Alabama

Mary L Blankson, MD, MPH, FAAP

Mary Blankson, MD, MPH, FAAP, has organized a Pediatrician Child Care Interest Group with the goal being available as consultants to child care health consultants (CCHC)and child care administrators. Dr Blankson is working to introduce and connect CCHCs and Pediatricians to collaborate in getting every child in child care enrolled in a Medical Home. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Alabama Partnership for Children and the Early Education and Child Care Section of the Children Policy Council of Jefferson County. She has collaborated with Child Care Resources and Agencies in Birmingham on a grant to make information on "Choosing Quality Child Care" available to parents through Pediatrician's offices. Dr Blankson's goals include training workshops for CCHCs, working with a group of Mental Health Professionals and Pediatricians to develop a protocol to ensure effective integration of developmental assessment in child care settings and to continue to work with CCHCs and center directors to ensure enrollment of children in a Medical Home.

Last Updated: December 2010

Alaska

Willow Monterrosa, MD, FAAP

Willow Monterrosa, MD, FAAP, sits on the Board of Directors for Child Care Connections. It is a non-profit organization which supports parents, child care providers and a variety of community services. It also functions as the state’s Child Care Resource & Referral. High on the list of goals is to create and implement some sort of quality rating systems for child care providers. The hope is this will lead to improvement in the quality of child care available in the state. Access to affordable, quality child care remains a challenge in Alaska not unlike the rest of the country.

Last Updated: December 2008

Arizona

Tom Ball , MD, FAAP

Tom Ball, MD, FAAP, assists with the planning and implementation of his state's newly founded child care health consultation (CCHC) program. Completion of 2 Community Access to Child Health grants has been instrumental in the successful introduction of this program within Pima County. Currently, Dr Ball is submitting an application for a grant to improve medication administration within the state’s child care system. This will take advantage of the existing CCHC training system. In addition, he will continue to educate pediatricians about the CCHC system throughout the state.

The chapter’s Early Education Committee has been aggressive in identifying state-wide priorities and advancing them.

Last Updated: December 2009

Arkansas

Maya Lopez, MD, FAAP

At the time of this report, the Arkansas CCCC was in transition from Jill Fussell, MD, FAAP, to Maya Lopez, MD, FAAP.

In this past year, Dr Fussell was active in the Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) program in AR, providing consultative services as a screening program was implemented in the state to identify children with developmental and social-emotional issues. The ABCD activities in AR have more recently been subsumed within the AR Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Partnerships Council (AECCS). The AECCS is a communication forum for major stakeholders who provide early childhood care in AR (administered by AR Department of Health and the AR Department of Human Services, partners include: AR Children’s Hospital, service providers, different Department of Human Services agencies such as AR Early Childhood Services/AR Medicaid/AR Better Chance, private insurance companies, Head Start, Department of Child and Family Services, Parent Information Resource Center, to name a few).

One of the major tasks of the AECCS is to build consensus around early childhood policies that represent best practice to promote social-emotional health for young children in AR.

As the CCCC transition has already formally started, Dr Lopez has started to attend the AECCS monthly meetings.

Last Updated: December 2008

California 1

Juliana Damon, MD, FAAP (former CCCC)

Juliana Damon, MD, FAAP, organized a conference on autism for child care providers and pediatricians. Currently, she is working on a dinner conference focusing on vitamin D and its importance for children of all ages but especially infants and toddlers even if formula fed. Dr Damon’s hope is to eventually be able to convene a larger conference on healthy eating for child care providers and preschools. One of her goals for next year is to focus more effort on outreach within the chapter for those interested in early education and child care. 

Last Updated: December 2009

DC

Rachel Moon, MD, FAAP

Rachel Moon, MD, FAAP, supervised sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) training for child care providers, in collaboration with the Office of Early Education and Child Care in the Department of Health. She continues to supervise SIDS training for child care providers. She also continues to provide any needed resources to the chapter members.

Last Updated: December 2009

Florida

Jennifer Takagishi, MD, FAAP and Sharon Dabrow, MD, FAAP

Dr Takagishi and Dr Dabrow began as Co-CCCCs in August of 2010. Already they have met with Healthy Start and Success 4 Kids and Families contacts to develop better communication between pediatric practices and home health and mental health coordinators and caregivers. Dr Takagishi is the Vice President of the Board of United Cerebral Palsy of Tampa Bay (has a child care center) and medical director of a Reach Out and Read program. She has written articles for The Tampa Tribune, “How Can I Choose the Right Doctor for My Baby?”  and “What Should I Look for in Infant Day Care?” Dr Dabrow sits on the Florida Reach Out and Read Executive Board and is the medical director for Reach Out and Read of Tampa Bay and at University of South Florida. Areas that they would like to address as they move forward include breastfeeding support in child care settings, improved early literacy in child care settings, and resident education in evaluating child care settings for patients and families.

