The program relies on coordination between local hospitals, primary care physicians, community services such as teen clinics, and families. Some county health departments screen birth certificates electronically to identify 18 of the risk factors identifying babies and families at risk. This process truly helps identify those that might otherwise be missed by community outreach efforts. Children 1st staff work closely with other at-risk families, organizations and community groups in order to form partnerships, integrate outreach efforts and avoiding service duplication. No one family, organization or community group can do it alone - it takes collaboration.
Mobile units take needed services to the community.
Nurses, nutritionists and other health professionals on the vans provide a variety of services ranging from childhood immunizations and nutrition counseling to adult blood pressure checks. Mobile vans bring services to people who are unable or unlikely to travel great distances to access primary care. But when detected, chlamydia can be easily treated and cured. Through this project public health nurses have detected chlamydia infections in thousands of young women in Georgia. The Chlamydia Project demonstrates how chlamydia screening and treatment reduces the incidence of complications such as PID and is a cost-effective clinical intervention.