The Catch One program is primed for expansion under the leadership of NP Mandy Mendez and the HSC Pediatric Mobile Clinic.
The program currently partners with Morningside Elementary to provide full health screenings, including dental and vision, to students with their parents’ permission.
This collaborative event is coordinated by the PMC with assistance from the TCU School of Nursing, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine Students, TCU Audiology, and Texas Wesleyan Dental Hygienist.
“The whole purpose is just to catch one thing and save one child’s life,” mobile unit nurse Connie Smith said. “It could be as simple as a cavity or maybe it’s a kid that is too young for scoliosis screening, but we checked it out and caught it. It could be that English is the second language for a child, but they also have a tongue tie no one has addressed.”
Although graduate and medical students are being utilized in this inter-disciplinary approach, Mendez sees opportunities to expand care and learning with the PMC.
“We have the ability to use nurse practitioner students and PA students, and while we work with TCU nursing students, we could expand that to even more community partners,” she said. “It’s really cool how all the disciplines can come together and give these kids a really thorough head to toe screening.”
After their checkups, the student’s health information is sent to the school nurse who can connect them with further resources, and sometimes refers them back to the Peds Mobile Clinic.
“It’s a big coordination effort to put all those dates together and make sure all of those kids are taken care of, but it’s such a great program for kids who may not even know where to start for resources,” Mendez said. “A lot of time, those kids fly under the radar and no one thinks anything about it.”
Mendez is passionate about the Catch One program because it allows a straight forward path to solutions for kids.
“We shouldn’t penalize kids for big adult decisions, like policy decisions,” Mendez said. “I always wanted to work in a place that made it easier for those kids to be taken care of in whatever way that looked like. And the mobile clinic really, really fit that. My heart is definitely with the kids that don’t have anywhere else to go.”