If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. –Nelson Mandela 

As a proud member of the millennial generation, the news of former South African President Nelson Mandela came to me via the true blessing that is my precious smart phone. As I rapidly began typing his name into search engines to learn more, I came across a beautiful quote that spoke to me as a HealthNet employee.

As a Family Support Specialist with BIB/Healthy Families in the metro Indianapolis area, I have the privilege of seeing and experiencing a variety of cultures, languages, parenting practices, interpretations, and perceptions on a daily basis (and typically I can have all of those experiences before lunch!). It is part of what I love about my job. I have also seen other HealthNet employees have the same diversity-infused experiences at the clinics, administration office, and various outreach agencies. And perhaps without even knowing Mandela’s quote, I have seen those people speak to patients, participants, and other community members in a way that is easy to see words going to someone’s heart, not just their head.

In the last 10 years or so (forgive me, more than 10 years ago I was an adolescent or pre-adolescent), I have noticed a lot of emphasis on words and public word choice surrounding the holiday season. Whether it is choosing to say “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Holidays”, or “Seasons Greetings”, there seems to be a significant amount of emphasis on what words we choose to share a warm sentiment with another person.

So my challenge to you this holiday season, as well as the other 9-10 months of the year, is to internalize Mandela’s sentiment: whether it is literally speaking to someone (or attempting to speak to someone) in their native language, or if it is showing cultural sensitivity and consideration,  speak to someone’s heart. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up in the most ‘heart-felt’ conversation that you never even saw coming.

Warm Wishes from this Millennial!

To make a donation to our Better Indy Babies/Healthy Families programs, please click here. Give before midnight on Tuesday, December 31st, and your donation will be tax-deductible for 2013.

As the holiday season approaches, many of us are busy making lists of last minute ingredients we need to get for Thanksgiving dinner and preparing for the holidays. But imagine if instead of making a list of ingredients for your famous Thanksgiving pie, you were trying to find a way to buy the medicine for your sick child. For hundreds of Indianapolis residents, this is an everyday occurrence.

We are so grateful for all of our donors who donate to us each year, and hope you will consider joining them. Whether your gift is large or small, every penny makes a difference in the lives of our patients.

• $__ Any amount will help us raise $150,000 by December 31, 2013 to add 5 much-needed exam rooms and a procedure room for Women’s Health Services at HealthNet West Health Center.
• $25 provides patients with emergency medical needs such as medications, food, shelter, or transportation to and from medical offices.
• $50 helps build literacy by providing books, volunteer readers and child-friendly waiting areas for HealthNet’s Reach Out and Reach Program. Children ages 6 months to 5 years receive a brand new, age appropriate book at each well-child visit.
• $100 gives HealthNet the ability to use your donation for the programs and people who need it most urgently. What a wonderful way to reach out to others with the gifts of hope!
• $500 helps provide services through our Better Indy Babies & Healthy Families Programs that teach and encourage the skills that make a family work.
• $1000 provides tuition for a Certified Nursing Assistant (CAN) training and certification for someone in the Homeless Initiative Program.

You can put your gift to work even faster by giving online now by clicking here. To donate by phone, please call 317-957-2018. To donate by check, please send to HealthNet, Inc. Attn: Kay Johnson, 3403 E. Raymond St., Indianapolis, IN 46203.

On behalf of us all here at HealthNet, thank you for your generosity and continuous support. 

Post by Denise Kaspar

Healthy Families America is a nationally recognized evidence-based home visiting program model designed to work with overburdened families who are at-risk for adverse childhood experiences, including child maltreatment. HealthNet’s Healthy Families program has been providing home-based family support services for approximately eighteen years.  Healthy Families America has a strong research base, which includes randomized control trials and well-designed quasi-experimental research.  To date, research and evaluation indicate impressive outcomes. Reviews of more than fifteen evaluation studies in twelve states produced the following outcomes:

• Reduced child maltreatment
• Increased utilization of prenatal care and decreased preterm and low birth weight babies
• Improved parent-child interaction and school readiness
• Increased access to primary care medical services
• Increased immunization rates

The primary goal of prenatal care coordination is early entrance and continued participation in prenatal and postpartum care to reduce low birth weight, preterm labor, and infant mortality.  Prenatal Care Coordinators and Community Health Workers provide home-based support services and referral to human services for pregnant women and their families at risk for poor pregnancy outcomes due to physical, social, psychological, financial, or environmental factors.  HealthNet’s prenatal care coordination program, Better Indy Babies (BIBs), has been providing these services for well over twenty years.

