occhildrenandfamilies.com.