• Health professionals who care for children are invited to join us for the Webinar/teleconference presentation:  Let’s Talk:  Optimizing Early Brain Development for Lifelong Health and Productivity:  Pennsylvania’s Early Childhood Systems. This webinar will be presented on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 from 12:15 - 1:30 PM by Dr. Beth DelConte, ECELS Pediatric Advisor.  Click here for additional  information about the webinar and for registration information.  Registration is online.  You are requested to complete a brief pre-survey with your registration.  In addition, you will receive a post-survey 3 months after the webinar. Handouts and evaluations will be available on the PA AAP website by June 7, 2013 at www.paaap.org.

• Did you know tooth decay affects more than one out of every four children age 2- 5?  Use the updated ECELS Oral Health Self - Learning Module to learn what you can do in your program to improve oral health for young children. The  module uses on online training, called "Open Wide,"  from the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center.  This module meets the STAR 2 Performance Standard for Health and Safety. See the Child Care Provider Training Section, select Self-Learning Module and select SLM Online- Oral Health.  The first 200 providers who complete the module will receive a free review. Contact ECELS to see if you meet the deadline for this special offer. 3/13
• The Spring 2013 issue of Health Link Online is available now. The articles in this issue are:

  ·         Screen Time, Digital Media Literacy

  ·         First Aid Corner: Bruises & Swelling

  ·         Active Supervision: What is Required?

  ·         Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children

  ·         Breastfeeding & Early Childhood Educators

  ·         Lead Poisoning - PA News  

• Fall 2013 term of Child Care Health Advocate Course at Northampton Community College. Click here for the flyer with registration details. Child Care Health Advocates are early childhood practitioners (directors, lead teachers, family child care providers) who see to it that their programs integrate best practices in health, safety and nutrition, even though they may not perform these practices directly themselves. They coordinate the program’s operations with external sources of health expertise such as a Child Care Health Consultant and other health professionals in their communities who provide technical assistance, education as well as direct services to families and staff involved with their programs. The Child Care Health Advocate course has 15 sessions, earning 3 college credits to apply toward a degree or renewal of the Director Credential. 3/13
• Child Abuse and Neglect Self-Learning Module: ECELS now has a media-rich module that includes interviews with child abuse and pediatric experts, and early care and education staff.  Learn about prevention efforts, recognizing and responding to signs and symptoms of child abuse and neglect, and reporting requirements for mandated reporters.  Successful completion of this module meets the STARS Level 2 Performance Standards for Mandated Reporter training.  To view the module and document packet, go to Child Care Provider Training, select Self-Learning Module, and scroll down to SLM Online - Child Abuse and Neglect.  6/11/12

• Free Diapering Poster: ECELS provided guidance to CCA Global to develop a new tri-fold poster illustrating the correct steps for diapering based on Caring for Our Children, Third Ed., 2011.To download a copy of the poster, click here. 3/6/12.

• Extra Credit for Professional Development about Medication Administration. Using the curriculum on Medication Administration in child care, ECELS is offering an expanded credit opportunity to those who complete both the workshop and an observation of performance of the skills by a licensed health professional. Observed performance is the best way to ensure correct practice. For details, select the section on Child Care Provider Training Opportunities. Scroll down to the Workshop subsection and then to the description of the Medication Administration Workshop. 1/02/2012
• WellCareTracker™ - This online tool assesses the completeness and timeliness of routine preventive health services received by children. Users enter the dates for immunizations and other health supervision services, such as vision and hearing screening or lead and anemia screening, and WellCareTracker™ determines which immunizations and/or services are up-to-date, currently due, or overdue based on the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendations in its Guidelines for Health Supervision schedule of services. The software prints out a look-alike form that makes it easy to complete the document required by the PA Department of Health.  In PA, users of WellCareTracker™ are eligible for state-authorized professional development credit. For a demo, go to www.WellCareTracker.org. 1/20/10
• Pennsylvania Immunization Card: The Pennsylvania Immunization Card is an English/Spanish wallet-sized personal immunization record for children and adults. They are available in packs of 50 cards at no cost for distribution to Pennsylvania families so they can keep track of vaccines they have received.  To order PA Immunization Cards, click here or call ECELS at 800-243-2357.
• Health and Safety Consultation in Child Care: This five-part series on DVD or videotape offers both self-instruction or multimedia presentation opportunities. Submission to ECELS of the completed tasks required for self-instruction earns 3 hours of CME or 0.3 CEU credits from the University of Pittsburgh. The DVD discs include PDF files of Caring for Our Children-the National Health and Safety Performance Standards, Model Child Care Health Policies, forms and lists for health consultation activities. ECELS lends the videos and gives the DVD at no charge to Directors and Child Care Health Consultants in Pennsylvania. For credit, complete the self-learning module tasks and the Self Learning Module Registration Form. Send the form with the responses and the processing fee to ECELS as indicated on the form. To order, select the webpage section titled "Publications and Media," scroll to the DVD/video title, click on "Available for Order" and then complete the form that opens. Click on the DVD/video title to view the tasks for CME/CEU credit. Non-Pennsylvania health professionals and early education directors may click here for instructions on how to purchase the DVD or video set for $99 prepaid, including postage and handling.

