As visitors poured in from around the world, Cook Children’s Health Care System provided top-notch medical care not just for residents, but for traveling fans with children who may have needed unexpected care. Cook Children’s treated more than 200 visiting families in its Urgent Care centers over the course of the event.

Between the heat and the fandom, the summer games would bring the health system launched the "World Cup Wednesday" public health series. For nine weeks leading up to the tournament, this series provided families with essential resources on injury prevention, heat and water safety tips, and more.

While soccer matches in North Texas have come to an end, the impact of keeping global and local visitors safe will live long after the fans have gone home.

Cook Children’s Center for Community Health conducted the 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) to identify and prioritize health needs and resources available for children in the service area. The results indicate a complex set of factors that create obstacles in caring for children and accessing health services.

Every three years, the center compiles the CHNA by surveying and interviewing parents and caregivers in Cook Children’s service area. Survey responses came from more than 7,300 parents, caregivers, and community leaders in Collin, Denton, Grayson, Hood, Johnson, Parker, Tarrant, and Wise counties. That region encompasses almost 1.2 million children (0-17 years), according to U.S. Census estimates.

KEY FINDINGS

The 2024 survey showed about 390,100 children from birth to 17 years old live in households that sometimes or often couldn’t afford nutritious meals. 

Along with food insecurity, about 287,100 children have a caregiver who shared that they were unable to receive all needed health services for their child. Reasons cited include lack of insurance, high health care costs, transportation difficulty and the financial impact of parents missing work for their child’s medical appointments.

Barriers played a role in 139,600 children ages 1-17 not receiving needed dental care, and 79,900 children ages 6-17 going without needed mental health services. Immunization levels in the service area showed 89% of children up-to-date on vaccines. 

“What stands out most is how many families are dealing with overlapping challenges that all affect their children’s health and well-being,” said Mandy Wolever, Ph.D., Research/CHNA Manager at the Center for Community Health. “Caregivers shared that they’re constantly making tough choices -- between covering basic needs like food, housing and utilities——and trying to get their children the health care they need.”

Fewer caregivers reported they have a source of emotional support for raising their children. That finding aligns with the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory in August 2024, calling attention to parental stress due to financial instability, work-life balance, lack of social support and other factors.

The struggle to put nutritious meals on the table or visit the pediatrician adds another layer of stress that impacts a child’s health and development, Wolever said.  

The top three health needs reported by caregivers were preventive health care, treatment for short-term illnesses and immunizations. Mental health care or counseling topped the list for community leaders, followed by wellness opportunities and preventive dental care.

Other takeaways from the parent/caregiver survey include:

• Eighty-four percent of children in the service area had “excellent” or 
  “Very good” health in 2024. That compares to 87% of children across Texas and 90% of children in the United States in 2022.
• In the past year, 1 in 5 children (about 217,700) in the service area experienced chronic or frequent dental problems. Children with poor or fair oral health are twice as likely to miss school due to dental problems.
• Approximately 237,000 children ages 6-17 have a diagnosed mental health condition such as anxiety, depression, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to their caregiver. Two out of every 5 children (about 304,100) have been bullied at school.
• Approximately 233,300 children received emergency care for an accidental injury.
• Asthma impacts 104,500 children in the service area. Asthma symptoms sent about one-fourth of those children to a hospital emergency department in the past year. 
• Almost 90% of children had continuous health insurance coverage for 12 consecutive months before completing the survey.

FROM DATA TO ACTION

These results, along with many other survey data points, give context to the center’s key priorities: children’s overall health and well-being, asthma, healthy lifestyles, caregiver support, injury prevention, mental health and oral health.

Becki Hale, AVP at the Center for Community Health, said takeaways from the survey will help the center respond to evolving needs in collaboration with more than 700 organizations across the region.

“We’re incredibly grateful to be part of such a strong, compassionate health care organization that invests and prioritizes giving back to the community and helping families thrive,” Hale said. “We also recognize that Cook Children’s is one of many partners committed to improving the health of our communities. Today’s health and social needs for families are too complex for any one entity to address alone. It takes all of us, working together.”

One example of how Cook Children’s utilizes the CHNA results in collaboration with others to implement innovative approaches that address the greatest needs: the Center for Community Health teamed up with Texas Health Resources in January 2025 to open a Good For You Healthy Hub at Fort Worth’s Eastside YMCA. The hub provides fresh fruits, vegetables and other nutritious foods for free to residents of the Eastside neighborhood.   

Chris Pedigo, senior vice president of system planning, health analytics and the Center for Community Health, pointed out that the CHNA provides insights that help Cook Children’s keep its Promise to improve the well-being of every child in our care and communities. 

“Our next steps include comparing this year’s results to those of previous years to identify areas where we’ve seen change, as well as identifying new communities that need focused programming,” Pedigo said.

Surveys were collected from a sample of households across the service area at large, not just Cook Children’s patients. Surveys were also collected from parents of special under-resourced populations, including those experiencing homelessness or living with an undocumented family member. The results are weighted to represent the actual population of children living in the service area.

The center takes steps to include a cross-section of the population through data collection and interviews. The team analyzed approximately 1.2 million data points, said Lauren Purvis, MPH, CPH, MCHES, Director of Child Health Evaluation.

“This approach can help partners feel confident using our data to inform their organization’s strategies to improve children’s health in their communities,” Purvis said.

Significant effort goes into developing and carrying out the research strategies that make the CHNA as inclusive and representative as possible.

“It’s important to us to gather a wide range of perspectives so we can thoroughly assess community needs,” Wolever said. “This approach helps us better understand how to support families and improve the well-being of children, ultimately living out our Promise.”

