Westchester Community Health Center is proud to participate in the HealthySteps Program. The HealthySteps Program aims to give all children a strong start in life. As part of the Program, a child development expert, the HealthySteps Specialist, works alongside your child’s primary care provider to help identify early and address any development challenges your child might be experiencing. HealthySteps Specialists also work with families to make sure that children have the resources they need to build the foundation for a lifetime of healthy development, learning, and growth.
A Development Specialist at each of your child’s visits
During your child’s well-visits, a HealthySteps Specialist will regularly evaluate your child’s physical, cognitive (how they think), language, and social-emotional development against developmental milestones established by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ latest Bright Future Guidelines. Our Specialist will also assess your child’s perceptual and motor skills and physical development.
The first three years of life are critical to your child’s development
The first three years of life are a time of wonder when your child discovers the world and learns how to interact with it. During these years, your child’s brain and body is rapidly growing. They develop skills to learn how to coordinate their bodies to reach for things and move where they want to go. They acquire skills to communicate their thoughts, emotions, and wishes.
Every child is unique and no two children will develop, grow and learn at exactly the same pace. Yet, children develop in predictable ways. These predictable ways are called milestones. The milestones build on each other in that a child must master one set of skills before they can move on to the next one.
Sometimes, a child might struggle with reaching a milestone. Your HealthySteps Specialist is trained to identify any challenges your child might be facing and recommend a course of action to you to help get them back on track with their important work of learning and growing.
HealthySteps supports your child’s growth and development
If needed, your HealthySteps Specialist can refer your child to WCHC medical specialists such as:
We are here to support parents and caregivers, too
Raising a small child can sometimes be quite challenging! Our HealthySteps Specialists are here to help you address any parenting questions or home environment issues you might have during and outside office hours. We regularly offer free parenting skills workshops where you can learn from medical and community experts and other parents and caregivers.
Reach Out! We are here to help!
WCHC Mount Vernon HealthySteps Specialist – Bryan Encarnacion, MBA, can be reached at (914) 968-4898, ext. 1315 or via email at bencarnacion@wchchealth.org
HealthySteps Specialist WCHC Yonkers – Bryan Encarnacion, MBA, can be reached at (914) 968-4898, ext. 3555 or via email at bencarnacion@wchchealth.org
HealthySteps Specialist WCHC Greenburgh – Nicole Adair, MA, can be reached at (914) 989-7600, ext. 2151 or via email at nadair@wchchealth.org
Director of Women’s Services – Angela Campbell, Ed.D., MPH, MS, can be reached at (914) 699-7200, ext. 1610, or via email at acampbell@wchchealth.org
Network Pediatrics Director – Sumathi Kasinathan, MD, can be reached at (914) 989-8624, ext 2314, or via email at skasinathan@wchchealth.org
