By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
The focus of January’s “Our Healthy Kentucky Home” initiative highlights several resources that focus on children with special health-care needs, including neurologic diseases, autism, orthopedic conditions, hearing loss and more.
The Our Healthy Kentucky Home initiative aims to promote simple, positive and attainable goals to inspire and motivate Kentuckians on a journey to health and wellness.
“It also highlights resources and programs available to Kentuckians supporting families all across the Commonwealth, including those with specific or more complex needs across Kentucky,” Dr. Steven Stack, secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said at a recent news conference.
Stack highlighted three of those resources:
• The Office for Children with Special Health Care Needs (OCSHCN), which, for more than 100 years, has helped families schedule appointments, connect with specialists and coordinate with local providers.
• The Kentucky Early Intervention System, which provides early intervention and developmental services focused on communication, functional skills and healthy development.
• Kentucky’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention program, which ensures newborns receive hearing screenings, timely follow-up testing and early intervention services when needed.
The Our Healthy Kentucky Home websiteHealthy includes information about the initiative, with links to each month’s focus topic.
The key goals of the state’s campaign, which is in its second year, are for Kentuckians to eat two servings of fruits and vegetables daily, to exercise at least 30 minutes three times per week, and to engage with others and stay connected.