Summer 2002 Newsletter | to Bottom of page Links

Family Faculty Institute
Join the Family Faculty Institute as it grows...

"Home now, my visit with this family over, I feel rather like the empress with no clothes.  Until tonight, I believed I KNEW what it was to have a child with special needs; now I understand."
This was written by a student in one of our Family Faculty programs after a visit with a family.
Families teaching students, either by speaking in classes or by having them come to your home for a visit, is a unique and vitally important way to contribute to the education of new professionals.  What families teach by sharing their life experiences cannot be found in textbooks.
Our Family Faculty Institute continues to expand and grow.  FIRST (Families in Resident Student Training), the program for pediatric residents, is beginning its fourth year.  The Medical Education Project is beginning its eighteenth year and VT-ILEHP (Interdisciplinary Leadership Education for Health Professionals) is in its seventh year.  We have also been collaborating with the School of Communication Sciences at UVM for over eight years with graduate Speech Language Pathology students visiting families in the fall semester.  For many years a panel of parents has been speaking to undergraduate education students and in the past two years, that program has expanded with groups of students interviewing families in their homes.

Now, for some very exciting news!  The new collaboration between Parent to Parent and the UVM School of Nursing is moving past the planning stages, into implementation.  We've hired Valerie Wood-Lewis as the Nursing Program Coordinator, just in time to do some recruiting for the fall semester.  Valerie lives in South Burlington and has been part of the Parent to Parent network for three years.  She has participated in both the Medical Education Project and VT-ILEHP, has done class presentations and has offered her skills in supporting other parents.  Valerie's background in education is a wonderful match for the skills needed to coordinate this program.  Many of you will have the opportunity to meet Valerie in the coming year.
We want to introduce Rhonda Costes, the new Parent Coordinator for the programs with the School of Communication Sciences and the School of Education.  Those of you who have been involved in these programs in other years will be hearing from Rhonda, confirming your status as family faculty or asking if you would like to host an SLP student or education major this year - or perhaps you already have received that phone call.  Rhonda lives in St. Albans and has been involved in our network for many years.  She has participated in all of the Family Faculty programs over the years, sometimes being involved in more than one at the same time. ©
Call us at (802)764-5290 if you would like to participate in some of these programs and would like more information.  It could be especially exciting to get started at the beginning of the new Nursing program!


Back to Main Page of Parent to Parent

More Information on the Family Faculty Institute and its programs FIRST, MEP, and ILEHP

From Our Director
Volunteer-Cathy Bergeron
Family Faculty
Family Support
Family Infant Toddler Project
Family Voices in Vermont
Books & Beyond
Family Stories: Daniels | Demeritt
Our Calendar | News & Note