| HEALTHY START OF OREGON |
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| For The Public |
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Healthy Start Works!
You can help.
Healthy Start helps families create the foundations for their child’s success in school – and life!
Healthy Start children enter school ready to succeed. They have received the kind of parenting that builds sturdy, emotionally secure, and healthy children.
Healthy Start families read to their children, get regular health check ups and immunizations for them, and help them to learn and grow. These children enter school able to take turns and manage their emotions. These skills are vital to succeed in school, and also impact the quality of our workforce and our communities.
Healthy Start Saves Money
- According to the best available research, based on confirmed cases of abuse and neglect, in Oregon in 2004 alone more than 400 kids will grow up to become violent criminals who would never have become violent criminals if not for the abuse and neglect they endured as kids.
- Victims of child abuse or neglect, as they grow older, are also two and a half times more likely than other people to attempt suicide.
Data from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Oregon
Healthy Start Gets Results
Healthy Start is Oregon’s largest child abuse prevention program. Healthy Start reduces risk factors for child maltreatment and supports school readiness.
- Since 2003, the child abuse rates for children birth to age two who are not in Healthy Start have been almost double the rate for children who are in Healthy Start.
- Almost every Healthy Start child has his or her own health care provider and gets regular well baby care
- Healthy Start families read to their children more than other families. This helps develop the babies’ brains so they can enter school ready to learn!
- Healthy Start children receive regular developmental screenings from their parent coach to identify problems and get help early.
Data from 2006-2007 Status Report by NPC Research
How You Can Help
Call your local Healthy Start program and ask how you can help.
Each Healthy Start program needs local contributions to add to its state funds. These contributions can be cash or the equivalent, volunteer time, or other kinds of donations.
To contact Healthy Start in your community, here.
Some Things You Can Do
- Refer and recommend Healthy Start to people you know who are having their first baby. Tell them how to get in touch with Healthy Start.
- Make a contribution—you can donate your time as a volunteer, money to support home visits, or items to give to families like books and learning toys, or baby blankets and other hand-made gifts
- Contact policy makers like your legislators and county commissioners. Talk with them about the value of Healthy Start.
- Contact your Healthy Start program and ask them to give presentations about the program to your church or community groups.
- Hold a fundraiser for Healthy Start!
- Offer to write grants, do clerical work, or otherwise support your Healthy Start program from “behind the scenes”
- Contact your local Healthy Start program and ask what they need!
For more information contact:
Karen VanTassell
Coordinator
(503) 378-5120
karen.vantassell(at)state.or.us
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