Sound Partners for Community Health is a program of the Benton Foundation. Support for this website was provided by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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The Growing Up Healthy partners will hold a live forum on Tuesday, Jan. 6 to present to elected and officials and members of the community some of the specific health problems facing the region’s children.
Modeled on the live call-in programs we broadcast during the year, the forum will feature guests speaking with Doug Nadvornick, Pia Hansen, and Ann Colford. Elected leaders, including Spokane Mayor Jim West and County Commissioner John Roskelly, will be present to learn more about the topics and take part in the community discussion.
The forum starts at 7 p.m. in the Champions Room at the Spokane Arena.

by Doug Nadvornick
The last of our ten Growing Up Healthy call-in programs recorded, Thursday, November 20. Our focus was on the health consequences of sexual behavior in young people featuring panelists, Dr. Elizabeth Bianchi, Scott Stowell from the Spokane School District and Susan Sjoberg from the Spokane Regional Health District. Also featured are listener phone calls throughout the hour.

by Doug Nadvornick
Monday, November 10, The Spokane Regional Health District released a report that measures the community’s collective health. The “Spokane Counts” study takes 48 indicators and compares Spokane County residents with people in the rest of the country. Many of the indicators focus on children. County Health Officer Kim Thorburn tells Spokane Public Radio's Doug Nadvornick some of the findings were expected, but others were not.

by Doug Nadvornick
In Washington, the generally-accepted age of consent is 18. That means anyone 18 or older has all the rights and responsibilities of an adult. There are exceptions, of course. The legal drinking age is 21. There are other ages of consent which at which are adult rights are conferred. For example, Washington state law allows anyone 13 or older to decide whether to undergo inpatient mental health or substance abuse counseling. Some want to raise the age of consent in that area. Spokane Public Radio’s Doug Nadvornick reports for our “Growing Up Healthy” series.

by Doug Nadvornick
The ninth of our ten Growing Up Healthy call-in programs recorded, Thursday, October 16. Many young people, at one time or another, will consider ending their own lives. Few will follow through on that. Our conversation featured panelists Dr. Lou Sowers from Spokane Mental Health, A.J. Hutsell from the Suicide Prevention Coalition and Spokane Regional Health District and Jackie Beaudry, the parent of a young person who committed suicide. Also featured are listener phone calls throughout the hour.

by Doug Nadvornick
A discussion with the mother of a young man who, eight years ago, took his life. She has devoted her life to teaching parents and young people about the warning signs of suicide.

by Doug Nadvornick
When children with special needs are young, they sometimes require extra help to learn basic skills. There are several preschool programs, private and public, available to parents of special needs children in the Spokane area. But some of those programs are having trouble finding enough money to stay in business. In this “Growing Up Healthy” report, Spokane Public Radio’s Doug Nadvornick visits one preschool in Cheney that’s hoping this isn’t its last year.

by Doug Nadvornick
Raising a child is a hard job, but especially if that child has a condition that requires huge amounts of his or her parents’ time. Many parents of special needs children in Spokane have a hard time finding good child care. Spokane Public Radio’s Doug Nadvornick profiles the struggle of one mother with her autistic son.

by Doug Nadvornick
Spokane Public Radio’s Doug Nadvornick talks with the mother of a special needs child about the challenges of raising her son.

Radio Commentary by Cheryl-Anne Millsap
A mother's list of promises to her children, part contract and part covenant.

by Doug Nadvornick
Attention Deficit Disorder is commonly diagnosed for children with poor attention span and weak impulse control, but is it over-diagnosed? Under-diagnosed? Is Ritalin prescribed too quickly? This live program asked some of these questions and included phone calls from listeners throughout the hour.

by Marty Demarest
Marty Demarest takes a look at how difficult it can be for adults to talk with their children about sex in this 29-minute program broadcast on Spokane Public Radio.

by Spokane Public Radio
Fidgeting. Jumping from one activity to the next. Impatient, interrupting, disorganized. Everybody is like this some of the time, but those unable to function normally in school or social settings are usually diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, commonly called ADD or AD/HD.

by Doug Nadvornick
Some Inland Northwest parents are frantically searching through drawers and closets for their child’s missing immunization cards to find out which shots their kids need in order to go to school this fall. But now those cards are becoming a less important tool for tracking their children’s immunizations. Spokane Public Radio’s Doug Nadvornick reports for our “Growing Up Healthy” series that high tech is coming to the rescue.

Radio commentary by Cheryl-Anne Millsap
A mother recalls a difficult time for her second grader.

by Doug Nadvornick
It's summertime and while most kids are enjoying time away from class many children are still reading, writing essays, doing math problems and taking field trips. Their teachers aren't school employees, they are their parents or relatives or friends. Do children who attend class at home learn more easily? Do they better perform academic skills? Are they socially well adjusted? This live program focussed on these questions and included phone calls from listeners throughout the hour.

by Doug Nadvornick
It's the middle of summer and most children are enjoying a break from school. But kids who attend summer school and those who attend class at home are still focusing on their lessons. Doug Nadvornick talks with Suzie Steiner, a former Spokane Valley woman who now lives in rural Virginia and teaches her two boys, 10-year-old Zach and seven-year-old Joshua, at home.

by Doug Nadvornick
What’s the best way to teach young children about language? Or how to do arithmetic? Spokane music teacher Shirley Grossman would encourage you to teach them first how to sing. The rest, she says, will follow.

by Doug Nadvornick
Changes have come to the Washington state-subsidized medical assistance programs for children. For one thing, the state social service agency will be more diligent in verifying recipients’ income levels to make sure they’re eligible. And, beginning next year, subsidized care will only be free for families whose income is below the federal poverty level. Spokane Public Radio’s Doug Nadvornick reports in the next part of our “Growing Up Healthy” series.