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April 21, 2008
Children’s health network gains non-profit status
Integrating Professionals for Appalachian Children (IPAC) gains
fundraising advantages with 501(c)3 status
The regional children’s rural health network
Integrating Professionals for Appalachian Children (IPAC) recently
gained non-profit charity status. This qualifies the network and its
member organizations to apply for additional funding streams, and it
makes individual donations to IPAC tax-deductible. Those benefits
will help sustain and expand the efforts of IPAC over time,
according to Jane Hamel-Lambert, Ph.D., IPAC president and
director of interdisciplinary mental health education at the Ohio
University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM).
“IPAC came about as a means to share expertise,
integrate efforts and make children’s comprehensive health care more
accessible for parents and other caregivers,” said Hamel-Lambert.
“We’re trying to leverage the resources we have now to more
efficiently serve children.”
The
network comprises fourteen community agencies in Athens, Hocking,
Meigs and Vinton Counties, in addition to several Ohio University
departments and clinics. Representatives of member organizations
meet regularly to share how they identify and assess mental health
risks in early childhood, forge new collaborations and eliminate
redundant efforts.
“I think IPAC is somewhat unique in its scale
of cooperation among community and university programs,” said Dave
Hunter, director of Help Me Grow, an Athens County Children Services
program for expectant parents, newborns, infants and toddlers.
Hunter added that Help Me Grow has already benefited from the
collaboration in the form of increased referrals from other IPAC
members. “We’re becoming more aware of each others’ services, and
we’re cross-training to better identify different development
risks.”
IPAC developed and supports a “family
navigator” position: a registered nurse who works with families of
children to overcome common barriers to health care—from
demystifying medical diagnoses to facilitating transportation.
“As
family navigator, I walk parents through many steps, not only to
make sure their child receives appropriate services, but to also
make sure the parents know what is happening at each step and why,”
said Sue Meeks, R.N., IPAC’s first family navigator and a
behavioral health care coordinator at OU-COM.
Meeks
explains that families often toil through multiple referrals before
reaching a diagnosis or treatment plan. “Previously, parents
repeatedly answered the same questions, often not understanding why
they were there. As family navigator, I gather
all the information prior to the referral and also ensure that the
parents have the information they need to make informed choices
about their child’s care.”
IPAC,
which received a Distinguished Rural Health Program Award from the
Ohio Department of Health in September, is currently supported by a
three-year, $540,000 grant from the federal Health Resources and
Services Administration’s Office of Rural Health Policy.
Over the next three years, IPAC members plan to
expand services offered by the family navigator program, develop
interdisciplinary mental health assessments and comprehensive care
plans for children, and further train child care and health care
providers to screen children regularly for social and developmental
risks.
For
information on IPAC, its family navigator program, or what you can
do to support IPAC, please contact Jane Hamel-Lambert, Ph.D., at
(740) 593-2289 or hamel-lj@ohio.edu.
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