Summer 2002 Newsletter | to Bottom of page Links

Family Support Updates 

Community Partnerships
Promises
Nexus Partners
Family Support Surveys
Federal Grant to Enhance Community Partnerships
     Parent to Parent of Vermont is proud to be one of six organizations in the nation to be awarded funding by the Department of Health and Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) to establish Parent to Parent as a Family to Family Health Information and Education Center for families with children who have special health care needs.  Maternal and Child Health Bureau funding is part of the first wave of federal funding to support the work that Family Voices began 10 years ago to lobby for the creation of Family to Family Health Information Centers in each of the 50 states. This funding is to provide increased education, information and decision-making opportunities for under-served families with children with special health needs. The $90,000 per year grant, known as The Nexus Program in Vermont, covers a 4-year period beginning in June 2002.  Our proposal builds on the work we have been doing and provides us with an opportunity to regionalize our program through the creation of four satellite networks in Franklin/Grand Isle, Windham, and Bennington Counties, and the Northeast Kingdom.  Through these networks, local Parent to Parent staff will connect families with similar experiences, partner with other organizations to ensure comprehensive community support, assist families in accessing health care financing, and involve them in regional and statewide networks of pediatricians, child care providers and community partnerships.
     In December, 2001 the Maternal and Child Health Bureau unveiled its 2010 agenda, renamed 2010 Promises (see below) by Polly Arango, former Director of Family Voices, to assure families of the intention of this agenda.   Parent to Parent is already striving with its partners to achieve the 2010 Promises.  However, Parent to Parent presently only serves 25% of the families in Vermont whose children have special needs - we know we are not reaching as many families living in rural Vermont.
     To help achieve our goals, we will be hiring four Family Resource Coordinators (FRC) in four underserved regions in our state.  Year One will be a ramp-up year during which time we will focus our initial efforts on the Franklin/Grand Isle and Windham Counties.  In Year Two we will expand to include Bennington County and the Northeast Kingdom.  The FRCs will be a local face for Parent to Parent.  They will provide information, support and matches to local families and will help to coordinate and run Supporting Parent and Health Care Financing Trainings in their region.  [Please check the Parent to Parent website Bulletin Board for job postings in September.]
Spearheading the effort will be a Network Coordinator who will keep the local FRCs connected to the main office.  The Network Coordinator will travel the state supporting the work of the FRCs and conduct trainings in health care financing information for pediatrician offices, childcare providers and Family, Infant and Toddler staff.  The Network Coordinator will also be working with many of our partners in this endeavor.
Parent to Parent is pleased and honored to have been chosen for this grant because it will allow us to expand our services to provide information, resources, support and one-to-one matches for parents in the most remote regions of our state.  ©

Maternal and Child Health Bureau 2010 Promises
1. All children with special health care needs will receive coordinated ongoing comprehensive care within a medical home.
2.  All families of children with special health care needs will have adequate private and/or public insurance to pay for the services they need.
3.  All children will be screened early and continuously for special health care needs.
4.  Services for children with special health care needs and their families will be organized in ways that families can use them easily.
5.  Families of children with special health care needs will partner in decision making at all levels, and will be satisfied with the services they receive.
6.  All youth with special health care needs will receive the services necessary to make appropriate transitions to adult health care, work, and independence.

Nexus Partners:
¥  Vermont Department of Health, Division of Health Improvement
¥  Vermont Department of Health, Children with Special Health Needs
¥  Vermont Family Infant and Toddler Program
¥  Vermont Parent Information Center
¥  Center for Disability and Community Inclusion, UVM
¥  University of Vermont, Department of Family Practice
¥  American Academy of Pediatrics - Vermont Chapter
¥  The Family Center of Northeast Vermont
¥  The Winston Prouty Center
¥  Mousetrap Pediatrics
¥  Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services, Division of Childcare Services
¥  Newport Pediatrics

Family Support Surveys
Last summer, Parent to Parent of Vermont had the opportunity to conduct a survey of parents who had recently called seeking information, support, or a match with another parent.  The survey was our way of ensuring the quality of our support for parents.  The information we received was so informative and helpful that we are conducting additional surveys this summer.  We have recruited three interns who will conduct surveys and the responses collected will provide Parent to Parent with vital information about our services and will help to guide continuous improvements.  We would like to thank the UVM College of Medicine and the Area Health Education Center for their support of our evaluation efforts.  We also appreciate families' willingness to participate in the survey, and your honest, thoughtful responses will ensure a quality evaluation.  If you have questions about the survey, please contact Julie Arel at (802) 764-5290 ext 28.

Thanks to the interns conducting the Family Support Surveys:
Dana Cervenakova - I am a fourth year Ph.D. student in Sociology at Boston College. My areas of specialization are medical sociology and social psychology. I am an international student from the former Czechoslovakia. I am 29 years old.  I have a brother who has Down Syndrome and he lives in Slovakia with my parents. I would like to write my dissertation on a comparative study of the social situation of parents with Down Syndrome children in the United States and Slovakia. I am excited to work with Parent to Parent as I would like to be of help and service to parents who have children with disabilities.
Imran Safdar - I am a 2nd year medical student at the UVM College of Medicine.  I graduated in 1998 from Brandeis University and then did some additional work at Harvard University before enrolling at UVM.  I am 28 years old.  My parents are originally from Pakistan and they now live in New Jersey. Upon graduation, I hope to enroll in a Family Practice residency and work in an under-served area, helping and growing with my community.  This is why I am so excited to be working with Parent to Parent as it is an agency after which I would like to model my work.
 Lisa Emrick - I'm from Northampton, MA and graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1994 with a degree in Biochemistry. I spent six years working in Washington D.C., and obtained a Masters in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University.  While in D.C., I volunteered as an assistant coach for Special Olympics until I moved to Vermont to follow my childhood dream of becoming a physician. I want to become more involved in learning about the health care needs and resources available to people with special needs.  ©


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