Better Indy Babies’ goal is to decrease the incidence of low birth weight and infant mortality.

Research was completed on a similar program in New York City and it was found that home visiting programs during the prenatal period reduces the incidence of low birth weight.

Additionally, both of HealthNet’s programs increase school readiness – first through assisting mothers to have a healthy birth outcome and then assisting overburdened families to enhance parent/child interaction and improve family functioning.

HealthNet’s home visiting services help promote physical well-being and motor development, social and emotional development, approaches to learning, language development, cognition and general knowledge.  Our services recognize and honor the special role that parents play in shaping the lives of their children and can help create families and communities and children ready to learn.

Click here for more information about Better Indy Babies/Healthy Families.

Together, HealthNet’s Better Indy Babies and Healthy Families programs provided more than 10,955 visits to at-risk homes in Marion County. With your help, we can do even more.

As parents, we sometimes are so busy taking care of our children that we lose track of some of the details of their lives.

Take 5 minutes and test yourself with this 16-question quiz recommended by our Better Indy Babies and Healthy Families staff. It will help you to see if you are having enough conversations, spending enough time, and showing enough interest to share in your child’s life each day. A parent needs to know his or her child better than anyone else in the world!

1. If your child could paint his room any color, what would it be?
2. What does your child want to be when he or she grows up?
3. Who is your child’s best friend?
4. Does your child think he or she is too big or small for his age?
5. What does your child think others think about him?
6. What does your child like best about school? Why?
7. What does your child dislike about school? Why?
8. Who outside your family has influenced your child the most?
9. Who is your child’s hero?
10. How does your child feel about you?
11. What would your child change about his family?
12. Does your child think you are fair?
13. If your child had $5 today, what would he or she buy?
14. What is your child’s favorite toy?
15. What would your child change about you?
16. If asked, “What do you do well?” what would your child say?

Find a time to sit down with your child, check your answers and see how well you did!

Helping Vulnerable Kids and Families Succeed

ALL parents need reminders from time to time on how to be the best mom or dad they can be for their kids. HealthNet’s Better Indy Babies and Healthy Families teams work with at-risk Indy parents during the critical early years of their children’s lives. They help increase parent knowledge of early childhood development, improve parenting practices, provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues, prevent child abuse and neglect and increase children’s school readiness.  Kudos to these programs for making Indy a healthier place for children!

Joanie realized as she was preparing for her baby shower this month that not all moms are as lucky as she is.

That set off a February collection drive  that will have all her friends and co-workers donating stuff like diapers, bottles, and other things needed for an infant’s care.

It’s all a part of a community-wide baby shower for the Better Indy Babies Pantry, which helps at-risk moms-to-be.

The BIBs Pantry, located at University Heights United Methodist Church, is a ministry sponsored by the local chapter of the United Methodist Women, with more than 20 amazing volunteers from the church family.

The BIBS Pantry provides free healthy, nutritional food and hygiene items to at-risk expectant mothers and basic care items for their newborn babies. The pantry was established in 1991 in response to the high infant mortality rate in Marion County — one of the highest in the nation at the time.

It is an ongoing challenge to keep the BIBS Pantry stocked enough to keep up with the growing needs of our community.  University Heights United Methodist Women sponsors the BIBS Pantry in cooperation with HealthNet’s Better Indy Babies/Healthy Families programs.

HealthNet’s Better Indy Babies/Healthy Families programs provide home-based services to help at-risk pregnant women and parenting families. Services include health education and referrals to community resources. The Better Indy Babies program administers the Healthy Families program, a home visitation model that encourages good parent-child interactions from birth to age three. In 2011, HealthNet had more than 13,402 visits through both programs.

Shower the Little Ones With Some Love This February!

