Paving the Way for 2021!
First 1,000 Days Sarasota is starting the year off with some incredible new accomplishments and robust plans for the future. As always we want to thank our community partners for their continued efforts helping families and moving the needle in improving the system of care. Each year we have collectively worked towards significant improvements. With the launch of our parent portal website and Unite Us, the incorporation of art to promote positive parenting behaviors, and the on-going critical feedback from parents in the community, we believe this may be the best year yet!
Partner Spotlight: All Faith’s Food Bank
As a key leader in the community and an organization that is always looking for innovative ways to serve families, All Faith’s Food Bank has stepped up to take on a larger role in the initiative. Beginning in February, All Faith’s will begin responding to the initiative’s assistance request forms through the parent portal website. Understanding the value of meeting families where they are at and connecting them with key services in the community is a major reason why they volunteered to take on this role. Using Unite Us they will connect families with medical, mental, and social services across the county.
““It is our pleasure to step up in this partnership and take on the care coordination role for the First 1000 Days Sarasota program. One of our strategic priorities is to strengthen our collaborations with healthcare providers to address food insecurity needs in our community. It takes healthy food to support proper growth and development; providing Unite Us referral assistance allows All Faiths Food Bank to contribute local support to our partners with the goal of improving the overall health and well-being of our community.” ”
“Art is as natural as sunshine and as vital as nourishment”- MaryAnn Kohl
Three local artists were selected to create artwork throughout the Sarasota community. The art will celebrate families and spread awareness about the First 1,000 Days Sarasota. The three pieces have each taken on an exciting unique spin of their own.
Swing Out Into the World
by Laura Pommier
The artwork, beautifully displaying a young child swinging, is a historic moment for the city of North Port. It is their first ever mural! The effort has been sponsored by Gulf Coast Community Foundation and the city of North Port, with donation of supplies and services from The Gulf Coast Builders Exchange, PPG, Hoover Pressure Cleaning. A community celebration is being planned to dedicate the mural once complete.
Making Roots
by Traci Kegerreis
This incredible piece which incorporates nature and symbolizes a parent’s love, will be featured in the Sarasota County Libraries. Banners of the art will be rotated between various library locations throughout the county and will include a series of public early childhood educational programs.
Bubbles
by Truman Adams
Truman’s mural depicts a child enjoying the wonderment of bubbles. The artwork can be seen from Tuttle Avenue on the front wall of Forty Carrots Family Center. As some of the initial stakeholders in the initiative and with their CEO Michelle Kapreilian as our Steering Committee’s char, their organization has been instrumental to the First 1,000 Days Sarasota.
Moving from a Maze of Resources to a Coordinated System of Care
To improve the coordination of services and increase access to care for families in the community, First 1,000 Days Sarasota purchased Unite Us in August 2021 Using a “no wrong door” approach, this system provides a safety net for families and ensure they are connected with the resources they need to help their children thrive. Since our launch over 1,000 referrals have been sent to social, medical, and mental health services in the community.
Want to learn more? Click here to register for one of the virtual Unite Florida Strategy Sessions.
See some testimonials from community professionals below:
“I am truly proud of the work being done in our Women & Children’s Services. The Unite Us electronic referral platform has allowed us to more comprehensively address the physical, social and behavioral health needs of families in the hospital as well as those families we serve prenatally in our OB Emergency Care Center and those we follow up with after discharge from the hospital. The nurses who are reaching out to families after discharge are providing a critical connection to help in a time that can be frightening and isolating. The isolation has been particularly magnified by the pandemic. Nurses have the key skill set to address the physical, social and behavioral health needs of families. To date SMH has sent 737 referrals on the platform.
When we contracted with Unite Us, we not only purchased an electronic platform, we gained a partner. With this new partner, we are more fully able to live out our mission to provide services that excel in caring, quality and innovation.” - Mary O’Connor, Manager of Community Outreach
Women & Children’s Division,
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
“As a community women’s health and education center, partnering with 1st 1000 Days and Unite Us allow Sarasota Medical Pregnancy Center to serve pregnant women, their children, and their families and build a stronger community.”- Linda Wenck, Nurse Manager/COO, Sarasota Medical Pregnancy Center
“Last Friday, I worked with a client with pressing medical needs who had lost her job and health insurance because of COVID. She wasn’t asking for much from us but I could sense that she felt defeated and was desperate for assistance. I entered her into Unite Us and referred her to a women’s health clinic. I just got a note from the platform that the clinic had contacted her and are helping her get emergency Medicaid, financial planning assistance and parenting support. It brought me to tears to read that. This client has been weighing on my heart all week. We also successfully referred another client for financial assistance to a nonprofit dedicated to addressing health disparities, that I didn’t even know existed. Feeling hopeful.” - Donna Love, Early Literacy Outreach and Partners Coordinator for Sarasota County Libraries, volunteer Mothers Helping Mothers
"The Unite Us platform has given Resilient Retreat the resources to more easily refer our participants for services that we do not offer. This has made a huge difference for our participants in accessing the services they need. Many times, when participants are experiencing high levels of distress, they do not have the capacity to locate and reach out to the supports they need own their own. I have had many participants show immense gratitude for helping them to connect to supports through the Unite Us platform.“- Dr. Sidney Turner, Founder and Board Chair of Resilient Retreat
“Thank you for bringing Unite Us to Sarasota. Reducing barriers to accessing care is a top priority for addressing substance use disorders. The Unite Us platform delivers by allowing for coordination of service referrals to boost protective capacities and much more. I especially like the text feature, as this makes it easier to communicate and to send notifications, and getting signed consents this way. Unite Us is also a time saver, as I no longer have to fax or spend long wait times to refer or get status updates." - Anne Gaines, Substance Use Specialist, Healthy Start