“When children are healthy, then our young learners will be able to see and hear, and the learning experience will be much easier for all involved parts: child, parents, and teachers.”
Laure Brown shares her passion for tracking children’s health
“I’m thrilled with both AVANCE and Head Start! AVANCE is a good organization, and I get to do what I like doing: tracking children’s health,” said Laure Brown, LVN, who joined AVANCE-Houston in May of 2000.
Mrs. Brown, as she is known at AVANCE-Houston, has more than 30 years of experience as a nurse. It is easy to find her walking the hallways during the day in any of AVANCE’s 18 locations across greater Houston.
“Currently, I don’t have much direct contact with parents as a staff nurse does, but when I do, I do my best to educate parents about why they need to take care of their child’s health,” the health specialist explains.
“I took advantage of the opportunity to become a Licensed Vocational Nurse, a program offered by the John Sealy Nursing School in Mauritz Memorial Hospital in my town.”
Upon completing the certification, Mrs. Brown worked as a nurse, primarily caring for the elderly for 15 years, until she learned about Head Start.
“Tracking children’s health became my passion since the first day I started in this field,” Brown says. “Ensuring that children are current with their immunizations, physical, dental and preventive care is critical.”
“As Head Start nurses, it’s our responsibility to educate parents on the importance of keeping their children’s health up-to-date.”
AVANCE’s Head Start program has federal performance standards that emphasize the best practices to ensure that children are kept current with the Texas Head Start Periodicity Schedule of age-appropriate preventive and primary health care, including medical, dental, and mental health.
In the near future, Mrs. Brown’s plans include enjoying her family more – two sons and grandchildren – and, at some point, becoming a health consultant.
“These practices are one of the many great things about this program because if children are healthy, then our young learners will be able to see and hear, and the learning experience will be much easier for all involved parts: child, parents, and teachers and that’s what Head Start is all about – it’s getting them ready for public school and excel in the upcoming years,” she noted.
As part of AVANCE-Houston Head Start’s comprehensive services, every Head Start and Early Head Start center provides services to promote health, behavioral health, and safety for children and families.
This website is supported by the Grant Numbers Early Head Start/Head Start 06CH011541, 06HP000564, 06HP000534, FRAMEWorks: 90ZB0030 and Ready for Life: 90ZD0003 from the Office of Head Start within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of AVANCE-Houston, Inc. and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Head Start.