Last Updated: December 2010

Georgia

Thomas Clark, MD, FAAP

Thomas Clark, MD, FAAP, currently sits on the Task Force of the Youth Futures Authority in Savannah. The task force is attempting to qualify for federal startup funds to recreate a Children’s Zone in Savannah similar to the one in New York City, The Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) under Geoffrey Canada. Mr Canada spoke to a large body of private and agency members in April 2009. He talked about the benefits of early childhood education, from the community’s total embracing of the child’s family, to successfully guide a “have-not” child from birth until the completion of college. Besides enhancing literacy, much attention was paid to encouraging healthy lifestyle choices. Mr Canada also discussed encouraging voluntary community service for the entire family. A second visit to the practitioners program of HCZ is being planned by the task force.

Last Updated: December 2009

Kansas

Greta McFarland, MD, FAAP

Greta McFarland, MD, FAAP, provides education for the child care health consultant training program provided through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. This training was 4 hours.  She also provides training directly to child care providers. 

Last Updated: December 2009

Louisiana

Ashley Lucas, MD, FAAP

Ashley Lucas, MD, FAAP, is the new Co-CCCC for Louisiana as of November 2009. She is currently applying for a grant to help implement the medication administration curriculum within her state. She is a member of the recruitment and planning committee for Our Lady of the Lake’s residency program (the first new pediatrics residency program in years), which will accept its first interns in July 2010. She hopes to educate and involve residents in child care related issues. Her goal for the upcoming year is to implement the medication administration curriculum within her state, continue serving as a certified child care health consultant, and continue to build relationships with the early child care community.

Last Updated: December 2009

Maryland

Edisa Padder, MD, FAAP

Edisa Padder , MD, FAAP, sits on the Child Wellness Committee with the Maryland State Department of Education. Maryland is developing a revised quality rating system (QRS), a framework for quality child care for family child care and child care centers. Dr Alan Lake and Dr Padder provide recommendations in order to incorporate evidence based practices for nutrition and physical activity as a part of the QRS. Dr Padder plans to work with the Child Wellness Committee to pilot the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self Assessment in Child Care (NAPSAC) prgram in the Maryland Head Start programs.

Last Updated: December 2010

Massachusetts

Erin McMaster, MD, FAAP

Erin McMaster, MD, FAAP, participated in the training for child care health consultants conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. She has also given talks to local child care staff on medication administration. Dr McMaster developed a series of talks for pediatric residents on child care.

Last Updated: December 2008

Missouri

Tracy Stroud , MD, FAAP

Tracy Stroud , MD, FAAP, did a brief presentation on inclusion in daycare for children with special needs for the state public health nurse, training instructor for child care health consultants, reviewed the medication administration curriculum and discussed ways to disseminate this in their state. She brought information to the Missouri AAP legislative committee regarding changes needed in state licensing and worked with a state child care program specialist on child care regulation regarding a policy on the application of sunscreen. Dr Stroud is a community partner in Project Launch, a grant funded program that provides mental health services to children in early childhood. Her goals include presenting at Grand Rounds on child care licensing and legislation issues to pediatricians at the University of Missouri and to partner with state agencies to improve basic licensing standards in Missouri.

Last Updated: December 2010

Nevada

Amy Sobel, MD, FAAP (former CCCC)

Amy Sobel, MD, FAAP, was a local resource for information on H1N1, including school policy, the AAP updates, vaccine, and child care center questions. She was a contact during the concern about medical assistants vaccinating patients in Nevada. She is also involved in Healthy Child Care Nevada and the child care health consultation work groups. Dr Sobel would like to focus on infectious disease and obesity in the upcoming year. She would love to be able to distribute the AAP’s Managing Infectious Disease in Child Care and Schools to all child care centers. She hopes to talk with California about a program they started about how to implement healthy food practices in a school setting. 

