The Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health is dedicated to addressing critical contemporary issues in children’s day to day lives that have the potential to adversely affect their health and development. The Office is gaining national attention for its innovative programs and is serving as a role model for similar initiatives in other states….
Leveraging Medicaid to Enhance Child Health Outcomes
By: Paul H. Dworkin, MD As we strive to promote children’s optimal development, we are constantly reminded of the challenges that stand in the way of success. Poverty. Exposure to childhood trauma. Unidentified developmental delays and disorders. Unhealthy housing. Food insecurity. The list is long. The challenge early childhood experts, including myself, face is to…
“Last Dollars In” Grant Helps Homeowners
By: Chris Corcoran Connecticut Children’s Healthy Homes Program has made more than 3,100 homes healthy and lead safe through projects that are largely funded by state and federal grants. In order to maximize the number of families served, Healthy Homes has established spending caps based on years of experience making homes lead safe and healthy….
Annual Dworkin Lecture Focuses on Social Determinants
When Paul Dworkin, MD, formed Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health, he stepped down from serving as physician-in-chief of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, a position he held for 15 years. To honor his legacy and commitment to children, hospital leadership created the Paul Dworkin Pediatric Chair Lecture in 2013, which is a Pediatric Grand…
North Hartford’s Way to Wellville
By: Jacquelyn M. Rose, MPH How exactly do communities pave their Way to Wellville? It’s a challenging question to answer, however it’s one that North Hartford and four other communities across the country are working towards as part of a ten-year journey called Way to Wellville. I’m proud to have joined other local leaders on…
Connecticut Children’s Educates Kids to Stay Safe
By: Luis Rivera Fire safety. Boating safety. Wearing seat belts. Protecting hearing. Hands-Only CPR. Those are just some of the lessons elementary school students learn through our annual Safe Kids Day. At this year’s event, about 100 third and fourth grade students from SAND Elementary School in Hartford gathered on the front lawn of Connecticut…
Care Coordination Forum: Building Networks, Building Stronger Families
By: Susan Roman, RN, MPH It was so inspiring to look out over the crowd gathered at our recent care coordination forum and realize that we were all there for the same reason: to find better ways to improve the ability of children and their families to access and secure much needed medical, developmental, behavioral,…
Help Me Grow National Center Hosts Nationwide Innovation Challenge
By: Kimberly Martini-Carvell Recognizing the importance of innovation in promoting children’s healthy development, the Help Me Grow® National Center (National Center) and Connecticut Children’s Advancing Kids Innovation Program (AKIP) partnered to organize and implement the inaugural 10K Innovation Challenge at the 2017 Help Me Grow National Forum. We invited the 28 Help Me Grow affiliates…
Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health Strengthens Clinical Care Delivery
By: Paul Dworkin, MD Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health (the Office) is a national leader in developing and supporting innovations to strengthen families and community programs to promote healthy development and help children reach their full potential. However, our work is also having a measurable impact inside our hospital walls through innovations that…
Reflections on the 8th Annual Help Me Grow Forum
By: Kimberly Martini-Carvell The Help Me Grow® (HMG) National Forum provides an opportunity for HMG affiliates from across the country to come together to share their work, network, and learn from others, including key experts in the field of early childhood. Approaching the Forum this year, I recognize that we find ourselves at a critical…
An Impressive Reminder That All Measures Matter
By: Paul Dworkin, MD and Erin Cornell, MPH A recently published article, Protective Prevention Effects on the Association of Poverty With Brain Development by Brody and colleagues, in the January issue of the journal, JAMA Pediatrics, has stimulated and even challenged our thinking on strategies to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to promote children’s healthy…
Introducing Connecticut Children’s Advancing Kids Innovation Program
By: Jacquelyn M. Rose, MPH Have you ever wondered why, with so many bright people who have so many great ideas, it seems like some problems just never seem to get solved? We did too, especially when it comes to promoting children’s health. Now, we are setting out to change that. Connecticut Children’s Office for…
Overcoming Adversity
When Veronica Rosario moved to Connecticut in 2015 with her two sons, she felt overwhelmed and struggled to acclimate to her new surroundings. Rosario’s husband passed away after battling cancer and her youngest son was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy just one year after that. “When my husband passed, my mother-in-law said, ‘If you need anything,…
