Overview
Iowa's 1st Five Healthy Mental Development Initiative builds partnerships between physician practices and public service providers to enhance high quality well-child care. 1st Five promotes the use of standardized developmental surveillance and screening tools that support healthy mental development for young children.
By using a standardized tool for all children, providers are able to identify children at risk for developmental concerns, and link those children and their families with community-based resources to improve access to appropriate follow-up care.
Primary care providers play a key role in supporting optimal healthy mental development in children. In fact, primary health care is the one place nearly all families come into contact with during the child's first years of life. Therefore, primary care providers can play a critical role in providing developmental screenings.
As of 2010, 1st Five works with seven local child health agencies, operating in 14 Iowa counties and 54 participating medical practices, impacting approximately 65,000 children from birth to 5 who are seen for well-child exams at these practices. Pending funding, the intent of the 1st Five Initiative is to continue to expand throughout Iowa.
