Getting settled in a new home and making friends are among the top priorities when military families relocate.
But what about maintaining consistent medical care, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic?
To help ease the stresses of military families’ health care transitions, Sesame Workshop and the Defense Health Agency debuted "Sesame Street for Military Families: Transitions in Health Care," which provides a host of new resources to support both parents and children through the process.
“These resources are designed to help families and their little ones on how to maintain a health care connection, even though they are going to a new location,” said Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Sesame Workshop’s senior vice president, U.S. Social Impact.
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Betancourt said during a move, military parents often serve as key points of contact between medical care teams and the patients in their family -- finding new providers, transferring records, helping little ones through first visits and more.
“Caregivers are already the best advocates for their families’ health,” she added. “When it is time to relocate and transition their children’s health care, we want to empower them every step of the way.”
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Sesame Street resident Rosita knows what it is like to make a big move. She came to Sesame Street from Mexico and told Connecting Vets that it’s important for parents to let their kids know what to expect when visiting the doctor.
“They also remind me that doctors are there to keep me healthy,” she said.
Sesame Street for Military Families: Transitions in Health Care is viewable across both desktop and mobile devices. Among the resources that are available are a “Visiting the Doctor” game; articles for parents; and a webinar for health care providers.
Sesame Street for Military Families: Transitions in Health Care is available here, along with other free resources covering deployments and homecomings, relocation, transitions to civilian life and more -- in both English and Spanish.