Arkansas Children’s Hospital plans to expand a program that offers a free meal to children when they visit the hospital, the hospital’s chief executive officer said Thursday.
CEO Marcy Doderer spoke about the program, which started last year, at a news conference about a report examining the status of efforts to improve children’s health.
The report listed reducing “food insecurity” as a priority, noting that a study by Feeding America, a national network of food banks, found that 28 percent of Arkansas children in 2011 lived in households that are considered food insecure, meaning household members reported that a lack of money limited what they ate.
“I personally find this unfathomable,” Doderer said.
The report, “Natural Wonders: The State of Children’s Health in Arkansas,” is published by Natural Wonders Partnership Council, a group that includes the hospital and several other state agencies and organizations.
Drawing on reports by other organizations, as well as focus groups conducted by the hospital and a survey of 1,000 households in late 2012, the report lists 10 priorities for improving children’s health.
In addition to food insecurity, the report’s list of priorities includes increasing child immunizations, improving parenting skills, increasing access to healthcare services, improving children’s sexual health (including reducing teen pregnancy) and oral health, and reducing obesity, drug and alcohol use and intentional and unintentional injuries.
Addressing access to health-care services, the report noted that more than 3,000 children were enrolled in the ARKids First Medicaid program as a result of a letter sent by the Department of Human Services to food stamp recipients last year.
But Arkansas children on Medicaid are less likely than those in other states to receive recommended medical checkups, according to the report. And it says the state’s plan to move some children onto Medicaid-funded private insurance plans should be “monitored closely to maintain benefits and access to care for children.”
The report - written by Anna Strong, health-care policy director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families - will guide efforts by council members, who meet monthly, said Scott Gordon, the hospital’s executive vice president.
Arkansas first lady Ginger Beebe, the council’s honorary chairman, said the state has made “tremendous progress” since the report’s first edition was published in 2007.
For instance, council members pushed for a law passed in 2009 that prohibits 16- and 17-year-olds from driving between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. or with more than one unrelated passenger younger than 21 unless a driver who is 21 or older is also in the car.
Drivers younger than 18 are also prohibited from using a cellphone while driving.
A 2012 study by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement found that traffic deaths in crashes involving teen drivers dropped 59 percent, from 25 deaths per 10,000 drivers in 2008 to 10 deaths per 10,000 drivers in 2010.
To improve children’s oral health, the hospital in 2009 began a program, supported by private donations, that gives free dental sealants to children ages 6-9 who have not seen a dentist in the past year.
Donations from Ronald McDonald House Charities, Delta Dental and Tyson Foods also help fund mobile clinics, staffed by Children’s Hospital dentists, that provide dental care to children at schools.
Last spring, the hospital’s financial counselors, who normally help parents find assistance to pay medical bills, began helping eligible families apply for food stamps, Gordon said. More than 300 applications have been submitted.
The hospital also began participating in the U.S. Agriculture Department’s summer food service program, offering children free lunches from the cafeteria between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays.
The hospital gave out 1,728 meals under the program and plans to expand it within the next few months to provide the meals year-round, Gordon said. The Agriculture Department reimbursed the hospital $6,003 to cover the cost of the food, hospital spokesman Hilary DeMillo said.
Doderer said she didn’t know of any other hospitals that participate in the food program.
“No one had ever stopped to think that when a child goes and has to spend several hours visiting doctors in a hospital environment, that there’s no food provided for them,” she said.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/14/2014