Outline of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania State Profile

  • Licensing: Pennsylvania child care regulations do not require child care providers to contract with CCHCs.
  • Funding: The Early Childhood Education Linkage System-Healthy Child Care PA (ECELS) initiative is funded with CCDF dollars by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW), Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH), and private and foundation grants.  OCDEL provides limited funding to each of its six Regional Keys to provide Child Care Health Consultant services.
  • Auspices: ECELS, a program of the Pennsylvania Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP), maintains a registry of health professionals who provide health consultation and training to improve early care and education (ECE) programs in the state. When ECELS staff receives requests for child care health consultant (CCHC) services from child care providers, they use the registry to locate a CCHC with the required expertise and background to respond to the request. They then contact the CCHC to determine if they are available to be linked to the requesting ECE provider.
  • CCHC Role: Most of the ECELS CCHCS are nurses and pediatricians. However, nurse practitioners, health educators, Emergency Medical Services staff (EMS), and other health professionals also participate. Most CCHCs offer their services as an aside to their full-time employment (e.g., through a public health department, after hours). Some consider this role part of their job, while others volunteer their services or are paid a fee by the child care providers who access their services. CCHCs provide a variety of services including telephone consultation, conducting on–site visits, sharing updated health information with ECE providers, and making referrals or facilitating communication between a child’s medical home and the child’s educators. The role of the Child Care Health Consultant in the Regional Keys is still developing.
  • CCHC Training: ECELS supports CCHCs with training and informational resources including a video/DVD-based Health Consultation for Early Education and Child Care Self Study. ECELS also provides CCHCs and early education programs with health and safety information.
  • Website: CCHCs and ECE providers access CCHC and health and safety information through the ECELS website.
  • Quality Rating System: The PA Early Learning Keys to Quality oversees PA’s Quality Rating System, Keystone STARS. Keystone STARS is providing continuous quality improvement in PA programs through Standards, Training/Professional Development, Assistance, Resources, and Support. Technical Assistance is available to STARS programs to address health and safety issues.

History and Development

PA AAP initiated ECELS in 1989 with start-up funding from the federal Maternal and Child Health Improvement Program (MCHIP) and grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In 1995, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) drew on ECELS as a model for the Healthy Child Care America (HCCA) initiative.

In addition to its CCHC activities, ECELS also delivers training to caregivers and staff involved in state–funded quality improvement activities, offers access to preventive health care tracking tools, and provides telephone consultation. While ECELS does not receive funding directly from the state’s Early Childhood Comprehensive System (ECCS) grant, ECELS staff have been participants on the ECCS Steering Committee and the Access to Health Insurance and Medical Homes Workgroup.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

  • Sustainability: Sustainability requires continuing efforts by champions for health and safety in the ECE community. Some of these come from within the child care provider community, others from within state agencies, and, most importantly, from the advocacy organizations that monitor ECE initiatives.

Ingredients for Success

  • Qualities that Contribute to ECELS’ Longevity: The key elements in long–term success are persistence, optimism, and tolerance for progress in small increments.

Moving Forward

  • Continuing Efforts: ECELS is funded to operate the ECELS Help Line and ECELS website, to deliver health and safety training and professional development for caregivers and Child Care Health Consultants, and to link ECE providers with child care health consultation services.
  • Upcoming Strategies: PA DOH and ECELS will focus on Pediatric First Aid and Oral Health Education strategies in ECE programs. ECELS is developing a Health Advocate Certificate, a college credit bearing course for ECE providers. ECELS continues to work with OCDEL.

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Information as of August 2007