Page 31 - BTC Yearbook 2016

South Bronx Early Head Start

Team members:
Michelly Garcia – Program Director
Jennifer Dussuau – Administrator
Nilia Lalin – Family Support Worker
Penda Thiam– Family Support Worker
Mary Ellis– Family Support Worker
Edna Gutierrez– Family Support Worker
Jacqueline Staten-McCutchen – Family Support Worker
Doris Diaz– Outreach Coordinator
Yadira Urena– Educational Director

Families impacting: South Bronx Early Headstart provides educational and supportive
services to expecting and parenting families with a focus on premature infants that are as
young as 25 weeks and are being cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Services for families begin in the NICU, where the focus is on the parent-infant
relationships and family supports during this very difficult period in the families life.
Once the family is discharged, homevisiting services continue for the family until the
child turns three years old. Research shows that premature infants face higher rates of
biological, developmental and behavioral challenges (Hussy-Gardner and Famuyide,
2009). These challenges coupled with families who have multiple social and
environmental risk factors such as poverty, poor social support, mental health problems,
and low educational attainment elevate risk for infants and their families.

Practitioners impacting: The program uses the developmental and relational models of
Touchpoints in all training and reflective supervision for program staff including special
educators; NICU nursing staff; OBGYN midwives; SBEHS supervisors; SBEHS
homevisitors; nutrition, and mental health providers. Touchpoints guiding principles,
parent/practitioners assumptions and developmental components are infused into the
training and supervision so it can be used in their everyday interactions for successful
outcome for the families.

Community impact:We have worked towards enhancing the well being of 92 infants,
toddlers and their families in a high need community in the South Bronx.

Highlights since you began:
Major highlights for the program are:
a. Incorporation of Touchpoints in our developmental and education model
design for medically fragile infants
b. Expansion of services to all of the families in the Bronx Lebanon Hospital
Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
c. Integration of Touchpoints in the development of a new model for the
provision of Early Head Start services.