•   Spring 2008 issue of HEALTH LINK ONLINE available! With special funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, ECELS is sending this 12 page newsletter by surface mail to PA child care facilities whose mailing addresses ECELS received from state agencies. To read or download this issue of Health Link Online, click on the section heading under the photo: "Publications and Media." In the section, put your cursor on the same heading to get the drop-down menu. Select "Health Link - ECELS Newsletter." 
•  2008 Immunization Schedule (1/2/08)
  Changes include a dose of pneumoccocal conjugate vaccine for healthy children aged 24-59 months who are incompletely immunized, increased age ranges for influenza vaccine, and preference for a specific type of meningococcal vaccine (MCV4 over MPSV4) in high-risk children aged 2-10.  For the new schedule, click here.
• Questions and answers about MRSA in education settings on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Click here. 
•  Self-Learning Module On-Line on Infant-Toddler Care- This Self Learning Module provides an overview of health and safety for the care of infants and toddlers.  Learn about how to prevent injuries, infections and provide nurturing care.  The module includes links to helpful handouts for programs and families.  Click here for on-line instructions and format. ECELS will mail the video and brochures to you separately. View the video segments of infant and toddler care in early learning settings to practice identifying strengths and areas to improve in real-life settings. Alternately, to receive the entire module by mail, go to any section of this website and in the Handy Tools (left pane), click on "Request Self-Learning Modules" and then select the title of the self-learning module. (K7C2-Topic Code 76-2 hours of credit.) Posted 3/12/08 

• 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. In PA, users of WellCareTracker™ are eligible for state-authorized professional development credit. For a demo, go to www.WellCareTracker.org.
• 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. 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.

•  Keystone Color Me Healthy – Keystone Kids Go Active! -- This curriculum reaches children four and five years of age, and their parents and teachers. It provides fun, innovative, interactive learning opportunities on physical activity and healthy eating. Monthly parent newsletters bring the messages home. Home-based early learning practitioners, Head Start classrooms, early learning programs, and family literacy programs may participate at no cost.  After attending training, each participant receives teaching and implementation kits that include many fun, kit-tested activities, support materials and resources.  In 2008 you can request the combined training for Keystone Color Me Healthy-Keystone Kids Go Active! and the associated implementation kits in all Pennsylvania counties from the office of your PA Regional Key.

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 7 or better.  It is free to download from www.adobe.com. All comments are welcome. Just click on Contact Us.

To know when ECELS posts significant new information, sign-up for E-Mail Alerts. Click here.

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. 

National AAP Offers E-News -- The Child Care and Health Partnership Program of the American Academy of Pediatrics has an electronic newsletter about best practice based on research and the advice of pediatricians. Click here for back issues and a link to sign-up to receive the free newsletter.

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.

Infant-Toddler, School Age and Obesity Resource Lists -- ECELS has prepared lists of references and links to materials that help early education professionals and consultants meet the needs of children in their care. For the Infant-Toddler Resource List, click here. For the School-Age Resource List, click here. For the list of resources on Obesity, click here. To see other materials on the ECELS website for these topics, insert the topic in the search tool box at the top of this page.

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.