Parry Sound is pilot site for well baby initiative

Well baby initiative. Dr. Higgins, left, gives 18-month-old, Samuel Gardner his Enhanced 18-month Well Baby Visit with the help from mom, Alison Gardner. Cody Storm Cooper photo

The District of Parry Sound’s Best Start Network has been chosen to host one of four pilot sites in Ontario for the Enhanced 18-month Well Baby Visit initiative.
The initiative is designed to educate primary care physicians about the many services available in the community for children identified with potential issues, needs and risks, and to make it easier for them to provide these referrals.
“A lot of onus is on the physicians to be aware of what we offer,” explains Lana Whetham, Best Start co-ordinator for the District of Parry Sound.
Through the program, the medical community will be given a chart, listing the myriad of infant and child services in the community, with specific contact information.
As well, a new fee schedule in the OHIP schedule of benefits has already been approved for physicians providing the enhanced 18-month well baby visit.
Whether encouraging parents to try out the Early Learning Centre with their baby, or referring a child to speech and language, or occupational/physical therapy catching issues early is a primary objective of the pilot initiative.
“We know the quicker we adjust the child’s issues, the more successful they are going to be and we want them to be successful by the time they are entering school,” Whetham explains. “So if we leave it, then we’ve got a huge problem.”
The Nipissing District Developmental Screen (NDDS) and the Rourke Baby Record (RBR) will be used as standardized assessment tools in the enhanced 18-month well baby visit initiative. The program will begin in west Parry Sound, and a preliminary meeting with three physicians representing the three local medical clinics, and a nurse was held January 21 with Parry Sound Best Start Network partners and Jean Clinton, hair of the Enhanced 18-month Well Baby Visit initiative which is run through the Offord Centre for Child Studies.
“It’s our goal to branch out to the east side of the district and work with the physicians on that side,” notes Whetham.
A complement to the 18-month well baby visits will be monthly screening clinics beginning soon across the Parry Sound district. Parents will be able to book an appointment through the Best Start Network, for screening that will be conducted by trained professionals in the community, using an “Ages and Stages” screening tool and the Red Flag document.  The screening clinics will likely be held at the District’s Early Learning Centres and locations still to be determined.
Although the screening clinics are not part of the pilot initiative, Whetham explains that they do work hand-in-hand with the enhanced 18-month well baby visit.
The district Best Start Network feels the clinics are needed, she says, adding that it makes perfect sense to start them now.
“Children had been falling through the cracks,” she says. ”The children who attend licensed child care programs, they’re already in a situation where there are staff trained to asses and observe children, so that if they felt there was a concern, they would speak to the parent.”
The parent could then be directed to the appropriate specialized services in the community. “But children who are not attending licensed child care or Early Years programs, they’re at home, and we have no way of knowing whether those children are on par or not,” Whetham explains.
The enhanced 18-month well baby visit pilot initiative is expected to be ongoing.
“They want to establish and strengthen relationships so that there’s a tighter network working with the family,” says Whetham. “Instead of them doing their thing and us doing our thing, we’re going to be working as a big team. So we need to be aware of who is offering what.”
“Because right now, a lot of times, physicians are referring to the pediatrician that comes here once a month and that’s fine, but a pediatrician, you have to wait for six or eight or nine months to have that first initial review,” she explains. “We’re saying: “You don’t need to refer to a pediatrician, you can refer directly to, for example, One Kids Place, and a speech and language pathologist will set up a time, to meet with them and assess their needs. If they’re high needs, they’re going to get in very quickly, so why make a child and a parent wait for nine months for a referral to a pediatrician when in nine months they could have already overcome the issue?”
She says it goes all back to trying to deal with issues, needs and risks, as quickly as possible.
“So that if a child needs prolonged therapy or assistance, then we’ve grabbed them in enough time, that by the time they get to school, hopefully we have brought that child up to speed so that they can succeed in school – rather than coming in with this baggage,” she adds.
The District of Parry Sound Best Start partners will be involved with the Enhanced 18-month Well Baby Visit initiative as required. The wide array of Best Start partners in the district includes the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, HANDS TheFamilyHelpNetwork.ca, Community Living Parry Sound, Almaguin Community Living, North Bay Community Living, Children’s Rehabilitation and Hearing Health Services, Parry Sound Family Health Team, District of Parry Sound Social Services Administration Board, YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka, One Kids Place, Parry Sound Friendship Centre, YMCA of North Bay, Parry Sound Nursery School Inc., Community Care Access Centre/ Parry Sound Early Years, Ministry of Education, Near North District School Board, Nipissing Parry Sound District Catholic School Board, Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, Town of Parry Sound and the Village of South River.
Other Ontario sites accepted in December for the pilot initiative were Thunder Bay, Middlesex-London and Kingston.