Help Me Grow Alabama
What is Help Me Grow?
Madeleine Blancher, MD, FAAP, Chapter Early Childhood Champion, discusses the benefits of Reach Out and Read and Help Me Grow.
For several years, the Alabama Chapter-American Academy of Pediatrics and Reach Out and Read-Alabama have partnered with the Alabama Partnership for Children on Help Me Grow (HMG) Alabama, part of the national HMG National Network. HMG is a proven model supporting children's optimal development by linking both families and providers to community-based programs and services. HMG Alabama provides the critical service of identifying concerns early, when interventions are less costly and more effective.
Started by Dr. Paul Dworkin, Physician-in-Chief at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Help Me Grow offers:
Referrals to cross-sector resources, such as early intervention agencies, adaptive activities, family therapy, behavioral issues, parenting classes, etc.
Universal administration of developmental screenings for children age 0-5.
Personalized care coordination, including follow-up, to support families of young children (birth – 8 years old) as they connect to resources geared to answer their needs.
Answers to parenting questions families don’t know what to do about.
How can Help Me Grow benefit your practice?
Help Me Grow Alabama expanded to serve all 67 counties in Alabama in 2015. In 2019, Help Me Grow Alabama brought all intakes in-house by hiring an Intake Specialist who is housed at the state office. Physicians, providers, and families can enroll online or by faxing the Universal Referral Form to the state office. Once their initial intake is completed, the family will be connected to a Care Coordinator who can answer questions, connect them to services, follow up to ensure a connection is made, and enroll them in Help Me Grow’s developmental surveillance program. HMG services can benefit pediatric practices in the following ways:
Save you time! HMG stays up to date with community resources so you spend your time working with patients.
Follow up with families to make sure services are utilized.
Families benefit from additional care coordination. Help your patients navigate resources beyond the walls of your practice and receive updates on their progress.
HMG can provide ASQ surveillance by sending follow-up ASQs to patients who need to be monitored between well-baby checks follow-up ASQ’s and, with the permission of the parent, send you the results.
Help you with your MOC requirements
Help your families become educated, responsible and self-reliant.
For those practices and clinics with a Reach Out and Read-Alabama program, Help Me Grow Care Coordinators can provide assistance with programmatic activities throughout the year.
Hear from your peer: "Online system and Help Me Grow transforming developmental screening & referrals" by Bruce Petitt, MD, FAAP, of West Alabama Pediatrics.
Interested in getting a visit from a HMG Coordinator to get started?
If you are interested in learning more about Help Me Grow Alabama, please email Help Me Grow Alabama Director, Lindsey DeMarco (ldemarco@apcteam.org), or Community Liaison, Mary Florian (mflorian@apcteam.org).
Resources
Physician Referral Form (electronic)
Physician Referral Form (paper, downloadable)
Video Resources for Pediatricians
Myriam Peralta-Carcelan, MD, FAAP, presents Tools for Developmental Screening as part of the Chapter's Help Me Grow Developmental Screening Training.
Developmental Screening Works! Connor's Story illustrates that developmental screening works! (3:11)
Help Me Grow Alabama is a program of the Alabama Partnership for Children and is funded by the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education through the Preschool Development Grant and by the Alabama Department of Mental Health through a Project LAUNCH Grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association.