Regional Summits

Cook Children’s Center for Community Health is hosting two free, virtual Child Health Summits to share the survey findings with the media, community partners and other professionals.

• Part 1, May 6, 9-10:30 am: Cook Children's Child Health Summit Part 1 Registration, Tue, May 6, 2025 at 9:00 AM | Eventbrite

Focus areas: Overall Health and Well-being, Asthma and Healthy Lifestyles

• Part 2, June 3, 9-10:30 am: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cook-childrens-child-health-summit-part-2-registration-1095338770749?aff=oddtdtcreator

Focus areas: Caregiver Support, Injury Prevention, Mental Health and Oral Health

For more survey results, please visit the data dashboard or contact CHNAFeedback@cookchildrens.org.

RELATED STORY

Parent Survey Underscores Need for Mental Health Focus

“My daughter plays select soccer and can’t afford to take any time off for her injury without the risk of losing her starting position on the team.”

Statements like this are commonplace in my world as a sports physical therapist. And while I genuinely believe that parents and coaches have their minds in the right place when it comes to wanting their child to be the best, the idea that this means you must specialize in your sport early in life is not supported.

Early sport specialization is defined as choosing to play only one sport, often without any breaks during the calendar year, while the body is still changing and growing.

As we are in the thick of another year of the NCAA college football national championship and bowl games, let’s revisit last year’s undisputed national champions as an example of one sport vs. multiple sport athletes. In early 2015, a social media post went viral detailing Urban Meyer’s recruiting record during his time as head football coach at Ohio State. Of his total of 47 recruits, 42 were multisport athletes in high school. Only 5 of his recruits played football alone.

Did you know?:

• Three-time Super Bowl champion, NFL Hall of Famer and Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor inductee Troy Aikman played shortstop and pitched on his high school baseball team. He was drafted by the New York Mets out of high school and came close to choosing baseball over attending the University of Oklahoma, and later UCLA, to play football.
• Two-time women’s soccer Olympic gold medalist and 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year Abby Wambach credits her success as a soccer player to playing basketball in her youth.
• Eight-time NBA All Star and two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash did not start playing basketball until he was 12 or 13 and instead thanks his soccer background for his success in basketball.
• Six-time MLB All-Star Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins played football, basketball, and baseball in high school and was named USA Today High School Player of the Year in multiple sports.

An athlete like Tiger Woods, who started playing golf before the age of 2, is an extremely rare occurrence. It is by no means the norm and should not be expected.

In theory, specializing makes sense. After all, practice makes perfect, right? Wrong! In reality, research has shown the following:

Early specialization leads to overuse injuries.

More and more orthopedic experts are speaking out to shine light on the world of pediatric sports injuries. They have become increasingly alarmed by the skyrocketing rates of injuries in kids and some go so far as to describe it as an epidemic. Each year, roughly 3.5 million children, 14 years of age and younger seek medical treatment for sports injuries.

Of these, at least half can be attributed to overuse injuries. Repetitive activity leads to increased stresses on a growing child’s bones and muscles and can result in injuries such as Little League elbow, Little League shoulder, shin splints, Sever’s disease, Osgood-Schlatter disease, runner’s knee, jumper’s knee, or even stress fractures in areas like the back (spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis), hips, and feet.

So what’s the first line of prevention? Rest. Children should have at least two months off each year to recover from their specific sport. And if we’re talking about baseball, it’s recommended for those athletes to have three to four months of absolutely no throwing or overhead sports.

Early specialization interferes with healthy growth and development.

Playing a competitive sport is stressful, and just as the body must adapt to the changes and demands physically, handling the stresses around winning, losing, practice schedules, traveling, etc… in addition to regular schoolwork can be emotionally draining as well. Children may also struggle with identity and view themselves as solely an athlete. Playing a wide range of sports promotes diverse relationships and allows for a wide variety of experiences.

Early specialization increases the risk of burnout.

Playing only one sport, especially at a competitive or select level, can lead to burnout as a result of stress and physical and emotional demands. A history of injuries can also increase that anxiety. If a sport stops being fun or a child feels pressured to succeed, it can certainly lead to a desire to quit.

Early specialization reduces the chance that children will maintain an active lifestyle as an adult.

In 2013, researchers from The Ohio State University released a study that found that children who specialized in one sport early in life were more likely to be inactive as adults. Committing to a certain sport at too young of an age can lead to early burnout, quitting, and being reluctant to then rejoin physical activities as an adult. A history of injuries also contributes to an aversion towards exercise and a preference for a sedentary lifestyle.

Early specialization doesn’t guarantee future athletic success.

Consider these statistics from the NCAA regarding athletes during the 2013-2014 school year.

                              Estimated Probability of Playing in College

                           Estimated Probability of Playing Professionally

When you look at the numbers, the odds of playing a sport in college and especially professionally just aren’t in your favor.

So what does this mean for our kids?

• No, we shouldn’t put them in a bubble and shield them from sports. Athletic activity is extremely important.
• Children should learn the fundamentals of various sports and enjoy the experience.
• Sports should be fun at every age.
• Sports should create positive habits for later in life.
• Sports shouldn’t cause repetitive injury.

And if your child happens to be one of the lucky few who go on to play in college or even professionally, a history of playing multiple sports is clearly of great benefit.

About the author

Melissa Bro, PT, DPT, SCS, is a physical therapist for the Cook Children's SPORTS Rehab program. Our physicians, therapists, nurses and technologists work exclusively with kids and understand the unique needs of a growing athlete's bones, muscles, body and mind. As a part of Cook Children's integrated pediatric health care system, our patients have access to a multitude of pediatric specialty areas with board certified doctors, as well as laboratory services, nutritional consultations and sports medicine counseling.