Family Faculty Director, Julianne Nickerson, traveled to two coasts to share the work of Vermont with others. In San Francisco, CA at the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) conference Julianne shared the importance of linking families to resources in creating a Medical Home for patients and using ECO maps to help in the process. ECO maps are picture representations of supports and services families have. In the Families Involved in Resident/Student Teaching (F.I.R.S.T.) program we have been talking with Pediatric Residents and with medical students at Fletcher Allen Health Care/University of Vermont College of Medicine about the importance of community resources to support families of children with special needs. The ECO map is a tool families can use to plot those services and the Residents and students see the variety of supports- formal and informalthat a family has to support their child/family. At the NICHQ conference we shared this program with physicians and medical professionals from around the United States and Canada.
On the other coast in Portland, Maine Julianne participated as Faculty for the Institute of Family Centered Care “Hospitals Moving Forward in Patient and Family Centered Care”. During this in-depth training seminar, Julianne shared Parent to Parent’s Family Faculty program with other hospitals and Universities’ Colleges of Medicine. She showed how program can incorporate family perspective in teaching medical students and Residents. Also shared was information on how families can be involved at many levels of patient care, including her work on a patient safety research grant for Neonatal Intensive Care Units and issues of patient safety from a parent perspective. It was exciting to learn about the creative wonderful ways families can be involved in healthcare as hospitals move forward to enhance quality and safety for their patients and families.
Please contact Julianne Nickerson 764-5290 ext 27 (or 1-800-800-4005) to learn more or to participate in Family Faculty programs. ©
Joint Parent to Parent/VPIC Conference in the Northeast Kingdom
On a sunny Monday, April 30th, at the beautiful Eastside Restaurant in Newport, VT, over 60 parents and professionals gathered for a conference entitled Parents: You are Not Alone. Jointly sponsored by Parent to Parent of Vermont and the Vermont Parent Information Center (VPIC), the conference was focused on the special education process in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Keynote speaker Lynette Over, a parent and the Transition and Youth Leadership Project Director for VPIC, gave a moving presentation of her own personal story.
Connie Curtin, Executive Director of VPIC, followed with a detailed explanation of the special education process in Vermont, including a history and the rights of parents in the process. After a delicious networking lunch, a panel presentation allowed parents to put faces to the names of many professionals that work in the Northeast Kingdom. The panel included: Paula Manzi from Parent to Parent of Vermont; Kathy Lawson from VPIC; Julie Mulroy, Director of Success by Six; Eric Erwin from the Family Infant Toddler Program’s Early Childhood Program; Sue Ashworth, Regional Education Consultant for the Vermont State I-Team; Carol Boucher from the Northeast Kingdom Human Services Association’s Children’s Program; and, Sharon Henault from the VT Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health. Parents and professionals both acknowledged how beneficial it was to be able to gather and network with each other, offering each other ideas, inspiration and support. We thank the Gibney Family Foundation for making this very important conference possible, and to all our presenters for their time and effort. ©
