Pulse

Summer 2017

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torrancememorial.org PULSE | 21 To address the underlying causes of poverty, the organization began providing educational re- sources including ESL classes, pre-vocational pro- grams, parenting classes and stipends for clients attending school to purchase books, clothing and supplies. ey introduced the Healthy Bag pro- gram, which delivers grocery bags—stocked with healthy food designed to feed a family over the weekend—to more than 700 elementary school- children each Friday. From its humble beginning as a shelter hous- ing six women and their children, Community's Child has grown to an entity that last year served 2,157 families through its various programs. Torrance Memorial began partnering with the organization in 2014 by participating in a health fair and screening for families served by the organization. e medical center provided nurses, technicians and an entire lab, performing blood draws to screen for a range of conditions that oen correlate with poverty, such as anemia, diabetes and hypertension. Torrance Memorial also performed BMI measurements and provided educational resources, including a station featur- ing healthy menus and cooking demonstrations. Approximately 225 people were screened, and many health problems were detected. In fact, 27% of the children and 23% of the adults screened test- ed positive for anemia. When problems were iden- tified, Community's Child and the hospital were able to refer families to resources for follow-up. "Participating in one health fair may lead us to a relationship for many years to come," notes Cathy Hargrove, RN, MSN, Torrance Memori- al's health education manager. is has certainly been the case with Community's Child. Tor- rance Memorial has continued to provide health fair screenings each year and this year hosted the Community's Child health fair at the medical center itself. Asthma screenings were added to the screening services provided. Nierenhausen says the collaboration with her organization has generated major benefits be- yond the screenings. "Because Torrance Memo- rial came on board, a lot of other partners were motivated to do so as well. We now have addi- tional hospitals, a dental program, an optometrist and the nursing program from a local college. Torrance Memorial was the catalyst for bringing all these entities to rally around these families." • C O M M U N I T Y B E N E F I T Community's Child is located at 25520 Woodward Avenue in Lomita. For more information, please call 310-534-4040 or visit www.cchild.org.

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