Medical/Health and Wellness Resources
Family Voices “My Language, My Care” Language Access Rights and Services Course
Family Voices’ “My Language, My Care” is a free online, plain language course to help increase awareness, understanding and use of language access rights and services for families whose preferred language is not English. The course is available in English, Spanish, Chinese and American Sign Language.
Family Voices’ My Language, My Care course will provide:
- An understanding of their rights under the law
- Information about interpreter confidentiality
- Tools to advocate for high-quality language access services in the healthcare setting
- A certificate of completion after finishing all six modules of the training course
- Access to a free toolkit with information from the course in English, Spanish and Chinese
For questions, contact Family Voices at (781) 674-7224 or use the online Contact Us form.
Family Voices Telehealth Toolkit, Tips and New Telemedicine Family Resource Center
Family-centered telehealth can help children and youth with special healthcare needs and families access health care, improve their experience with health care, reduce stress, improve communication between all team members and across systems, and improve quality of life and well-being. Family Voices features extensive resources to help families and individuals with disabilities better understand, access, prepare for and navigate telehealth appointments.
These resources are in Spanish and English.
“Before, During, and After” is a two-part toolkit providing a checklist and worksheet to help prepare for telehealth visits, note questions or key information during a visit, and provide guidance and clear follow-up steps for each appointment.
Fathering a Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Child: An Onboarding Checklist for Dads
The Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Parent to Parent Committee developed a checklist written by fathers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) for dads or anyone who feels they fulfill this role in a child’s life.
“Fathering a Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Child: An Onboarding Checklist for Dads” provides information and action steps to support and encourage fathers to take an active role in every aspect of their child’s life from the start. The guide shares information from a dad’s perspective on topics including:
- The ” new dad” learning curve
- Language and communication
- School and legal rights
- Well-being
FDA Information: At-Home COVID-19 Diagnostic Tests
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) provides general information about at-home over the counter (OTC) COVID-19 diagnostic tests. Individuals can use these FDA-authorized tests at home to self-test for COVID.
This site also provides information about:
- Who can use the FDA-authorized tests
- Test expiration dates
- Other details to decide what test is right for you
This FDA-Approved Drugs alphabetical listing covers the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug approvals. You can search by drug name, active ingredient or application number.
Feeding Tube Information from Lurie Children’s Hospital
Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago provides this video on “The Basics of Caring for a Child With Feeding Tubes.” Lurie also provides the parent guide, “Supporting Nutrition: Understanding Tube Feeding.” The reference guide includes personal stories and information on:
- Administering feedings through the feeding tube
- Changing the dressings and cleaning around the tube
- Problems that may occur with the gastrostomy tube or the insertion site
Lurie’s website also offers tube-feeding resources for children and adults with cystic fibrosis and an overview of the types of feeding tubes for children.
Please note this information is not a substitute for the medical care and advice of your physician. There may be individual circumstances in your child’s healthcare that cause a variation in treatment.
Together, Fifth Street Renaissance/Springfield AIDS Resource Association (SARA Center) in Springfield assists individuals and families in difficult situations in reclaiming their self-sufficiency and well-being. It provides resources, transitional housing, opportunities to develop job skills and education, and help in securing employment. The organization also helps individuals diagnosed with HIV/AIDS find affordable housing, medical assistance and counseling.
Fifth Street Renaissance/SARA Center programs include:
- Homeless prevention – provides rental, utility and support services to prevent homelessness
- Housing programs – provide safe housing to help individuals and families achieve stability and independence
- Youth service program – supports vulnerable youth as they transition from foster care to independence
For more information, call (217) 544-5040 or email info@fsr-sara.org.
The American Medical Association (AMA)’s Find a Doctor allows people to search a database of practicing physicians across the United States. Users can enter a physician’s name (first, last, or both) and city/state name or ZIP code to find general information about individual physicians in 650 metropolitan regions across all fifty states.
Over 500,000 physicians, AMA members and non-members alike, from both allopathic (M.D.) and osteopathic (D.O.) degree tracks are represented in the Find a Doctor platform.
Find a Helpline is a resource to help individuals find free, confidential emotional support over the phone, text or webchat.
The HealthyChildren.org website provides a tool to search for an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) member pediatrician, pediatric sub-specialist or pediatric surgical specialist. Click on the “Find a Pediatrician or Pediatric Specialist Tool” to start looking.
To use this tool and others, visit HealthyChildren.org’s registration page to create an account.