Welcome to the ECELS-Healthy Childcare PA website. Bookmark this site now for future use.  Use the drop-down menus that appear after you have clicked on the section headings above to navigate within the sections more quickly. When the content of a subsection exceeds what you can view easily on one screen, you need to click "View All" to see the full list of the items. Pennsylvania users can request materials, workshops and Self-Learning Modules on-line by clicking on the item or using the Handy Tools in the left frame of all the section pages. If you are looking for a specific topic, e.g  Active Play, type "Active Play" in the Search Box at the top of the page. A list of all website items on the ECELS website related to Active Play (or any other topic you choose) will appear. Click on the ones you want to view. To read and use weblinks in PDF documents on this website, be sure you have Adobe Reader, Version 9 or better.  It is free to download from www.adobe.com. On our website, you will find many weblinks to other sites with reliable information.  Some are highlighted in the weblink subsections of the sections for Child Care Providers and Health Professionals as well as in the section on Resources and Contacts. We try to keep all the content on the ECELS website current. If you find a problem, please let us know.  All comments are welcome. Just click on Contact Us.

ECELS offers a large number of opportunities for professional development to Pennsylvania early learning and school age child care practitioners. Click here for a full listing of Self-Learning Modules and Workshops.. The listings are generally alphabetical. Be sure to scroll down and then click "View All" to see the complete list.

To know when ECELS posts significant new information, sign-up for E-Mail Alerts. Click here. You must respond to the e-mail confirmation message to be added to this e-mail recipient list. If you have signed up and are not receiving periodic messages from ECELS, or are have any suggestions to improve our website, please send an e-mail message to [email protected]. We are working to update our website content and improve your access to our information. We welcome your help to be sure our website serves your needs. - Sue Aronson, ECELS Webmaster. 1/02/2012

Since December 1989, the PA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP) has operated the Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS). Now operating Healthy Child Care Pennsylvania, ECELS provides health professional consultation, training, and technical assistance to improve early childhood education programs in the Commonwealth. To carry out this work, the PA AAP links the resources of government, early childhood educators, and health professionals. 

The PA AAP has developed many materials and activities to support quality improvement in early education and child care programs. Click to See Brochure

Child Care Health Consultants -- Regular visits by a child care health consultant can help identify hazards and risky practices – and help work on reasonable corrections. Studies show that when child care practitioners establish an ongoing relationship with a child care health consultant, their programs improve. ECELS has a registry of health professionals who are willing to help in their communities. Click here to view the newly updated brochure, How to Choose and Use a Child Care Health Consultant. 

Handy Info, Handouts, Posters -- Healthy Kids, Healthy Care is a very user-friendly website for parents, teachers and other caregivers to learn about health and safety topics.The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care is responsible for this website. Click here to view.

Oral Health Web Pages for Child Care Practitioners. ECELS has identified internet links to national organizations with good information on oral health. Click here for this list. Also - see the newly revised Online Self-Learning Module on Oral Health Promotion.  Learn about new oral health print resources, curriculum ideas, and steps to implement toothbrushing in early learning programs.  Successful completion of this 2008 updated module earns 2 hours of state-authorized professional development credit and meets the STAR 2 Performance Standard for Health and Safety.

ECELS and Keystone STARS – ECELS is part of the foundation of Keystone STARS. ECELS provides professional development, technical assistance, and linkages for child care health consultation services to improve quality in early learning programs across Pennsylvania. For a brochure in English for families about how Keystone STARS helps their children have better early education and care, click here. For the same brochure in Spanish, click here.