Healthy Child Care Hawaii promotes the health and safety of young children in child care.  

HCCH Project activities include:

• Recruit and train pediatricians and other health professionals to serve as child care health consultants. 
• Connect health consultants with child care programs.  H ealth consultants work with child care providers to promote the healthy development of young children in child care, increase access to preventive health services, and ensure a safe physical environment for children.  
• Train pediatric doctors-in-training in recognizing and promoting quality child care.  As part of a community rotation, pediatric residents at the University of Hawaii visit early care and education sites, become familiar with national health and safety standards, and learn what constitutes high quality child care. 
• Provide information and resource materials to child care providers, health consultants, and other agencies/programs on national health and safety performance standards, medical home, and health insurance. 
• Work with Hawaii’s Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems initiative to promote access to medical homes, access to developmental screening, and standards based health and safety practices in child care. 

More information on health consultation is in the brochure Child Care Health Consultants.

A Practical Guide for Child Care Health Consultants is the resource guide developed by HCCH. A complete hard copy of this guide (including appendices) is provided at trainings for physicians and nurses interested in being health consultants at child care programs.

Health and Safety Facility Checklist for Child Care Centers focuses on the areas of safety, outdoor, interactions, all classrooms, and infant/toddler classrooms.  It also includes recommended items for a First Aid Kit and procedures for standard precautions.

The following are sample procedures and/or forms that early childhood programs may use:
      Administration of Medication in the Classroom
      Consent for Administration of Medication
      Nutrition and Feeding Care Plan
      Permission for Medical Condition Treatment
      Seizure Care Plan
      Special Care Plan for a Child with Allergy

A health consultant may provide talks on various topics of interest to child care program staff, parents, and children. HCCH supports this by making powerpoint presentations available to health consultants upon request.  See list of Powerpoint Presentations for Health Talks.  

HCCH is a collaborative project of the Department of Health/Children with Special Health Needs Branch, University of Hawaii (UH)/School of Medicine/Department of Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics-Hawaii Chapter, and Department of Human Services. HCCH is administrered by the UH Department of Pediatrics and is funded by the Department of Human Services.

For more information, contact:

American Academy of Pediatrics, Hawaii Chapter
Kathryn Sthay, Executive Director
Phone: (808) 377-5738
Email: aaphawaii@hawaiiantel.net

Sharon Taba, University of Hawaii - Department of Pediatrics
Email: sharon@medicalhomeworks.net 

Children with Special Health Needs Branch
Hawaii State Department of Health
741 Sunset Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96816