Health & Wellness
Flance Early Learning Center strives to ensure that our students have a healthy start in life. In the Fall of 2020, Flance was recognized by the American Heart Association as the only GOLD certified “Healthy Way to Grow” early learning center in the country! We combat childhood obesity through programming that focuses on nutrition and physical activity. Flance’s Health & Wellness programming addresses the whole child by providing on-site health services, nutritional wellness, and movement.
On-Site Health Services
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Affinia Healthcare
Affinia Healthcare provides wraparound healthcare services, including immunizations and flu shots, well-child visits, hearing and vision screening, growth assessments, and lead and hemoglobin tests.
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BJC Healthy Kids Express
BJC Healthy Kids Express partners with Flance to provide mobile, preventative and restorative dental services to our children at no cost. They support Flance families by having early-intervention, education, and action plans.
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Center for Hearing and Speech
The Center for Hearing and Speech provides hearing screenings for Flance’s preschool children. This helps identify children with potential issues so families can pursue more in-depth testing and treatment early on in life.
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Delta Gamma Vision
Delta Gamma Vision conducts vision screenings on our students to identify visual impairments. Children’s eyes are observed through specialized toys and lighting to determine how the child uses their vision.
Nutrition and Wellness
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Adventure Playground
Through donations and support from PNC Bank, Isaac Bruce Foundation, and the Staenberg Family Foundation, Flance Early Learning Center has a large adventure playground designed for our preschoolers.
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Community Garden
Flance’s community garden in our play yard is managed by Urban Harvest STL. We grow a diverse variety of vegetables, herbs, and fruit in 20 raised beds, which is used as a teaching tool for our garden curriculum. In 2017, Urban Harvest STL harvested 470 lbs of food for Flance and other local agencies.
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F.I.T. Zone
Our indoor play area, The F.I.T. Zone (Flance Inside Time) helps promote healthy development of gross motor skills, critical to a young child’s early development.
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Homemade Baby Food
Flance’s Chef LeRoy makes homemade baby food for our infant classrooms. Using some fresh produce from the garden, Chef LeRoy creates delicious and nutritious baby food that our babies adore.
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Nutrition Program
Our monthly Nutrition Program exposes our students to healthy and new foods. By incorporating aspects of STEAM, we are able to introduce to a variety of fruits and vegetables and improve cognitive development.
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On-Site Lactation Room
Flance offers an on-site lactation room for nursing moms. We received the Breastfeeding Friendly Worksite Award from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). We were nominated with help from Affinia Healthcare. We are listed on Missouri DHSS website here.