Closing L.A. County’s Health Screening Gap With ‘Help Me Grow-LA’

Last week we posted loads of materials related to health screenings for infants and toddlers. But we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Help Me Grow-LA, an initiative launched in May by First 5 LA — in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics Calif. Chapter 2, LA Care Health Plan, and the L.A. County Department of Public Health — to boost developmental screening rates in L.A. County.

At last month’s First 5 LA Commission Meeting, Senior Program Officer Reena John noted that 1 in 4 California kids under the age of 6 are at moderate or high-risk for developmental, behavioral, or social delays.

“Screening rates are below where they need to be,” John told the Board. “Under one-fourth of children in the county actually receive recommended developmental screenings.”

As First 5 LA explains: “The L.A. effort is sparked by the national success of an innovative systems change framework called Help Me Grow, which helps parents and providers alike identify children at risk of developmental delays and get connected with early intervention services. In the next fiscal year, Johns said, the Help Me Grow-LA partnership will launch and establish a leadership council and workgroups to identify key gaps in and opportunities for a coordinated system of care and to inform early phase development of Help Me Grow-LA that will be implemented by July 2017.”

On August 11, First 5 LA conducted this webinar to provide an overview of Help Me Grow-LA, and to solicit feedback and participation from the community:

See the national Help Me Grow program’s collection of videos, which includes this introduction to the Help Me Grow program in Orange County: