Welcome from Your Family Resource Specialist

Bay Area Early Steps

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Serving Hillsborough and Polk Counties

Hello! Happy New Year! Welcome to our first edition of the Bay Area

Early Steps Newsletter. I am your new Family Resource Specialist and I

am so excited to be serving the families in Hillsborough County. I am a

parent of a soon-to-be 4 year old girl, who was born with a bilateral

severe-to-profound hearing loss. My daughter

has 2 cochlear implants, which enables her to

listen and speak. She recently graduated from

Early Steps and we owe so much to the support

and services that Early Steps provided. The

journey that you are taking is still very fresh to

me and very close to my heart.

This newsletter is for you: to learn about

us, to learn about community resources , and to

share your stories. This is going to be an exciting

year for Bay Area Early Steps and I welcome any

suggestions that our families may have. We are looking to send this

newsletter out quarterly, primarily through email and mail. If you would

like to be added to our email list please contact me or your service

coordinator with your updated email address. In the near future, we will

be creating a new website, facebook page, and trainings for our families.

Please contact me via email ademolin@health.usf.edu or @ 813-493-

1053 if your have any questions, comments, or would just like to say Hi!

With Regards,

Alex DeMolina

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R

!

P A G E 2

Greetings from Our Medical Director,

Dr. Carol Lilly

As we work together with our families and their children in Early Steps,

I can’t help but to feel blessed by all of the opportunities we have for

this coming year. As I prepared to write this, I was struck by how much

we have grown - how much I have grown; as a result of working with

our wonderful Early Steps Teams and families. The recent death of one

of Pediatrics’ greatest physicians, Dr. Lewis Barness, brought home to

me the importance of what we do, and the importance of each and

every individual. Dr. Barness was a brilliant man, but was down to earth

and had a wonderful sense of humor. He remembered the names of

every patient and student he came in contact with; including the details

about their families. In remembering him, Dr. Emmanuel – Chair of

USF Pediatrics said: “What made Dr. B. so special was a combination of

fierce intellect, endless curiosity, wit, kindness and compassion. He saw his

students and faculty as people first—he was always quick to ask about your

children or spouse, and he had an elephant memory for their names! He

pushed us to be better and served as an incredible role model.” I can think

of no better role model as our Bay Area Early Steps Team moves

forward and continues to work with our families to give the best care

to their children.

Two years ago, USF General Pediatrics initiated a Family Advisory

Council within their primary care pediatrics program using tools

provided through the AAP Medical Home Demonstration Project. This

program was implemented to include families in change activities aimed

at improvements in the quality of care. A key goal was to strengthen

the way USF Pediatrics delivered family-centered care and to attain the

highest standards of a Patient-Centered Medical Home for our families

through the implementation of a rigorous, continuous improvement

process - while involving families in the process. Family Advisory

Councils have been successful in: promoting team work; fostering

mutual understanding, cooperation and respect; more efficient program

planning and providing a mechanism for family feedback/input related to

program development.

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

This year, we have introduced the Family Advisory Council for Bay Area Early Steps (FAC

-ESP), and we are actively seeking parents to become involved in making our program

the best. FAC-ESP members can help ensure that care is centered on child and family

needs, strengths, values and priorities. Spearheaded by our new Family Resource

Specialist, Alex DeMolina; the FAC-ESP will be essential to ongoing program

development. If you are interested in participating, please contact Alex at: 813-

974-0674 or 1-866-549-1740.

We are very excited to have Alex join our team. Our top goal this year is to strengthen

ties with our families. Alex is working diligently to help us meet this goal head on. She

has already begun by: making changes to our website to provide more resource

information to families, working with service coordinators to enhance resource

information and starting to develop our FAC - all while continuing the quarterly

newsletter to keep families informed. We are planning to bring on a second full time

Family Resource Specialist to work with Alex – interviews have already been completed,

and we will know soon. Stay tuned to our next newsletter to meet our new FRS!

Essential to the Bay Area Early Steps Program are our Teams, comprised of Families, Bay

Area Early Steps Community Partners – the Providers who see our children every day,

our Administrative Staff and Service Coordinators, who help families navigate the system

of care and provide support to them during difficult times. We are working with our

teams to continue development of a culture of service and continuous improvement

through teaming and problem solving. Most of our Community Providers have been

with the Early Steps program for many years. They have stayed with us through thick

and thin, continuing to serve families despite many challenges and changes. Our Service

Coordination Unit is excellent and continues to work diligently to serve families and

children. We also have a great group of people working behind the scenes to help with

reporting to the State Office, and providing administrative help to the teams. I am pro-

foundly grateful to all of you and continue to look forward to working with you this

year.

During upcoming newsletters, I hope we can introduce our teams to everyone so that

we can get to know each other and all that we bring each day to make the lives of

children better. Together, we all have a special responsibility to think outside of the box

and re-envision what we do to best serve our families and their children. As we begin

the New Year, let’s resolve to use our minds and hearts to work together to solve

problems and care for others; let’s make this the BEST Early Steps Program ever!

Happy New Year to each of you; and May everyone be blessed.

P A G E 4

Meet Your Service Coordinators In Hillsborough and Polk counties, we have a dynamic group of

individuals that assist your family with facilitating and coordinating your

child’s services during his or her time in Early Steps. Each child will be

assigned a service coordinator and this person will be knowledgeable

about your child’s strengths and developments. Your service

coordinator will encourage, enable and inspire your family to make

informed decisions about services, resources and opportunities for your

child. Your service coordinator will guide you in how to communicate

the needs of your child and family to the professionals.

“Tell me and I

forget. Show me

and I remember.

Involve me and I

understand.”

- Chinese proverb

Share Your Story

We would love to hear from you!

Do you have a special memory with your child and their

Early Steps Service Coordinator or Service Provider? Was

there an exciting moment in your child’s development that

you would like to share? Contact me at: 813-974-0674 or

ademolin@health.usf.edu and we will share your story in

our next newsletter. Feel free to send pictures too!

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Upcoming Events

Save the date: Saturday April 5th 10:00am-12:00pm

“Managing Behavior” – Dr. Emily Shaffer,

Assistant Clinical Director &

“A New Star” A Family’s Guide to Navigating Early Intervention-

Alex DeMolina, FRS

Location to be announced shortly

The Annual Family Café has brought Floridians with all types

of disabilities together for three days of information, training

and networking opportunities every year. This free

conference offers 3 Keynote Speakers, over 16o breakout

sessions, and an Exhibit Hall packed with vendors. The Family

Café offers families access to policy-making officials,

opportunities to network with other families and public and

private resources.

If your family is interested in attending The Family Café, please

contact Alex @ 813-974-0674 and Bay Area Early Steps could

possibly provide financial assistance through our Family

Involvement Funds

P A G E 6

Community Resources

Florida Diagnostic Learning

& Resource System

813-837-7777

Identifying

educational needs at

an early age

P A G E 7 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Come Join USF Bay Area

Early Steps– Walking for our

Baby Bulls on Saturday

March 22nd, 2014

Walk begins at 10:00am

Hosted by the Tampa Gem Sertoma

Club and the University of South

Florida, College of Behavioral &

Community Sciences

For details contact Alex

@ 813-974-0674

Community Resources

Both events being held on the University of South Florida Tampa Campus

4202 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL 33620

Early Steps Mission Early Steps is Florida's early intervention system that offers services to eligible infants and toddlers (birth

to thirty-six months) with significant delays or a condition likely to result in a developmental delay. Early

Intervention is provided to support families and caregivers in developing the competence and confidence

to help their child learn and develop.

Brings services into the child's life rather than fitting the child into services.

Maximizes each child's everyday natural learning opportunities.

Enhances each child's development and participation in community life.

Provides each child with a consistent team for evaluation and services.

Gives families options in service decisions and encourages active partnerships.

Provides a primary service provider to work with your family, other caregivers, and the team.

USF Bay Area Early Steps

Program

Division of General Pediatrics

Family Resource Specialist

13101 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

Tampa, FL 33612

For more information call toll free: 1-866-549-1740 or contact www.centraldirectory.org

Sponsored by the State of Florida, Department of Health