BEING HEALTHY

We are constantly auditing our Be Healthy programme in our home and ensuring that all children who live there have their health needs met.

We ensure that on admission to the home we have a comprehensive background on all of the child’s health needs, including all medical history, any allergies, all hearing, optical and dental records and the history of any specific therapies needed.

In addition to the above we work with the Child’s care plan and formulate our own in house Health Plan for each child, which includes their physical and emotional health and personal and social skills requirements.

We recognise that many children who come to us will not be thinking about their health and in fact in a lot of instances will be subconsciously trying to sabotage their health.

We have 6 basic rules that each child is encouraged to adhere to from day one of their placement which helps formulate the first part of their health plan:

1.  Every child must have a bath or shower each day and clean their teeth in the morning and evening.

2.  No child is allowed to smoke on or in the grounds of the home.

3.  All children have introductory checks with our local GP, Dentist, Optician

4.  All children, together with staff in daily house meetings, decide on the menu for the next week and it must include all of the healthy eating options/food groups that a child needs to thrive. Diversity and culture is embraced and the children have the opportunity to eat and cook cultural food.

5.  All children are told from the beginning of their placement that they have access to a child psychotherapist if they want to talk to somebody and an Independent visitor will visit them once a month and talk to them about how they view the home, its staff and the way we are caring for them.

The health needs of children from minority ethnic, racial and cultural groups are given specific attention. In order to address and support any specialist needs, staff  whenever necessary, seek specialist help.

Children with particular health needs or a disability are provided with appropriate support and help the Key worker for the child ensures that they closely liaise with the health professionals and seek both guidance and direction on any specific and particular health needs.

All children are helped to understand the particular health risks associated with smoking, alcohol and other substance use. How this information and awareness building is done will be dependent upon the age and understanding of the child. We have a drugs and alcohol advisor who visits the home regularly.

Children are also provided with the appropriate advice and support in relation to sexual education and sexual health matters. Again, consistent with the age and understanding of each child, the LAC nurse visits with the children as a group and on an individual basis to discuss matters relating to sexual health.

Issues of personal hygiene are addressed in a sensitive and proactive ways within an overall atmosphere that helps children build and develop a positive self-image