RVNAhealth was recently invited, along with Anne Mead, Director of Family, School and Community Partnerships at Danbury Public Schools, to present to a statewide panel of educators at the Connecticut Department of Education’s “Tuesday Talks” series.  Our collaboration was recognized as a statewide model for its ability to remove barriers for families to receiving well-child services upon registering their child to school.

What is the RVNAhealth/Danbury Public Schools Collaboration? Danbury Public Schools continue to see a growth in student registration.  The current healthcare system, especially for uninsured students, cannot support the related increased need for required school physicals and immunizations.  This imbalance can result in delayed school starts for kids of up to five weeks or more after registering.

To help address this growing issue, RVNAhealth is working with the Danbury Public Schools to host on-site well-child clinics at a Danbury school.  As children register for school, they are immediately scheduled for their physical and immunizations at RVNAhealth’s next well-child clinic.

At each of our 2-day clinics, bilingual clinicians provide children with full physicals, exams for vision and hearing, tuberculosis screenings, height and weight assessments, and more.  We also schedule kids for follow-up appointments at future clinics so they can complete their vaccination series.  An RVNAhealth social worker is also available to help enroll children in HUSKY, the state’s health care system.  At the end of appointments, we provide families with resource guides, and full bags of food, toiletries, and other personal care items to take home.

As we look to the future and evolve our well-child offerings, our plans include linking children to an established local physician’s office for future needs, providing more mental health support, and coordinating with other local agencies to connect families to community resources. These programs are made possible through grants and the generosity of our donors.  RVNAhealth is proud of our collaboration with the Danbury Public Schools, and we thank our staff, community partners, and donors for supporting this impactful program to benefit many children and families in the community.

Across the United States, food insecurity for families with school-aged children is a common reality – and Fairfield County is no exception. Thanks, in large part, to Community Food Rescue of Danbury, families attending our RVNAhealth well-child clinics in Danbury are receiving large grocery bags (about 10-15 lbs.) of food to bring home.

Since June of 2021, RVNAhealth has distributed over 600 bags of food to families in need at pop-up COVID vaccination clinics and well-child clinics. Over 400 of these bags were donated by a dedicated community partner: Community Food Rescue of Danbury.  These bags include enough items for at least three complete meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.  When available, they also include fresh produce and dairy from local farms and grocery stores.  In fact, during one of RVNAhealth’s Danbury vaccination clinics last summer, a volunteer from Community Food Rescue picked up fresh produce from a local Connecticut farm and drove straight to our site for families to take whatever they needed from a packed 20-foot truck!

Community Food Rescue is run by manager, Linda Hutchings, who started the organization September of 2020. With the help of a generous donor and a group of committed individuals, Community Food Rescue is determined to help end food insecurity in the Greater Danbury area.  Linda has vast experience with food-insecure populations, having organized a soup kitchen in Bridgeport for over 15 years.  “Feeding people is something I have always enjoyed doing,” says Linda.

At RVNAhealth, we are immensely grateful to Linda and everyone at Community Food Rescue for sharing our passion of caring for those in need.  “Linda’s commitment to helping families is unwavering.  Whenever we call her with a need, she always finds a way.  Her joy and excitement about her mission are genuine and it is a true privilege to work with her,” says Stephanie Collins, Program Manager for Community Health and Wellness at RVNAhealth.

If you are interested in supporting RVNAhealth’s partnership with the Community Food Rescue, please contact Stephanie Collins at scollins@rvnahealth.org, or to donate to RVNAhealth’s community health and wellness initiatives, click here.

Community Food Rescue is located at 78 Triangle St. in Danbury and is open to the public on Thursdays with Spanish-speaking staff to assist those in need of translating.  For more information, contact: 203.733.8848 or email communityfoodrescue@gmail.com.