SALT LAKE CITY — The Regence Foundation announced today that it has awarded a $20,000 grant to Salt Lake Community Action Program Head Start to expand the health screenings it offers to low income children and purchase new equipment to make its health screening program more cost-efficient. The grant is part of The Regence Foundation’s annual employee-nominated grant competition.

"Every year we encourage Regence employees to nominate organizations that are doing transformative work in the health field," said Jennifer Cannaday, Regence Foundation board member. "The Foundation selected this grant because it will help the Head Start program be more cost-efficient while at the same time performing more screenings which can help identify health problems early."

In partnership with community health volunteers, Head Start offers six health screening clinics annually. Children who attend the clinics are screened for any issues relating to height, weight, dental, hearing, vision, speech, mental health, blood pressure, and hematocrit and hemoglobin levels. In 2010, the Salt Lake Community Action Program Head Start screened 1,351 children.

The $20,000 grant will be used to help health clinic events become more self-sufficient – through the purchase of additional equipment. The new equipment will enable the health care volunteers to conduct more screenings and testing on-site, instead of sending them out to a lab, which is more costly. The grant will also help Head Start purchase other basic items such as blood pressure cuffs, tongue depressors, and gloves.

Head Start was nominated by Mary Jo Lindula, who works in Regence Membership in Salt Lake: "This is an opportunity for pre-school age children to have free health screenings, which will help ensure that they get the care they need to be better prepared for school."

Head Start, operating in the Salt Lake area since 1965, operates 81 classrooms, educates and feeds more than 2,200 children, and works with more than 6,000 family members annually. Learn more about Salt Lake Community Action Program Head Start.