Representatives from neighborhood hospitals, clinics, and health agencies provided information and free screenings for the families.

Information tables were set up in the gym and a mobile health van was parked out in front of the Center.

In addition, short workshops focused on topics such as women’s health, nutritious cooking, and health care access for immigrants.  It was a very healthy day!

The New York City Health Department is also working with schools, parents and communities to minimize the spread of H1N1 among children and teachers. Key objectives include getting children vaccinated, and New York City, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that the city will offer free flu vaccines to elementary school students. (scheduled to begin in October).

New York City was the first large U.S. city to be hit hard when the H1N1 virus first surfaced last spring, when hundreds of children in the city were sickened by the disease. At the Children’s Aid Society, we know that school attendance is a predictor for future successes, and keeping children healthy is always a major challenge.

Vaccinations have been one of the most important health advances in history, reports the New York Times. The free vaccinations provided to the more than one million New York City School District students will mostly be a nasal mist, rather than a shot, according to the AP. Along with basic common sense prevention, we’ll be able to make a difference!

Correction:  Thanks to our Facebook friend Janay Bouroughs, we have changed the flu name to the correct name, H1N1.

Go!Healthy is directed by The Children’s Aid Society and is aimed at combating obesity in children, teens and adults by teaching them about the joys of fresh, delicious and healthful foods. Go!Healthy is “food education” that makes healthful foods fun and accessible for children and families in New York’s low-income neighborhoods. Hands-on cooking, health education, yoga (pictured) and learning to be “conscious consumers” helps Go!Healthy turn the tide of unhealthy eating.

New York’s Children Aid Society also launched Go!Kids in 2003, an early childhood obesity prevention program for three- to five-year-olds. Currently at six sites in Manhattan and the Bronx, Go!Kids will be implemented at four additional Children’s Aid locations in New York in 2009, as well as at eight external Head Start programs. Go!Kids was recently featured on Rachael Ray’s non-profit organization website, Yum-o.org. These important educational programs continue the fight for the health, and future health, of thousands of needy children.

easy access to health care.

Charles Loring Brace, founder of  The Children’s Aid Society stated that “When medical care is convenient and accessible, more children live healthier lives.” This may be why, along with support from the New York Times, in1872, The Children’s Aid Society employed teams of nurses and physicians to visit sick children in tenements, establishing the model for Visiting Nurses Services.

• And why in, 1901, The Children’s Aid Society employed the first school nurse in any New York City school.

• And why in, 1906, the first free school dental clinic in the United States was established by The Children’s Aid Society in New York (and why, by 1913, there was a dental clinic in every one of its schools).

And it’s also why today every child who comes into one of The Children Aid Society’s school and community clinics receives comprehensive and coordinated examinations and treatment. The health and mental health services of New York’s Children’s Aid Society remains on the cutting edge of children’s services. Many of its successful program models are replicated across the nation; adapted by public schools throughout the U.S., and across the globe.

The Children’s Aid Society is working hard to decrease that number through our Health Care Access Program. This program assists New York City children and families with the complicated task of enrolling in and accessing their state provided health insurance. The Children’s Aid Society employs Facilitated Enrollers, people who are specially trained assist in this process and tirelessly help the uninsured until they have secured an adequate health plan.

Facilitated Enrollers are particularly necessary because many of the families in the communities we serve are immigrants or non-English-speaking New Yorkers; the language barrier makes the already complex application procedure even more challenging. Facilitated Enrollers, or FEs, provide culturally sensitive outreach and enrollment services in more than 40 languages.

A huge part of why HCAP is able to reach and gain the trust of many uninsured families is the integral role that The Children’s Aid Society already plays in their lives. The Children’s Aid Society provides school-based health services in Community Schools in Harlem and Washington Heights, in addition to serving the wider community with three community health centers, so that health care can be convenient as well as affordable for New York City families.

All children in New York City deserve adequate medical care and the Children’s Aid Society works toward this goal. At Children’s Aid, every day is a Health Care Day of Service.

For over 150 years The Children’s Aid Society has been a leader in assistance to needy children, with the ultimate goal of helping them become healthy and productive adults. Founder Charles Loring Brace believed that by filling the gaps between what children deserve and what life has dealt them, they would prosper. Education has been an anchor of The Children’s Aid Society; Today, Children’s Aid continues to be an education leader, operating community schools in New York City in partnership with the Department of Education.

Charles Loring Brace knew that the role of the education system should provide more for children than the typical education provided in the 19^th century; it should offer a community of support and multiple services to the child. The phrase “the child is the father of the man” coined by William Wordsworth, was a popular phrase in the 19^th century and was surely embraced by Charles Loring Brace. It speaks to the growth to adulthood requiring a strong foundation in childhood.

The schools operated by The Children’s Aid Society in New York City are open early, close late, and are open evenings, weekends and summers. These community schools serve as more than a place where children attend classes. With a familiar and nourishing environment, children can also receive medical and dental care, speak to a counselor about a problem, stay after school to build reading skills, play chess, work on a computer, take art and music lessons, get help with homework, practice sports and attend summer camp: “school days” that provide a strong foundation to aid in growing to prosperous adulthood. And parents find a new center of their community.