Press Release |
Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans today announced that the Loyola Children’s Center located in the Fourth Municipal District courthouse in west suburban Maywood will provide free medical screenings on the premises every Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. beginning April 30, 2003.
Loyola University Medical Center will assign health care staff to a permanent medical services room inside the Maywood courthouse’s Children’s Center. Previously, Loyola’s mobile medical unit visited that courthouse on Fridays. The new medical services room will make the onsite experience feel more like a house call to parents and children. Also, the new day of service will be more convenient for parents having business before the court.
Chief Judge Evans said, "The same staff and services that were provided in the mobile medical unit will now be available inside the courthouse, bringing services closer to children attending the facility. The new onsite medical services room also will have a positive effect on the interaction between Loyola staff and Children’s Center personnel in assessing the children’s medical needs. As a result of this change, Loyola hopes to increase the number of children receiving medical services."
He continued, "The court is indeed grateful to Loyola for the marvelous work it performs at the Children’s Center at Maywood. This program is an important part of Loyola’s mission of service to others, which is at the core of all its activities."
The medical services are available to children from newborn to twelve years of age, and are completely free and voluntary. To date, the mobile medical unit has cared for 485 children, and provided 907 individual medical services including physical exams, immunizations, dental hygiene sessions, vision evaluations, and various screening tests. Through these activities, staff have identified partially deaf and blind children and assisted in getting them appropriate care. Loyola staff also were able to identify several life-threatening conditions which might have gone undetected.
The Loyola Children’s Center is one of eight Children’s Advocacy Rooms operating throughout Circuit Court of Cook County facilities. The rooms are safe and welcoming places staffed full-time by childcare professionals for use by children of persons having business in the courthouses. The Loyola Center became the first court-based program in the nation to offer medical and childlife programs for children and families attending court when it opened in May 2002.
The center also offers a curriculum that includes targeted learning techniques, a computer laboratory, art education, reading improvement, and other life skills. The center is jointly staffed by pediatric social work specialists and a childlife specialist from Loyola along with court personnel. The program and staff models were developed with experts from Loyola in collaboration with their counterparts in the court’s Children’s Advocacy Rooms.
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