You can help too! Consider hosting a baby shower to benefit the BIBS Pantry and Better Indy Babies/Healthy Families Programs.

Bring together your friends, co-workers or family for a baby shower – you can even play a few silly shower games, if you want! New and gently used winter clothing, baby gates, new car seats, toys, and baby food are always needed.  Click here for a detailed list of needed items. You can email info@indyhealthnet.org to arrange a pick-up or delivery time.

Help Without the Hassle

Cash donations to Better Indy Babies/Healthy Families are immediate. No boxes or bags. Skip the trip to the mall — and the silly shower games. Just donate online now.

Thank you for your support of this community collaboration between HealthNet and University Heights United Methodist Church!

Each drive is different…Whether it is an office chili cook-off, a coat drive, or a collection of monetary donations, it is exciting to so many creative groups helping out others during the holiday season.

The IU Health  Affinity groups had their own idea for a Holiday Helpings drive that, fortunately and gratefully, we were the beneficiary.  This drive was different, not in the way the donations were collected but in the way they were given.

When we went to pick up the donated items, the expectation was to drop by, load up and express our great thanks for these groups’ continued support for the 3rd year in a row.  However, when we arrived, the Affinity groups had a different plan in mind.

We were warmly greeted, asked to speak to the Affinity groups about our Homeless Initiative and Better Indy Babies programs (the specific programs that benefited from the drive), and then we had the opportunity to talk with many of the group members.

This experience went above
and beyond!

The groups’ willingness to learn more about these programs gave a sense of partnership, rather than just giving and receiving.

We appreciate EVERYTHING that the IU Health Affinity groups did for the Homeless Initiative and Better Indy Babies programs this year.  We are very grateful for the generosity shown, and the willingness to go beyond giving donations and wanting to learn more about how their donations will help!

It’s NOT Too Late! You can still hold a Holiday Helpings Drive!!

The needs are still great. Many holiday assistance programs have exhausted their resources – yet families in our programs still have needs.

Whether it’s the quick donation of a gift card or asking everyone who comes to your house for a holiday dinner to bring warm gloves for the homeless, you can learn why a Holiday Helpings Drive is vital to furthering the HealthNet mission and what is on our Holiday Wish List!

All of our BIBs & Healthy Families participants along with the homeless individuals served by our Homeless Initiative Program will need help beyond just the holiday season.  You can contact us about running your own drive by calling – 317-781-4918, every little bit helps!

The car seat clinic took place in the circle drive-up, where two of our BIBs staff, who are certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians, helped families learn how to properly install the infant car seat. Because of the language barrier, many Burmese families have a difficult time finding resources, especially when it comes to securing the proper safety restraints for their children.

Also because of the language barrier, the clinics were held by group sessions, so Swhe could translate the instructions to several families at one time. In the first session, we were able to educate, instruct, and give away 12 infant car seats to needy families. And, four seats were given out during the second session.

We even had a family stop by on their way into the health center and ask how they could go about receiving a car seat for their newborn because they did not have the money to purchase one. The staff was able to educate the family on the proper installation and gave them a car seat to take home.

Watching the delight on the families’ faces as they received a much needed resource…and….knowing that their soon-to-be newborn would be properly restrained was priceless!!

These infant car seats were made possible by a grant from the Criminal Justice Institute.

The behavioral health department is invested in our community kiddos!  The therapists in each facility provide services for children as well as adults.  We are very fortunate to have Dr. Jim Jones, child psychologist, at PACC and the department is in the process of hiring another child psychologist.  I am thrilled to announce that we have also developed play therapy rooms at three of our centers to specifically meet the needs of our smallest patients.

The behavioral health department also includes a pediatric psychiatrist and a pediatric psychiatric nurse practitioner.  All staff work closely with the pediatricians in the centers to meet the needs of the child and family as a whole.

In addition to these resources, the behavioral health folks have the pleasure of consulting with the social workers in the centers as well as with BIBS and Healthy Families to get a full picture of the family’s needs and strengths.  Our BIBS and Healthy Families staff work tirelessly to improve the lives of these families and in turn, improve communities.

As you can see, HealthNet truly provides a network of care that reaches each corner of a child’s life.   It’s exciting, fun, and rewarding to see our littlest patients grow and flourish.

