May/June 2012

By Kate Howe, MPH
Program Manager, Child Health, AMCHP

As state Title V programs are increasingly integrating the concepts of the Life Course Perspective into MCH work, the AMCHP Emerging Issues Committee (EIC) conducted an assessment of the resources and tools that states have developed to get this accomplished. The goal of the assessment was to help foster the sharing and development of ideas to support the application of life course into Title V programs. [more]

Website Launch: AMCHP State Life Course Resource Center

LCRN -- A Profound New Way to Understand Health

By Neal Halfon, MD, MPH and Ericka Tullis, MPP
Life Course Research Network

In October 2010, the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities was awarded a threeyear grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) to develop the MCH Life Course Research Network (LCRN). This project represents an exciting and unique opportunity to improve our understanding of how health develops over the life span. [more]

Implications of the Life Course Perspective on State
Title V CYSHCN Programs and All CYSHCN

Eileen Forlenza
Director, Family Leadership Initiative
AMCHP Board Member
Title V Colorado

As we pulled off the highway, we made our way down a picturesque country road that welcomed us with trees with outstretched arms. It was almost as if we were getting a preemptive hug, a sense that perhaps we should prepare ourselves for a dose of emotion. I was going on a site visit to a long-term residential group home for adults with autism or other profound intellectual deficits and I was going in with my eyes wide open. I was far from my Colorado home, visiting an east coast state known for its history of excellence and dedication to children with special health care needs. My daughter Holly turned 23 this week wedging yet another year between childhood and adulthood. One more year in her unique life living with complex health care needs. [more]

Jessica Foster MD, MPH
CYSHCN Director, Medical Director, Bureau for Children with Medical Handicaps and Early Intervention Services, Ohio Department of Health

Title V CYSHCN programs support children facing a variety of challenges as they grow into healthy, active, independent and productive adults. Evidence suggests disparity exists in health care quality, home environment, and neighborhood and school environments for CYSHCN compared with non-CYSHCN. Life Course emphasizes impact of social determinants of health across the life span in attaining health equity for our children. Access to social and economic opportunities and a child's experience growing up in their home, school and community significantly impact long-term health, development and well-being. [more]

Holly Williams, RN, MS
Director, Bureau of Children with Special Health Care Needs, Utah Department of Health

The life course perspective will bring new opportunities to collaborate with our primary care and prevention partners in Utah and around the country, especially as science and medical advances allow children with disabilities to live longer. The life course perspective is an impetus to look beyond the service itself. Here is one example of what Utah is doing: The Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Neonatal Follow-up Program, that sees young children who were born at 1250 grams or less, is partnering with the University of Utah (U of U) Department of Obstetrics to assist mothers in understanding their potential risk for a subsequent preterm birth. [more]

REAL LIFE STORY

By Josiah Barber
Student, Portland State University

Prior to my involvement with maternal child health programs in Oregon, my home state, I had never heard of life course theory. When I learned about the life course theory, though, it made perfect sense, and I can see threads of it appearing in my social work education. After spending some time working with youth with disabilities, I believe life course is a call to professionals to look beyond the medical model and diagnosis. Seek to understand what is happening in other aspects a young person's life. [more]