Goldsboro Pediatrics plans to use grant to improve health of Latino children
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 28, 2005 1:49 PM
Goldsboro Pediatrics plans to use a $10,000 grant to improve the health of Latino children.
The money has come in the form of a "Community Access to Child Health" grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics. It will be used to establish Wayne County Coalition on Latino Child Health.
Dr. Dave Tayloe of Goldsboro Pediatrics said the group will focus on child abuse and neglect, oral health, unplanned pregnancy, driving while impaired, and the rate of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in the Latino population.
Five work groups will be organized, he said. They will meet twice a month for six months to develop plans to provide information and access to services for Latino families.
"We will be looking outside Goldsboro Pediatrics for people in the community who have an interest in the Latino population and some expertise with some of these problems," Tayloe said.
He said the areas chosen are important because of problems already being seen. Babies in the Latino culture often sleep with bottles, he said, which parlays into dental problems later that affect school attendance. The group will also explore the cost to society when a child develops Type 2 diabetes as a teenager, and the affects on one's self-esteem and overall potential because of obesity.
Tayloe said the problem of adolescent pregnancy is of particular concern.
"This one we're trying to take a really good look at in our Latino population because over 20 percent of our deliveries are Latino," he said.
"The cost of taking a child in poverty, to raise from birth to kindergarten, is $160,000."
Tayloe said he hopes anyone interested in being a part of the committee will step forward and agree to participate in the ongoing discussion.
For more information about the coalition or meeting times, contact Nola Claiborne or Tayloe at Goldsboro Pediatrics, 736-4736.