I often hear from my adult patients that they first came to HealthNet as pediatric patients.  They feel that HealthNet is home and are excited to continue from their pediatric care to adult primary care to OB care and then begin bringing their children to our clinic.  After meeting a patient for the first time, I often ask if they remember how to get back to the lobby after an appointment.  More often than not, I get the response,

“I’ve been coming here for 20 years.  I know this building like the back of my hand!”

It’s encouraging when patients are so satisfied with their service at HealthNet they are happy to introduce their children and grandchildren into our caring community!

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Do you #GiveACareAbout Kids?? Check out our page on the blog by clicking here.
Have any questions about our BIBs/Healthy Families Program? Comment below. Or tweet us – @GiveACareIndy.

The Better Indy Babies and Healthy Families’ mantra should be We Care About Kids. Over 1500 kids, both born and unborn,  hold a place in the hearts of the more than 50 home visitors and support staff in these two programs over the course of a year.  Our passion and purpose is to ensure that children are born healthy and are raised in nurturing and safe environments.  Personally, I cannot think of a more important job than the job of the home visitors who beat the streets of neighborhoods that many of us would not venture into.  Our home visitors use proven strategies and interventions for parents or parents-to-be to develop relationships with children that will form the basis of all of their future relationships and interactions.  With their loving hearts and caring hands, the home visitors support individuals and families and teach about falling in love with their children.  Many of the individuals and families that we serve have experienced childhood trauma, which impacts their ability to care for their children as parents.

The following story is just one of the success stories that illustrate how building a relationship with both BIBs and Healthy Families participants, who are HealthNet patients, can change an adult’s life. The result of a child feeling love and protection from a healthy relationship with the parent helps the child become a caring human being capable enough to handle life.

Nancy enrolled in the program and initially was not completely open about her past. She was very quiet and timid.  Over the course of a few visits, Nancy opened up to her home visitor, disclosing a significant history of depression, anxiety, abuse, and rape.  Her home visitor arranged for Nancy to see a HealthNet Behavioral Health therapist, and she and her home visitor worked together on ways to help her cope with her stressors.  Nancy did see a therapist and is now attending weekly sessions.  She regularly uses the stress relief techniques that the home visitor taught her and is working on eating healthier and exercising.  Nancy enjoys the praise she gets from her home visitor and reports that one of the few things she looks forward to each week is her home visit.  While Nancy’s story is ongoing, her progress and willingness to share her history and emotions demonstrate growth and maturity that is supported by services provided by BIBs and Healthy Families.

Children are our future; we must take care of them with maximum effort. -Naomi Campbell

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To learn more about our #GiveACareAbout Kids theme, click here.
Have any questions about our BIBs/Healthy Families program? Comment below or tweet us – @GiveACareIndy.

“Our” HealthNet is right! They have become such a big part of our lives, our families, and our community. HealthNet is growing and changing (for the better) in the most conventional ways but keeping with the same timeless values.

To me it’s like, I’m the adult watching a kid grow and mature right before my eyes.

That’s probably because HealthNet has been a part of my life since I was a kid. Whoa, that makes me sound really OLD! It’s like the funny old man voice…”well back in my day.” But seriously, my mom brought me to Barrington Pediatrics. Later on, I hung around to get to know the OB team through both of my pregnancies, then right back to Pediatrics where DR. DICKERSON SAVED MY SON’S LIFE!  And what do ya know, now I work for HealthNet, and my 2 month old grandson is a Barrington patient too. How ya like them apples?!

It’s truly AWESOME!

HealthNet is growing and nurturing the people of Indy while developing lasting and quality relationships. IT’S TRUE! I’ve asked around. I’ve been told by others that HealthNet is:

• Innovative

• Helpful

• Caring

Our HealthNet is full of different personalities, stories and services, and I think this is what makes life so intriguing!  Hopefully we keep growing and serving all of those who need it in the Indianapolis community.

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Editor’s note: This month’s theme is “Our HealthNet”!  Our bloggers have taken on this topic and are talking about how it takes a community for us to provide quality health care and support services.  Click here to find out more about our topic this month.