Des Moines, IA -- Blank Children’s Hospital is proud to be the first hospital in Iowa to introduce a Health Risk Assessment tool designed just for kids. Currently, Blank Children’s is working with the Young Women’s Resource Center and the homeless shelters in Des Moines to determine key health risks for these two targeted populations.

“The goal is to gain knowledge of the comprehensive health-related issues of children and youth in a variety of settings; and then follow up with targeted programs to meet their identified health issues,” said Kathy Leggett, director of the Center for Advocacy and Outreach at Blank Children’s Hospital.

The Health Risk Assessment is an online, real-time data collection tool that is geared to identify the health status of children. The online web-based pediatric HRA was developed by Protocol Driven Healthcare, Inc (PDHI). The pediatric HRA adds a new dimension needed to collect in-depth and timely health and behavioral information about our younger population.

“The information we are able to gather about our children’s health will be very useful for Blank Children’s Hospital as it will enable us to direct our healthcare efforts in areas that will make biggest impact – and enable us to improve the health of children right here in our community,” said Leggett.

Young Women’s Resource Center
At the Young Women’s Resource Center approximately 30 middle school girls participated in the online health risk assessment. Blank Children’s Hospital identified these key healthcare issues as top health risks for these girls: healthy eating; lack of sleep; stress and coping; and sun safety.

Following the assessment, an outreach educator from Blank Children’s met with the girls to discuss the results of the health risk assessments and to talk about what this means for their health and well-being. She also asked them to identify what health issues they were most concerned about and what they would like to learn more about as well. In addition, each participant was given a pedometer to track the number of steps they are getting each day. The program will also include experts from Blank Children’s and Iowa Health – Des Moines meeting with the groups to discuss these identified health issues and answer their questions.

Homeless Youth
The rate of children who are homeless continues to increase statewide, putting children at significant risk for a number of health concerns. According to the Iowa Council on Homelessness 2005 Statewide Study, approximately 21,280 Iowans found themselves to be homeless at some point, 61 percent of those were families with children. For children that are currently residing in Des Moines area homeless shelters, the biggest healthcare concerns identified using the PDHI assessment include: a child’s emotional health, including stress and coping; a high number of sick days from school; and a high incidence of chronic medical conditions, such as asthma and ADHD.

The health assessment has been a window of opportunity for Blank Children’s Hospital staff to meet individually with children and parents experiencing homelessness and to identify the specific areas of concern, provide education about health risks, and to offer referrals and resources for health services.

The assessments began in early October and will be repeated in late spring at the end of the current school year to determine if improvements were made through targeted educational programs.

Blank Children’s Hospital hopes to expand the assessments yet this year to include children at the Boys and Girls Club and at the Blank Children’s Health Center. If you would be interested in learning more about these Health Risk Assessments Just for Kids and would like to get your organization involved, please contact Kathy Leggett at 515.241.5963.

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About Blank Children’s Hospital Blank Children’s Hospital is an 88-bed facility that continues to expand to provide the most complete medical care to children across Iowa. Currently, Blank Children’s features more than 60 pediatric specialists uniquely skilled in providing medical care to children. The number of pediatric medical specialists, programs and services is constantly growing to improve care and meet the changing health needs of children. Blank Children’s is part of the Iowa Health – Des Moines, which also includes Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Iowa Lutheran Hospital and their associated physicians and clinics.