Education and health care work in a symbiotic relationship.
Whether it’s drawing, sculpture, painting or any other medium, six-year-old Angelica’s favorite subject in school is art. It’s a passion her mom, Araceli Luis, says began when Angelica was a toddler doing arts enrichment with her Early Head Start home visitor, Lucy Montes-Lucero.
“She would bring paints and watercolor,” Luis said of Montes-Lucero’s visits. “I think that’s where Angelica got her love of art in school.”
Laying a foundation for success
Angelica was born in 2020 with hearing loss due to a structural difference in her right ear that was identified at birth. Angelica’s pediatrician, Cambria Garell, MD, said the family needed specialists to assess the hearing loss. Getting tests and appointments for a newborn would have been a difficult situation at any time, but trying to get specialist appointments when medical institutions were already overwhelmed and more restricted by red tape than usual was a frustrating challenge during the height of a global pandemic.
“With hearing loss, figuring out the cause and treating it as early as possible is critical,” Garell said. “But this family had so many difficulties navigating the system during the pandemic and getting the care they needed.”
During one appointment with Angelica, Garell and a UCLA pediatric resident worked the phones, finally landing an appointment time with a specialist. They raced down the stairs and into the parking lot to catch Angelica’s family so they could leave with the follow-up appointment information in hand.
Angelica didn’t have a high enough degree of hearing loss to be eligible for a hearing aid. So the care plan shifted to promoting cognitive and motor development. That’s when Garell referred her to Venice Family Clinic’s Early Head Start program.
“If a child has hearing loss, they’re not getting important neural inputs, so it can predispose them to all sorts of developmental delays,” Garell said. “It’s important to buffer against that. So being very developmentally focused and providing enrichment as early as possible pays dividends in the end.”
Montes-Lucero began seeing Angelica regularly. She would bring over Play-Doh and scissors to do arts and crafts. The creative enrichment was only part of the benefit: it taught Angelica fine motor skills and promoted age-appropriate development through play.
Montes-Lucero also taught Luis and husband Alexander Villanueva about the milestones they should be watching out for and how to support Angelica as she grew. She encouraged them to engage Angelica in conversation to promote language development and inquisitiveness. Luis began practicing reading with Angelica, something she still does now that Angelica is in elementary school. She feels that the development encouraged in Early Head Start laid the foundation for Angelica’s current success in school.
“She gave us good advice,” mom Luis says of Montes-Lucero. “Angelica is doing well in school. She likes to be hands-on, and she likes to ask questions.”
Support for the whole family
Angelica wasn’t the only one who got support from Early Head Start. Montes-Lucero also supported Angelica’s parents by regularly sharing information about community events and learning opportunities.
One included a career development opportunity for cooks – perfect for Villanueva, who was working as a cook. He enrolled in the program and upon graduation, he got a more prestigious job as one of the first cooks at the new Clippers stadium. Today, he works as a cook for the Dodgers.
“Now, because of Lucy, my husband has a job that he really enjoys working for the teams that he loves,” Luis said.
Education and health care: a symbiotic relationship
Luis herself has been a Venice Family Clinic patient since she was a child. She still gets her care at the Clinic and brings both Angelica and seven-year-old daughter Alexandra to the Simms/Mann Health and Wellness Center for pediatric care, too.
At a recent well-child visit, Luis told Garell that Alexandra had been having trouble focusing in class. Garell is now helping Alexandra get assessed to see if she may qualify for an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). This would allow for Alexandra to get extra time, assistance, or whatever she needs to succeed in school based on her diagnosis. The process will continue this fall as she returns to school – and Venice Family Clinic will be there to help see it through.
“I want them to be happy healthy adults, and data about the intersection between education and health shows that higher educational attainment translates to better health,” explains Garell. “So as a pediatrician, supporting my patients’ education is important for both their lives, and their long-term health.”
In contrast to her sister Angelica’s passion for art, Alexandra’s favorite subject is science – she’s fascinated by bugs, and also generally loves being outside and active. With a solid foundation from Early Head Start, the help of consistent pediatric care and advocacy from their parents, both the active scientist and the inquisitive artist in the Luis-Villanueva family are going back to school with everything they need to thrive.
“I’m there as the family’s partner to help support them to be the best they can be,” Garell said. “These are bright kids with loving parents, and they’re going to do great.”