Last Updated: December 2009

New Hampshire

Jennifer Lipfert, MD, FAAP

Jennifer Lipfert, MD, FAAP, helped form and participated in the Health and Safety Subcommittee of New Hampshire’s Child Care Advisory Council. Current projects of the committee include working on a statewide universal child care and preschool health information form and developing a medication administration training. She is also a member of a planning committee of 2 statewide open forums, funded by the AAP, to build awareness of developmental and autism screening. Dr Lipfert is a member of the regional infant mental health team.

Last Updated: December 2009

New Jersey

Elaine Donoghue, MD, FAAP (Former NJ CCCC)

Elaine Donoghue, MD, FAAP, served as project advisor for the Healthy Futures: Improving Health Outcomes for Young Children project. As part of that project, a medication administration in child care curriculum was developed. She will also be part of the second phase of the project on infectious disease which is anticipated to start in early 2010. Dr Donoghue also presented at the AAP developmental screening meeting last March. She is part of the Caring for Our Children technical panel on children with special health needs and is a reviewer of other sections as requested. She serves as a mentor to residents with their presentation and articles related to early education and child care issues. Dr Donoghue services as a member of the Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care. She plans to submit an "Intent for Policy Statement" on developmental screening in non-medical home settings which will highlight developmental screening in child care.

Last Updated: December 2009

New Mexico

Laurence Shandler, MD, FAAP

Laurence Shandler, MD, FAAP, continues as a member of the executive committee of the New Mexico Early Childhood Action Network. This year, the group recommended, and it was accepted, that the state of New Mexico fund the position of Early Childhood Coordinator. The coordinator will work with the NM Children’s Cabinet to coordinate early childhood programs across all state agencies. Even with a dismal financial situation, the job was posted. He has also been appointed to the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Advisory Council. Dr Shandler continues to serve on the Interagency Coordination Council for the Family Infant Toddler program. He is continuing to work to expand developmental screening as part of the well-child visit. There is hope that screening for maternal depression can be included in the WCC developmental screening. He is an unofficial consultant to the Rand Corporation’s study on home visiting (utilizing the First Born model).

Last Updated: December 2009

New York 3

Janet Stockheim, MD, FAAP (former CCCC)

Janet Stockheim, MD, FAAP, continues to work with the Child Care Council of Westchester to promote public awareness of their free resources and referral services. She was part of a group that created posters which were offered to Westchester County pediatricians in August 2009. They are still trying to get information pamphlets (English and Spanish) included in the Westchester County “Welcome Baby” packets. Three of the 7 hospitals have agreed to include them. 

Last Updated: December 2009

Ohio

Judith Romano, MD, FAAP

Judith Romano, MD, FAAP, has been a member of the Early Childhood Advisory Council whose role is to advise the Governor and Early Childhood Cabinet on early childhood matters. She was involved in providing testimony for preparation for the state budget and the development of a statewide center for child development. She worked with the social/emotional committee to plan an open forum around early childhood topics. Next year, Dr Romano would like to expand the role of the committee structure of the chapter and recruit young leadership.   

Last Updated: December 2009

Oklahoma

Edd Rhoades, MD, FAAP

As the Chapter Child Care Contact, Edd Rhoades, MD, FAAP, has worked with the Early Childhood Comprehensive System Coordinator. He serves as the Department of Health representative on the Board for Smart Start Oklahoma, which is his state’s Early Childhood Advisory Council.  

Last Updated: December 2009

Oregon

David Willis, MD, FAAP

The collaborative program of the Pediatric Society QI Subcommittee conducted a training program for pediatricians and other pediatric primary care providers called Oregon START (Screening Tool and Resource Training). This program specifically went to primary care practices building workflow models that utilize standardized developmental and autism screening tools and introduced key representatives of the early childhood community programs including local child care resource and referral agency representatives. Over the year, Oregon START project was presented at 11 sites across the state, impacting 250 providers and staff. All 11 sites and providers had presentations from their local resource and referral representatives about their local child care networks, resources, and child care access. Dr Willis hopes to engage additional pediatricians interested in child care issues within the upcoming year. He also would like to work on establishing stronger communication between local child care community leadership and pediatric practices.

