President’s Report
This has been a great year for
the Pediatric Health Improvement Coalition of the Tennessee Valley
(PHIC). We have completed our Strategic
Planning Initiative (SPI), begun the process of building strong community
pediatric interest groups, continued work on our comprehensive regional health
improvement plan and facilitated partnership with many community organizations
to move toward a healthier Tennessee Valley.
In December of 2013, PHIC
contracted Blue Cottage Consulting of Ann Arbor, MI to lead the SPI. This initiative was a catalyst to a rigorous
cycle of analysis, discussion and innovative design in regard to the health and
well being of our community’s children.
First, an initial study of the Tennessee
Valley pediatric market was completed.
This data documented significant deficiencies in local inpatient and
subspecialty infrastructure compared to close market competitors. It also defined discrete community gaps in
primary and urgent care that correlated with our poorest and highest health
risk zip codes.
In the visioning phase, the project
team completed 52 stakeholder interviews with health, business, education, government,
non-profit and community leaders. These
conversations clarified the leadership’s vision of current child health and documented
the level of commitment to the future.
The project team also directed
four neighborhood listening forums in Dalton, GA; Hixson; Alton Park and East
Chattanooga. These forums defined the participating
parents, school nurses and community health advocates’ perception of our
primary pediatric issues. From these
sessions, PHIC has continued the development of three community pediatric
advocacy groups. These include the East
Chattanooga, Alton Park and Parents of Chronically Ill Children.
From our analysis and community
input, PHIC advanced the conversation around improving delivery, access and
provider partnership. PHIC has clearly defined
the benefits of greater provider partnership and provider-Children’s Hospital
partnership.
Finally, PHIC has developed a
strategic plan for expanded school-based health, provider-school communication
and community education standardization.
The initial implementation of this plan around asthma has already begun.
It is exciting to see how much PHIC has matured this year. The board has transitioned from a planning
board to one that is now implementing our first round of projects. The diversity of gender, race and profession
has improved. We have hired an Executive
Assistant, Kimbilee Jonas, to work on day-to-day activity and promote our
communication.
The primary challenges have become very clear. These are severe disparity in pediatric
healthcare and outcomes, obesity, asthma, peri-natal health, infant mortality,
school readiness and behavioral health.
The leadership has moved from a conversation focused on what doesn’t
exist in the Tennessee Valley. The new
conversation is the narrative of leveraging our current resources to address
these real challenges in an impactful and sustained way.
I was surprised this year by the
many pediatric efforts already present in our community. It is encouraging to see individuals; often
non-health licensed respected community members, performing essential pediatric
health services. It was also
discouraging how many of these individuals and larger programs were siloed,
non-cooperative, overlapping and competing for resources. To this end, PHIC is helping to build partnerships
for better function and document impact data to help sustain ongoing work.
It has been a joy to see the
PHIC vision come to exist in reality.
There is a growing community in the Tennessee Valley committed to
improving the health and well being of all children. There is now increased discussion and new
partnership between many community partners: the Bethlehem Center, Le Paz,
Chattanooga State, UTC, Siskin, the
Hamilton County Department of Education, the Hamilton County Department of
Health, Children’s at Erlanger, the Children’s Discovery Museum, Le Bonheur
Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the Tennessee Chapter of
the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Healthcare Improvement
Initiative for Tennessee.
PHIC is excited for the New Year
and beyond. Specifically, we project
that the next three years will have some discrete outcomes. First, the Ambulatory component of the
Erlanger System’s Capital Building Program will receive input on components
that meet health gaps in our community.
Second, the pediatric community health will have a robust input from the
Hispanic, Black and Families of Children With Special Healthcare Needs
communities. Next, our region will have
a better tool for identifying community health resources that are culturally
relevant and available for more families.
Lastly, Asthma will have a significantly decreased impact on Chattanooga
children. This will be evident in increase
school attendance, academic improvement, fewer emergent transports from school to
the Emergency Department for Asthma and fewer total Emergency Department visits
for Asthma.
PHIC is a community
organization. It is your tool to improve
our children’s health and well being. We
could not have had the year we had in 2014 without you involvement and
financial support. Thank you!
I encourage you to partner with us in 2015 on
projects in which you find interest. We
appreciate your continued financial support.
This work cannot go forward without the financial resources to impact
the barriers to health that exist in our community. Please consider making PHIC apart of your charitable giving plan. Online donations can be made through the Pediatric Health Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga at https://cfgc.caritas247.com/Donate.aspx?dcid=PHF.
R. Allen Coffman, Jr., MD, FAAP
President
The Pediatric Health Improvement Coalition of the TN Valley
