RIT to provide process expertise for health screening project for 3-year-olds

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Increasing access to GROW Rochester health and developmental screenings could help improve early childhood learning





June 19, 2017 by Michelle Cometa Follow Michelle Cometa on TwitterFollow RITNEWS on TwitterRebecca Ziebarth and Margi Ochs

Rochester Institute of Technology and GROW Rochester have teamed up on a citywide project to help increase the number of 3-year-olds in the city receiving timely and necessary health and preventive services. Early screening to assess health issues and providing suitable interventions could increase the likelihood of children being well-prepared for, and doing well, in school.

Identifying 3-year-olds in the city for health assessment screenings has been a challenge, with only about a third of the children readily accessible in early preschool programs or other formal and easily identified organizations. For the remaining children, GROW Rochester is intent on finding multiple ways to increase parental and community awareness of and access to screening, assessment and follow up services.

RIT’s John D. Hromi Center for Quality and Applied Statistics (CQAS) is participating with GROW Rochester and the Children’s Institute providing process support on this major health and developmental screening project with the goal of engaging a much higher percentage of families with 3-year-olds. The team intends to increase access from 1,000 children and families to 3,000.

Generally, by the time children are 3 they have completed well-child visits. GROW Rochester will complement existing care by “going to where the children are” and provide screenings for vision, hearing, speech, dental, social-emotional, cognitive, motor and other developmental needs that could impact learning if not checked prior to beginning school, said Rebecca Ziebarth, CQAS project manager.

“The partnership between the GROW Rochester and RIT will benefit Rochester’s children today and in the future,” said Ziebarth. She and Margi Ochs, director of Business Development and Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, are leading the RIT portion of the project. “If we can catch health ...

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