Vermont LEND Nutrition Faculty Member Dorigen Keeney MS RD Develops On-line Child Hunger Course for Primary Care Providers
March 25, 2013
Children with complex health issues are at greater risk for hunger and under-nutrition.[1][2][3]Their families are more apt to live in poverty and have difficulty meeting basic needs because of un- or underemployment and greater costs. Health providers may not recognize that families lack access to quality food and/or or that poor nutritional status is interfering with the child's health, development or ability to learn. Health providers have identified that both lack of awareness about hunger and food programs as well as being uncomfortable asking about food security prevent them from addressing these issues with families. [4]
Hunger Free Vermont, a non-profit, has developed a free, accredited, online tutorial that gives health professionals the information and tools to screen, identify and help families whose young children are at risk of developing health problems caused by food insecurity. Physicians can receive a free CME credit and nurses can receive a free CE credit. The tutorial, Childhood Hunger in Vermont: The Hidden Impacts on Health, Development & Wellbeing, can be accessed at https://hungerfreevt.globalclassroom.us/portal/.
As part of the hunger tutorial, several Food and Nutrition Screening Algorithms were developed to inform and empower health and educational providers to recognize hunger and food scarcity and assist families in getting help. One is designed for use by primary care providers for use in a clinical setting (access at Hunger Screening Algorithm for Primary Care) and another for health, education and social service providers that can also be used in home and educational settings (access at Hunger Screening Algorithm for Health, Education, and Social Service Providers).
[1] Parish SL. Material hardship in US families raising children with disabilities. Exceptional Children. 2008:75(1):71-92.
[2] Marjerrison S, et al. Prevalence and associations of food insecurity in children with diabetes mellitus. J Pediatrics. 2011;158:607-611.
[3] Lukemeyer A, Mayers MK, Smeeding T. Expensive children in poor families: out-of-pocket expenditures for the care of disabled and chronically ill children in welfare families. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 2000;62(2):399-415
[4] Oregon Childhood Hunger Coalition. Childhood Hunger: A Public Health Concern. http://www.oregonfoodbank.org/CHC/research%20documents/Childhood%20Hunger%20a%20public%20health%20concern.pdf
