What are Well-Child Visits? Know Before You Go

What are well-child visits?

What to expect and why they are important to your child's health and development

Here at Clinica Family Health & Wellness, well-child visits are opportunities to check in with a healthcare provider and learn how to support your child’s growth. Our goal is to launch our growing patients into a healthy school year! Well-child visits often happen annually (once a year), and it includes routine preventative care, such as exams and screenings. 

Here’s a detailed list of what to expect during your annual well-child visit:

Exams

During a well-child visit, we perform several health exams. Our providers review the child’s health history and look at important health behaviors like nutrition and sleep. This information helps us understand their environment and what support you and your family may need. Our goal is to work with families to ensure we can meet growth goals together. We also perform a physical exam that includes growth measurements and head-to-toe assessments. These assessments help us track those important developmental milestones.

Screenings

Like physical exams, our providers perform developmental screenings. Developmental screenings evaluate brain development through speech, muscle movements, and language development. We perform additional screenings based on age, such as vision and hearing. Mental health assessments for anxiety, depression, and substance are also routine screenings we conduct.

Vaccines

Throughout a kid’s development, vaccines protect them from harmful viruses that are often spread when in contact with others – such as when starting school or playing a sport. If you have questions or concerns about the safety of vaccines for your child, we encourage you to speak to your primary care team. We want to work with you to look after the health of you and your family, and we want you to be both empowered and educated in important health decisions.  

Dental Care

The health of your mouth is deeply connected to overall wellbeing. At our clinics, we have integrated dental health professionals who can do a comprehensive oral health screening for your child. We also ensure that our pediatric patients are scheduled for regular cleanings and exams.

Education

There’s always something to learn! We spend time providing preventative guidance and education for parents and guardians. There is plenty of misinformation online, so it is essential that our providers share peer reviewed and evidence-based information on healthy lifestyle habits - including: 

-Healthy eating

-Exercise

-Oral health care

-Screen time

-Car seats

-Preparing for puberty

-Risks of sexually transmitted diseases

-Risks of smoking

-Risks of texting

-Driving

Care Coordination

In addition to providing direct health care, we can help connect caregivers with the care, services, and resources they need to support the growth of their child. Care coordination includes referral to further resources such as a behavioral health provider

At Clinica, we are honored to work alongside patients and clients – whatever their age. As your community health center, we aim to provide support and resources to keep you and your neighbors healthy and well. Well-child visits can be transformative for kids, families, and communities. Schedule your appointment to launch into a healthy school year! 

If you are already enrolled as a Clinica patient, you can schedule an appointment online in minutes. If you aren’t a Clinica patient yet, please call us at (303) 650-4460 and use option 1 to talk with a scheduling specialist.