Officials with Friends of Children of Mississippi Inc. are working to empower parents to say “I CAN.”

I CAN is a health literacy training program being offered to parents of its Early Head Start and Head Start enrollees.

Annie Jackson, center manager of the Early Head Start/Jones, said Friends of Children will be offering the special workshop on Feb. 25 to help train parents how to properly handle minor health ailments at home.

According to a release from Friends of Children of Mississippi (FCM), the program — written by UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care — will train parents how to care for minor health ailments at home rather than continuing to overburden the already overcrowded health care system, which causes taxpayer costs for medical services at local, state and federal levels to escalate sharply.

“Research found that with parents that participate in this program, visits to a hospital emergency room or clinic dropped by 58 percent and 42 percent respectively when parents opted to treat their children’s fevers, colds and ear aches at home,” according to FCM. “Since it began operations in 2001, the Healthcare Institute has taught thousands of parents how to treat everyday childhood illnesses at home.”

FCM said the training costs on average about $60 per family. Medicaid, which pays for many families’ medical visits, can potentially save at least $554 per family annually in direct costs to clinics or emergency room visits, according to the agency’s release.

Jackson said some of the objectives of the program are to empower parents in decision-making for the health care needs of their children, and enabling parents to become better caregivers of their children by improving their health care knowledge and skills.

FCM provides a comprehensive child development program to enhance social competence, assist families to become self-sufficient and serve as advocates for children and families.

Jackson said the goal of Friends of Children is to strengthen those it serves.

“Our mission at the Early Head Start Center is to strengthen children, families and the community,” the center manager said. “We are here to help serve the community and to make a difference in the lives of the children.”

The I CAN training will be held at 4 p.m. on Feb. 25 at the Laurel Train Depot. Door prizes and refreshment will be provided.

Anyone wanting more information about the training can call Jackson at Early Head Start/Jones at (601) 426-1013, Deborah Cooley at King Star Head Start at (601) 425-1715, or Mary Green at Queen Olive Head Start at (601) 649-1285.