CADIZ – OhioRISE took the opportunity to introduce Harrison County’s youngsters and their families to a range of service to get them off to the best start in life during the March 5 literacy fair at Harrison Central Elementary.
Care coordinator Vicky Filtz said this was OhioRISE’s third time attending. She saw many new faces as families asked about the program and eligibility for services.
“Things are going really good,” she said. “We’re creating a lot of partnerships and looking to find more resources to bring to the area as we grow the number of members that we serve out of Harrison County.”
Jefferson County Educational Service Center (JCESC) OhioRISE is a Medicaid managed care program for children and youth with complex behavioral health and multisystem needs in Harrison, Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Jefferson, Monroe, Stark and Tuscarawas Counties and operated by the Jefferson County Educational Service Center. OhioRISE was formed to coordinate resources and put families in touch with what is available.
The heavy foot traffic during literacy night kept Filtz and other service providers busy. Filtz added OhioRISE had tools available to help young readers improve.
“We try to get the kiddos connected with anything that’s going to promote their social and emotional growth, as well as their day-to-day activities of living. If there are resources like tutoring services or things like that they’re needing, those are definitely resources our care coordinators are familiar with in the area and can get our members and families connected with so they can excel, not just from a behavioral health or mental health perspective, but also in their education.”
Care coordinators often take a creative approach in Harrison County when they connect families with counseling services and respite services that offer short term care for a child to give the caregiver a break. The key is developing access points.
“It is a very rural community that we’re serving out here, so it’s looking to those neighboring counties that we also assist with services, and how we can partner and bring those resources into Harrison County, whether it’s physical in-person services or virtual services.”
OhioRISE has established a strong presence in the area.
“Harrison has welcomed our support with open arms, and they’ve always been a big advocate of the program. If they have families that are struggling with behavioral health needs and are looking for resources, they know to reach out to us.”
Elementary principal Stephanie McKinney said OhioRISE has proven itself. She often puts the program in touch with elementary schoolers.
“We have been working with OhioRISE for several years now, and it seems to get stronger each year with parent participation and coming to events like this, whether literacy night or back-to-school, they’re great supporters of all things Harrison Central students.”
McKinney said OhioRISE has effectively embraced a “wraparound” philosophy of coordinating with service providers when working on a child’s individual plan in order to ensure that all needs are met.
“They are wonderful coordinators, and they help our parents. They help our staff get those services the students might need.”
She added literacy night is the perfect event to expose students to services like OhioRISE. The event normally sees 300-400 students, or half to two-thirds the elementary student population.
Superintendent Duran Morgan thanked the community partners.
“It’s really encouraging to see the community come out and support the kids and the reading initiative. It’s been a lot of years we’ve had literacy night here, and really it kind of grows every year,” he said. “Just a plethora of service, collect them all together here and let kids and parents know what’s available in the community.”
OhioRISE has a network of partnerships in Harrison County with many present during literacy night.
Teresa Koniski, director of nursing with Harrison County Public Health, said their cases often overlap with OhioRISE and the program is resourceful.
“It’s very important in Harrison County. A lot of times parents and caregivers don’t know where to turn for help. So it’s wonderful they have a program like that, that’s going to make sure they’re able to get the services they need.”
Health Commissioner Katie Norris agreed.
“We appreciate OhioRISE and the partnership we have with them at the health department. They’re a great resource for our community,” she said. “We just appreciate all that they do and we love to see them at partner events like literacy night.”
Stacie Brown, Family and Children First Council administrator for Belmont and Harrison Counties, said OhioRISE is an invaluable participant of FCFC meetings.
“We partner together and they take care of some of the more intensive needs of some of the kids in our communities, and they come to us if they need extra support,” she said. “OhioRISE can do that longer term with more people, so it’s great to work with each other.”
One grandmother said she was very interested in OhioRISE’s resources and would be passing along information to the parents of her grandchildren.
Afterward, Filtz said many got their first introduction to OhioRISE.
“I had quite a few families who stopped by wanting to get a little bit more information and are planning to self-refer to the program so that we can screen and see if there is something we can provide for them in terms of services and supports for their children,” she said.
“The biggest question is what kind of support can we provide, and explaining to them that we have care coordinators ready and able to assist them with really digging down deep with them and finding out what services would be beneficial to them and how to get connected to those supports,” she said. “A lot of times there’s definitely a need that a family has, but they just don’t know what resources connect to it, and that’s what our care coordinators do a great job of on a daily basis, really drilling down and finding what does help look like for that family and getting them connected.”
To learn more about OhioRISE, call 740-792-4011, email ohiorise.info@jcesc.org or visit OhioRISE online at https://www.jcesc.k12.oh.us/CareManagementEntity.aspx.
