Cache County Home Visiting Program Celebrates Award-Winning Year

The Cache County Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (Cache Co. MIECHV) program is celebrating an award-winning first year. At the Utah Department of Health and Human Service’s Home Visiting Summit in October, the team was honored for achieving the highest adjusted caseload capacity in Utah, at 122 percent, during their first year.

At the same ceremony, MIECHV team member Elizabeth Rivera received the Collaborative Spirit and Family Advocate Award.

In an interview, Program Coordinator Cari Gongora and Principal Investigator Tressa Johnston reflected on the program’s creation and growth. Johnston applied for a MIECHV grant as a means to build collaborative early childhood programs and strengthen support for children with disabilities.

IDRPP already had two Part C early intervention programs, Johnston said. The integration of Part C Early Intervention and Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) programs creates a compassionate continuum of care that empowers families with young children from the very beginning. Together, these programs nurture healthy development, strengthen family connections, and provide the guidance and support parents need during those early, critical years.

Part C early intervention helps infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities receive the support they need to grow, learn, and thrive. At the same time, the Cache County MIECHV program supports parents through education, encouragement, and trusted relationships. The differences in the programs are illustrated in this document.

When the new program came to IDRPP, Cari Gongora came on board as its coordinator, and they began hiring other home visitors. They also began building relationships. “We reached out to other early childhood programs as well as educators and other professionals,” Gongora said. “We were able to get the answers to the questions we had, build off successes that other teams had done, and …really try to jump ahead instead of starting from scratch by ourselves.”

A recent report from the Kem Gardner Institute at the University of Utah credits home visiting with improving the health of women and children, and of reducing the risk of maternal deaths.

But for team member Rivera, the motivation is the joy in the faces of the families she serves.

“Sometimes one smile can tell you so many things,” she said.