Dear Communities and Partners,

What a long, cold winter we’ve had this year! Our team is grateful to have spring and summer on the horizon. 

Over the last few months, we have continued participating in the Family Voices Title V Community of Practice (CoP). This CoP affords us the opportunity to learn from other MCH programs’ community and family engagement efforts, as well as receive coaching support. We worked with the Wyoming Family Voices affiliate and a network of Family Leaders to participate in our first assessment. The results are helping us identify opportunities for improvement. One of our next steps will be to work with Family Leaders to develop a policy statement that details our commitment and approach to engagement efforts. We are excited for the next step and look forward to sharing the policy statement when complete. If you are interested in participating in this effort and want to learn more, please reach out to me. 

I’ll close my remarks by saying, “Thank You!” We are thankful for your ongoing dedication and advocacy to community and family health in Wyoming!

You can always reach me at feliciana.turner@wyo.gov. 

Feliciana Turner

Maternal and Child Health Unit Manager

Title V Director

MCH Quarterly Highlight

Public Input on Title V 

As we prepare for the annual Title V block grant report and application due this summer, we are reflecting on our recent work and planning our work for the next year. We would love your input and expertise, and we would also greatly appreciate you spreading the word to other partners and members of the public regarding the two opportunities below:

Public Webinar, April 13, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Mountain Time

We will be presenting on our recent and planned work and our preparation for our annual Title V Block Grant report and application. We would love to share our work with you and get your feedback! During the webinar, we will also discuss additional opportunities for consumers and stakeholders to share input with us outside of the meeting. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at mchinfo@wyo.gov.

The webinar will be held via Google Meet: 

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/tfy-kkzv-oxy

Or dial: ‪(US) +1 567-302-1980‬ PIN: ‪924 584 450‬#

More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/tfy-kkzv-oxy?pin=7306660957726

Please share with other partners and members of the public, and we hope to see you there!

Public Input Survey, open April 13 - May 5, 2023

This public input survey will focus on recent and planned work, seeking input and ideas related to those efforts. We are offering a $10 gift card (while supplies last) to Wyoming residents who complete the survey and are not public employees. To take the survey, please visit: https://forms.gle/wzQ6jzBgHmdcLVMJ7 starting April 13th! 

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey and share this opportunity with others!

Medicaid Unwind

Wyoming Medicaid has initiated its process to review client eligibility. Medicaid enrollees can update their contact information online at www.wesystem.wyo.gov or by calling 1-855-294-2127. Renewal notices will be sent to current enrollees each month for the next year. Not all clients will receive their renewal notices at the same time. 

Common reasons clients may lose coverage include

• reaching adulthood so they are no longer eligible for coverage as a child,
• an increase in personal or family income,
• a health status change, or
• moving to another state. 

It’s expected many people found to be ineligible for continued Medicaid coverage will qualify for highly subsidized insurance coverage through the federal exchange. Some children may also be moved from Wyoming Medicaid to the WDH Kid Care CHIP program, which has different income guidelines.

Our unit is working with Medicaid, Enroll Wyoming, and other partners to share information about this process with communities and families. 

We encourage local efforts to support families with updating their information. For example, community organizations such as schools and libraries may be able to open their computer labs for families with limited Internet access to update their contact information.

More information about Wyoming Medicaid can be found online at https://health.wyo.gov/healthcarefin/medicaid/.

Legislative Updates

There were several bills that passed in the 2023 session that will benefit families. A few we’d like to highlight include:

• HB4 “Medicaid twelve month postpartum coverage” extends Medicaid coverage from 60 days postpartum to 12 months postpartum. Medicaid covers about one-third of births each year in Wyoming. This extended coverage can reduce pregnancy-related deaths and severe maternal morbidity and improve continuity of care.
• HB65 “988 suicide prevention” codifies the operations of the 24/7 suicide prevention lifeline.
• HB108 “Sale of THC vaping devices and edibles to minors-prohibited” prohibits the sale of edible and vaping products containing THC to anyone under 18 years old.
• SF79 “Plans of Safe Care (PoSC) for newborns” directs healthcare providers and hospitals to be involved in developing PoSC for families with infants affected by substance use. The PoSC is expected to support referrals to treatment and other necessary support for the family. 
• SF94 “State Indian Child Welfare Act” codifies the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) into state law, providing protections for American Indian children and families, honors Tribal Sovereignty and jurisdiction over child welfare and custody proceedings, and preserves children's connection to their culture and traditions.
• The approved supplemental budget includes a Medicaid dental reimbursements rate increase. This increase is expected to improve access to dental care for Medicaid patients. Over half of Medicaid patients are children.
• ARPA funding was approved to expand and support Family Resource Centers in Wyoming.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month

The Wyoming Children’s Trust Fund has developed a prevention awareness toolkit. The toolkit includes webinar information related to ACES, protective factors, safe sleep, and more. You can also find other resources and activities in the toolkit. It is available in English and Spanish.

NEW! Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Online Training for Faith, Spiritual, and Religious Communities

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) come in many forms and can have long-term impacts on health and well-being into adulthood. Please share this new free online training designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help faith, spiritual, and religious leaders, staff members, volunteers, and others who serve children and families understand their role in preventing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). They will learn: 

• What ACEs are and how they impact lifelong health, opportunity, and wellbeing
• How to identify ACE risk factors and promote protective factors
• How faith, spiritual, and religious communities can prevent ACEs or lessen their effects

Parent Information Center Annual Conference April 28- 29th

The Wyoming Parent Information Center (WPIC) is hosting its annual conference later this month in Casper. This conference is for parents and educators alike. The registration cost is $40 and includes breakfast and lunch. To learn more, visit https://www.wpic.org/connection or go to their event page to register.

Parent/Caregiver Survey Opportunity

Family Voices National is creating resources about vaccines for families of children with special health care needs and disabilities. Your opinions and ideas about vaccines will ensure that the resources we make are helpful to all families. To participate in the survey, please visit: 

• English version: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ParentsofCYSHCN 
• Spanish version: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PadresyCuidadores

Wyoming Kids First Training and Resources

The https://wyomingkidsfirst.thinkific.com/ is live and hosts trainings centered on the Protective Factors Framework, social-emotional learning, self-awareness/self-care for early childhood educators and families. 

There are also new resources on the Resources page of WY Kids First website that are free to download.

In April, the first batch of women who recently gave birth in Wyoming were sampled to be surveyed with the new Phase 9 of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). Every 4-6 years, the PRAMS survey is updated with new national questions (referred to as "core" questions), as well as some state-specific questions. The survey was last updated in 2016 to Phase 8. The women selected in April, also represent the start of the 2023 births. You can learn more about PRAMS on our website. 

MCH Epidemiology published the Adolescent Motor Vehicle Mortality Data Brief to the Youth and Young Adult Data Briefs webpage on the MCH Epi website. This is the final data brief to be published for the Title V 2021-2025 Priorities. All the other data briefs can be found on MCH EPI Wyoming MCH Priority Data page under the appropriate domain. These Title V priority data briefs were developed to highlight the data that helped to drive the decisions to choose each of these topic areas of focus.

Youth and Young Adult Health Program

The YAYAHP is developing needs assessments for the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access grant project, and plans to have those open in early summer. Three assessments are under development - one for pediatric primary care providers, one for mental health providers who work with pediatric populations, and one for families and adolescents. If you are a provider who is interested in helping to develop and/or participating in the surveys, please complete this form. If you have a child or teen in your family who receives or could benefit from mental health services (whether or not they have a diagnosis) please fill out this form if you are interested in receiving the survey when it opens.

Women and Infant Health Program

The Women and Infant Health Program got a variety of community-led applications for their new funding opportunity, which were due March 31. They want to thank everyone that shared the opportunity with community partners. High-scoring applicants will move on to interviews this month before final selections are made. The Women and Infant Health Program looks forward to announcing the selected applicants in the next newsletter. 

The Wyoming Health Council will be working with the Women and Infant Health Program this month as a subaward for Title V funding. They will be working on increasing awareness of the importance of well-women visits, encouraging people to have annual visits, and increasing the awareness of low cost to no cost services available.

Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs (CYSHCN) Program

The Wyoming Newborn Screening program added X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) to the screening panel effective February 8, 2023.  X-ALD occurs when the body is unable to break down fats — specifically, very long fatty acids. The excess fat can affect the nervous system and adrenal glands.

With assistance from the Mountain States Regional Genetic Network (MSRGN), the Wyoming genetic program disseminated a handout titled “Red Flags 4 Genetics” to elementary school nurses and Head Start programs around the state. This handout was developed by families of children with genetic conditions. They were asked about “red flags,” symptoms, warning signs, or details that concerned them as parents to seek out a geneticist. If you would like copies of “Red Flags 4 Genetics,” please contact Meg Callahan at megan.callahan@wyo.gov.