Last Updated: December 2009

Pennsylvania

Beth DelConte, MD, FAAP 

Beth DelConte, MD, FAAP, has been pleased to act in conjunction with Susan Aronson, MD, FAAP, as a pediatric advisor of the Pennsylvania (PA) American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) chapter Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS).  She has contributed to the bi-monthly publication for child care practitioners of Health Link on-line. Articles included information based off her review of the AAP publication Managing Chronic Health Needs in Child Care and Schools, addressed napping in child care (SIDS, infection prevention), and understanding PA Early Intervention services. Two presentations were given at the statewide Early Childhood Summit, including "Health and Safety Requirements for Infants and Toddlers" and "Utilizing Existing State, Regional and Local Services for Quality Care".  Consulting with one of the 6 regional keys in PA, she supported the region in establishing a state-funded position for a CCHC for which ECELS provides continued technical assistance and professional development.  Dr DelConte keeps PA pediatricians informed of early childhood issues with contributions to the monthly news fax by explaining the importance of the PA quality rating system, STARS and its importance in helping families find quality care for their children and has recently requested further pediatrician involvement in the PA early childhood committee.  She attends PA AAP executive committee meetings with ECELS and committee reports.  She has recently received an AAP medication administration grant and participated as a CCHC with centers via a United Way grant in southeastern PA.   

Dr DelConte has contributed as a member of the general pediatric panel for the next Caring for Our Children edition and serves as the AAP representative for the State Interagency Coordinating Council and the PA Early Learning Council.  As a member of the Office of Child Development and Early Learning’s early childhood mental health advisory committee, multiple stakeholders have published a set of recommendations based on the pyramid model for promoting social and emotional competence in infants and young children from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. 

Last Updated: February 2010

Puerto Rico

Luisa Alvarado, MD, FAAP (Former PR CCCC)

Luisa Alvarado, MD, FAAP, has worked on promoting developmental screening and collaboration with the Early Stimulation Program in Puerto Rico for early referral and treatment. She was initiated in this project in 2007 when she participated in the Assuring Better Child Health and Development Academy, a learning collaborative to help states accomplish better preventive services for children, specifically developmental screening.

Last Updated: January 2009

Rhode Island

Pam High, MD, FAAP

Pam High, MD, FAAP, has been or is currently in the following roles:

-Consultant to the Rhode Island Department of Health Successful Start Developmental Screening and Services Workgroup – 2005- present

-Pediatric Consultant to the Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Tomorrows Partnership for Children Grant CFDA 93.110; Grant# is H17MC06709, Child Care Health and Mental Health Consultation Network of Rhode island (Blythe Berger PhD, Principal Investigator). 2006-11

-AAP Representative to the Rhode Island Department of Human Services workgroup on RI Medicaid’s EPSDT Periodicity Schedule, 2007-8

-AAP Representative to Rhode Island Executive Office of Health & Human Services workgroup for Action Area II: Developmental & Preventative Health Services. 2007-8

Last Updated: December 2008

Tennessee

Seth Scholer, MD, FAAP

Seth Scholer, MD, MPH, FAAP, is a panel leader for the injury prevention section of the 3rd edition of Caring for Our Children. He is a member of the Alignment Nashville Pre K committee. Dr Scholer has also worked with a Nashville preschool to assess one way to teach parents discipline strategies. The research has been accepted for publication.

  Last Updated: December 2009

Virginia

Colleen Kraft, MD, FAAP

Colleen Kraft , MD, FAAP, serves on the Executive Board of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, and its local coalitions, the Smart Beginnings coalitions. The local coalitions bring together child care, home visiting, Head Start and Early Head Start, parenting support and education programs, Early Intervention, and other community partners to support their youngest children in their families and though their earliest educational experiences.  The statewide VECF organizes summits and advocates for funding from our state government and private corporations for investments.  These investments are leveraged with local community coalitions, who implement programs such as parenting education, Quality Rating and Improvement, and evidence based prevention programs in their local communities.  See www.smartbeginnings.org for details. Dr Kraft has provided multiple presentations at Early Childhood Summits on Early Brain and Child Development and the importance of private and public investment. She has also worked on the development and implementation of the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) in approximately 1000 child care centers to date in Virginia, in partnership with VECF.

Last Updated: December 2010

Washington

Danette Glassy, MD, FAAP

Danette Glassy, MD, FAAP, is on the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and works on lobbying and writing position papers. She is also co-chair of the statewide Coalition for Safety and Health in Early Learning. Dr Glassy implemented a grant that took the CDC H1N1 child care guidance to all licensed child care and Head Start centers. It was translated into 5 languages and made into an English/Spanish Webinar. She also participated in the state’s Early Learning Plan. 

Last Updated: December 2009