By DEL Director Dr. Bette Hyde

September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. We know that the number of children who are overweight has tripled over the past three decades, and children who are overweight are at higher risk for certain types of diabetes, asthma and other negative health consequences.

Now for the good news: There are simple—and FUN—ways to help ensure the children in our lives are healthy and active. These resources can be used whether you are a parent, grandparent, child care provider or anyone else with children in your life:

• Our state Early Learning and Development Guidelines are full of age-appropriate tips for children to grow up healthy.
• The Department of Early Learning website has a section on child health and nutrition, which includes information on hikes and parks in Washington, recipes, and resources if your family needs help getting food on the table.
• The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s We Can! Campaign website is filled with ideas on how to enhance children’s activity and nutrition. 
• The federal Let’s Move! campaign includes information about healthy eating and simple steps you can take to support healthy children. 
• The YMCA is a national organization that focuses on building healthy communities by making sure that everyone, regardless of age, income or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive. 

Take a few minutes this month to check out these resources and think about ways you can help raise a healthier generation of kids.

At the state level, we at DEL are talking with our partner agencies and stakeholders about ways we can help ensure child health are infused into our policies and practices. I anticipate this will be a topic of conversation during the 2014 legislative session. If you have thoughts about how our state can better support healthy children, please email me at bette.hyde@del.wa.gov. 

DEL concluded this summer a voluntary pilot project with Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program and Head Start providers (ECEAP/Head Start) to determine the best ways to incorporate these pre-K programs into Early Achievers, Washington’s voluntary quality rating and improvement system. 

Early Achievers is designed to support high-quality learning environments for children in child care centers, family home child care and preschool programs. Ensuring consistent high-quality programs for children, regardless of the setting, is critical to improving outcomes for Washington’s youngest learners. 

The goal of the pilot project was to streamline the process for Head Start and ECEAP programs to participate in Early Achievers. About 180 sites participated in the pilot, which ran from Summer 2012 until April 2013. The pilot included 45 percent of children enrolled in Head Start and ECEAP and was geographically and programatically diverse. 

We learned from the pilot:

• Washington's Head Start and ECEAP programs align well with Early Achievers quality standards.  
• Head Start and ECEAP programs are able to demonstrate high quality using their existing practices, procedures and policies. 
• Head Start and ECEAP programs, on average, provide a level of quality equal to an Early Achievers quality Level 3 or higher.

The pilot's results gave DEL a clear path for ECEAP and Head Start participation in Early Achievers. Starting this fall, ECEAP and Head Start programs that opt to participate in Early Achievers will:

• Enter Early Achievers at a Level 3.
• Be strongly encouraged to demonstrate quality levels 4 or 5 through a full on-site evaluation and streamlined rating process. 
• Have the opportunity to apply to become training resource centers once they are rated at Level 4 or 5. Training resource centers will receive a contract to share training and professional development with other Early Achievers participants. 
• Head Start and ECEAP are NOT eligible to receive quality improvement awards that are available to licensed child care providers who participate in Early Achievers. 

Read more about Early Achievers and the Head Start/ECEAP pilot project on DEL's website. 

Starting October 1, there will be a new way to get health insurance in our state: Washington Healthplanfinder, a customer-friendly online marketplace. At wahealthplanfinder.org, you can find, compare and enroll in the health plan that best fits your needs and budget. DEL is proud to partner with Washington Healthplanfinder, and can help connect you to an expert who can answer your questions and help you enroll.

All health plans offered through Washington Healthplanfinder include basic benefits like doctor visits, prescriptions, maternity care, emergency care and preventive care like cancer screenings and vaccinations. No one will be denied coverage because they are sick or because they have a pre-existing condition.

And depending on how much you earn, you may qualify for tax credits or financial help to pay for copays and premiums. Free and low-cost coverage is also available.

Visit www.wahealthplanfinder.org to learn more and enroll. 

By DEL Health Specialist Lalaine Diaz

Change is in the air, the weather is a bit cooler, the sun sets a little sooner, and the leaves are beginning to turn colors as we transition to fall. It is also another reminder that children are once again beginning the annual school migration. Parents everywhere have taken the time and resources to make sure their children have all the necessary school supplies they need so they are prepared to take on the new school year. But there’s one back-to-school precaution that some parents may not think of.  Are you and your child up to date on your immunizations?

Disease prevention is the key to public health. It is always better to prevent a disease than to treat it. Vaccines are one of the ways we can protect our children and our society. Vaccines are responsible for the control of many infectious diseases such as polio, measles, rubella, mumps, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib). These diseases were once common in this country and around the world.

Before the age of vaccines, the only way to become immune to a disease was to get it and, with luck, survive it. This is called naturally acquired immunity. With naturally acquired immunity, the individual suffer the symptoms of the disease and also risks the complications, which can be quite serious or even deadly. Consequently, during the stages of the illness, the infected individual may be contagious and pass the disease to family members or others who come into contact with him or her. Once the immune system is trained to resist a disease, the individual is considered immune to it.

On the other hand, if a critical number of people within a community are vaccinated against a particular illness, the entire group becomes less likely to get the disease. This protection is called community, or herd, immunity. However, if too many people in a community do not get vaccinations, diseases can reappear. Also, as the population ages, immunity levels goes down because the vaccine is wears off, according to professor Herbert Hethcote at the University of Iowa.

Outbreaks are not entirely a thing of the past. In 2012, Washington was one of the first states to declare a whooping cough (pertussis) epidemic. There were 4,918 reported cases of pertussis in 2012, compared to 419 cases reported as of July 13, 2013. The dramatic change can be attributed to public campaign for getting vaccinated against pertussis, which can be deadly for infants and the elderly.

If you have lost track of what vaccines your child may need, you can go the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) website  to view immunization requirements for the 2013-14 school year. DOH also administers the Washington State Immunization Information System, which is available to all residents. It is a web-based system that keeps track of immunization records for people of all ages. Check with your health care provider to see if they are part of the Immunization Information System.

If you choose to not vaccinate your child, you should know the risks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information for parents explaining how they can protect their child in the event of a vaccine-preventable disease outbreak in the community. 

Vaccines protect not only your children and yourself, but also others around you, including grandparents and relatives with serious illnesses. If your vaccine-primed immune system stops an illness before it starts, you will be contagious for a much shorter period of time, or perhaps not at all. Similarly, when other people are vaccinated, they are less likely to give the disease to you. Vaccines protect not only individuals but entire communities. That is why vaccines are vital to the public health goal of preventing diseases. 

When you purchase a Keep Kids Safe license plate, you help keep children of all ages healthy and safe. Proceeds from each plate are invested into communities throughout Washington to support programs and services that help protect children and strengthen families. Find out more about Washington's Strengthening Families work, a DEL program. 

Learn how to purchase a Keep Kids Safe plate at the Department of Licensing website.

Did you know more than one in 40 children in the United States has a parent in prison. Losing a parent to incarceration can mean a crisis for a child and the family. Quality early learning and family support programs can help build resiliency, reduce recidivism, and help children and families during a difficult time. DEL works in partnership with the Department of Corrections and other agencies to help support children and families during this critical time. Learn more on DEL's website. 

Other resources:

• Parents in Prison: Why keeping low-level drug offenders in prison hurts kids, and what the Justice Department is doing to help
• Sesame Street Tackles Incarceration Through Muppet With Father in Jail
• Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration