With the bright yellow First 5 Hands-On Health bus as the centerpiece, community resource centers from Weed, Mount Shasta and McCloud, the Siskiyou Child Care Council and nurses from the Siskiyou Public Health Department brought a colorful, informative, fun and practical child-centered health fair to Bel Air Park on August 16th.
The health department offered low cost immunizations, oral hygiene lessons, tobacco education and free safety helmets with fittings and lessons.
     The community resource centers, which offer a core programs in common, also wanted to get the word out about support groups, classes and activities which they share among themselves and their clients. They contributed car seat safety instruction, nutrition and literacy/early childhood education kits and low cost health insurance information and assistance in completing forms.
     The Siskiyou Child Care Council promoted a new training program for non-licensed child care providers
What is First 5?
     The brainchild of actor Rob Reiner, and the political child of Proposition 10, which passed as the California Children and Families Act in November 1998, First 5 was founded in 1999. It uses a 50 cent per pack cigarette tax "to fund education, health, child care and other programs for expectant parents and children up to age 5," according to its official website at http://www:ccfc.ca.gov.
     That translates to low cost medical and dental insurance for qualified families, nutrition education, early childhood education, parenting education and "intervention programs for families at risk" in 58 counties in California.
Why the first 5 years? That is when we form our "private logic" about how the world works and what our place is in it, according to Albert Adler, who created the first family-centered therapy. What we learn then can color the rest of our lives, for good or ill.
     First 5's mission is to make those years as nurturing and supportive as possible. Reiner's vision was to have several resource centers in every county in California.
Siskiyou County has nine. Besides the Weed, Mount Shasta and McCloud centers that participated, there are also centers in Yreka, Happy Camp, Dunsmuir, Tulelake, Scott Valley and Montague.
A large portion of funding for the centers comes directly from First 5. The Ford Foundation funds various parenting related projects.
     Karen Pautz, co-executive director of First 5 in Siskiyou County, explained that each county has its own commission. State funding is based on the number of 0-5 year olds in the county. Siskiyou County gets about $500,000 per year, with about $40,000 going to each center.  "Resource centers do community interventions, support and education to reduce isolation and bridge connections," said Pautz. "People come to take, but end up giving, too, like the man who came because he needed something and ended up volunteering to clean the building. People donate services. This frees up money to put back into the programs."
Literacy/School Readiness
     School readiness programs are available to give pre-schoolers an early grounding in basic reading comprehension. Literacy kits are available from the centers for six different age groups up to age five.
     The Weed center offers "activity filled backpacks" for kindergarten children at Weed Elementary and Butteville Grammar schools.
Mental and Emotional Health
     Mental health projects support teachers and day care providers with classes to improve observation and intervention skills for troubled children and families.
     Parents can take classes in child development and school readiness, nutrition, parenting skills and self-care, and other areas of need and interest.
Pautz would like to see a copy of First 5's book "How to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children" in the hands of every parent of a child under five in Siskiyou County. The book is free.
Insurance Assistance
     Director Jodi Ede is enthusiastic about the Healthy Families insurance services the centers provide. The Weed center walks families through the paperwork and even files applications online to speed coverage for families that need low cost insurance for their children. All the family needs to bring in are birth certificates for the children and income verification.  The Healthy Families program can be linked with Medi-Cal for those who need it.
     Two dental plans are also available, and the center will assist families to find the physicians and the two dentists in the county who will accept the coverage.
Physical Well-being
     A dental project sends a hygienist to various preschools to perform tooth exams and teach oral hygiene.
Centers offer a car-seat safety workshop with a certificate parents can take to the CHP for a free car seat and installation.
     Free helmet training and safety helmets are offered for bicyclists and skaters.
Nutrition Education
     Bliss Hipp, director of the Mt. Shasta Center, stood behind a large display of nutrition kits, free for the asking. Inside each canvas bag were easy to read basic instructions for parents and a small book which could be read to young children.  She flipped through a colorful cookbook of easy recipes for children and parents to prepare together, promoting not only sound nutrition but enjoyable shared activity between parent and child or caregiver. All materials are free for the asking.  "We also offer a new mom's support group, a relationship support group for women which is facilitated by the Siskiyou Domestic Violence and Crisis Center and have a children's story hour at the library, among other things," she said.
     She added that resources, classes and events are shared among the centers, so that interested people from other towns can participate in activities and groups that might not be available in their local center.
     Other general services include a family advocacy program, play groups for the children, resource and referral help, and free parenting kits to pregnant women and those with children under one year old.
     Those interested in being volunteers can be matched with the need they can fill.
Siskiyou Child Care Council
     The main focus of Siskiyou Child Care Council is child abuse prevention. They offer child development education for parents and child care providers, on-site child care, meal reimbursement assistance for meals served by enrolled child care providers, and many other services designed to take some of the load off stressed families.
Most services are free, regardless of income.
     Regina Taylor is enthusiastic about a new special class the Siskiyou Child Care Council is offering for families, friends and neighbors who will be non-licensed child care providers.  Those who take the free course also take away a free kit containing such necessary items as first aid supplies, arts and crafts ideas, bubbles and a jump rope, childproofing items and sunscreen. They also get a binder containing contact information for local resources, first aid, activities and child development information.
     The Council also sponsors a toy and resource lending library with a large inventory of toys, children's books and infant equipment. Loans are free.
     The fair was intended to get the word out about the wealth of services available from the participating agencies. If you missed the fair, please contact the WCRC office for information.