EveryStep Care and Support Services

Iowa’s 1st Five – Healthy Mental Development Initiative builds partnerships between medical providers and public service providers to enhance high quality well-child care. Medical providers make a referral to 1st Five and a developmental support specialist contacts the family to discuss the family’s concerns. 1st Five developmental support specialists provide resources and referrals to help meet the needs of the family.

The Children at Home program is designed to assist you and your family in securing the services and supports that you identify as necessary in helping your child remain at home. An underlying principle of the Children at Home program is that you and your family retain control of decisions which affect your child and family. Financial assistance is intended to enable you to obtain those services and supports which are not met by other programs.

This program is designed to assist families raising a child with a disability in obtaining needed services and supports. The Family's intent must be to secure services and support that enable their child to remain in the family home.

Iowa Department of Public Health used a health equity lens and collaborated with African American / Black – identified community members and local maternal health experts to develop a culturally appropriate, community-based doula program.

What is a doula?
A doula is a companion who supports a birthing person during prenatal period, labor, and postpartum. Doulas are trained to provide continuous, one-on-one care, as well as information, physical support, and emotional support to birthing persons and their partners.

What does a doula do?
Prenatal Period: Provides prenatal education, preparing families to make educated, well informed birthing and parenting choices.
Birthing: Provides physical and emotional support during labor and delivery, increasing their feelings of safety and comfort. They provide non-medical pain management techniques that decrease the need for unnecessary and expensive medical interventions. Doulas also facilitate positive communication between the birthing person and their health care providers.
Postpartum Period: Helps initiate breastfeeding and enhances a family’s confidence in caring for a newborn.Long-term doula care provides support and education for infant nutrition and health. They also serve as a source of information and referrals for a wide variety of needs.

The Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit provides comprehensive and preventive health care services for children. The role of EPSDT is to promote the physical, mental, social, emotional, and behavioral health of children from birth to age 21. The EPSDT program emphasizes the use of a regular schedule of recommended well-child health visits, called screenings, to provide preventative health care and identify medical, developmental, and social-emotional concerns.

Provides interpretation and translation services. Services may be available in person or via phone.

Healthy Homes Iowa is an EveryStep program focused on working with families to identify and reduce triggers related to pediatric asthma. Their goal is to support improved asthma control and reduce emergency room visits and hospitalizations related to pediatric asthma in Iowa. Through this program, households with children suffering from asthma receive home assessments to address asthma triggers and families receive health information and education to self-manage asthma and maintain a healthy home.

Common household substances including mold, dust, chemicals, and pests can trigger an attack. Children with developing lungs are particularly vulnerable to experiencing asthma symptoms. Healthy Homes Iowa will remediate household asthma triggers and repair the source of the problem in the home, such as leaky plumbing and old carpet.

The EveryStep Healthy Start and Empowerment Family Support Projects offer free and confidential services to families in Polk County who are pregnant or have a young child. Case managers provide home visits to women for extra support to ensure a healthy child, family, and personal health.

EveryStep offers a variety of in-home care and support services to help individuals recover from illness or injury, and to help seniors lead healthy, active lives.

I-Smile™ Dental Home Initiative is a statewide program that connects Iowans with dental, medical, and community resources to ensure a lifetime of health and wellness.An I-Smile Coordinator provides care coordination and support to families with children who need dental care. The I-Smile Coordinator can help with: Setting up dental appointments, providing reminders of when the dental appointment is, arranging for transportation to the dental appointment, and providing education on oral health care.

The Iowa Family Support Network (IFSN) assists families and providers in connecting with Early ACCESS and community-based services that address specialized child and family needs. The program serves as the central point of contact and directory for families. Information specialists are available via telephone and e-mail to answer questions about various programs or to help locate resources. Information on growth and development for children aged two weeks to three years can be accessed from the IFSN website.

The EveryStep Maternal Child Health Outreach Program assists uninsured children and pregnant women in obtaining health insurance and finding a doctor and dentist. Outreach support specialists can answer questions about hawk-i and Medicaid and provide same day enrollment and eligibility determination. Specialists can also help by assisting with completion of applications and renewals.

Maternal Health services provide home visitation, personalized education, prenatal and postpartum care to pregnant and parenting women.

EveryStep’s Nine2Thrive program helps support the healthy development of babies during pregnancy by identifying risks and providing a support system. The Nine2Thrive project model is a public – private partnership bridging primary care and public health services.

Through screenings, prenatal healthcare providers refer pregnant individuals to Nine2Thrive for free, confidential connection to support. Support Specialists from Nine2Thrive link pregnant individuals to community and healthcare resources. The Nine2Thrive Support Specialists follow up with the referring healthcare provider.

Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), a maternal and early childhood health program, fosters long-term success for first-time moms, their babies and society. NFP's program introduces vulnerable first-time parents to caring maternal and child health nurses. This program allows nurses to deliver the support first-time moms need to have a healthy pregnancy, become knowledgeable and responsible parents, and provide their babies with the best possible start in life. The relationship between mother and nurse provides the foundation for strong families.

Play and Learn offers child-directed, open ended, playful learning activities designed for the parent to stay and play with their child ages 0 ‘ 8 years old (school ages welcome). When in-person Play and Learn meetings are in session, every family receives a book and a healthy snack.

Public Health nurses provides skilled nursing care, information on healthy lifestyle practices, and encourages changes for better health. This service is available to every citizen (of all ages) and is provided locally in every county. Skilled nursing services are provided by professional staff or associated paraprofessionals. The service available varies by county. Public Health Nurses also provide information and assistance to link families with local community resources for health and social needs.

EveryStep's Senior Companion program provides support to adults through regular home visits. Trained Senior Companions help their clients maintain happy, healthy lives. Senior Companions receive a stipend and other benefits. The program is offered at no charge to residents of Polk, Warren, Marion, Lucas, and Pottawattamie counties who are 21 or older and need extra support to continue to live independently in their homes.

Stork's Nest and Family Nest are part of an educational incentive program. Participants earn points for healthy behaviors such as keeping medical appointments, WIC participation, breastfeeding, and school attendance. These points may be redeemed at the Stork's Nest for needed baby items such as diapers, clothing, strollers, cribs, and car seats. Family Nest participants may also redeem points for needed household supplies such as laundry detergent, pots and pans, and dishwashing detergent.

Offers individual, couples and family counseling. A wide range of counseling services are available to address challenges such as managing stress, relationship issues, communication, parenting and any other situations causing distress.

The Storybook project recruits, screens and trains volunteers tow ork with incarcerated parents or grandparents at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women and the Newton Correctional Release Center. Once per month the parent/grandparent choose a book from the Storybook library that is appropriate for the child. The parent or grandparent reads the book while the volunteer records the reading onto a digital voice recorder. The book and CD are then mailed to the child.