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2002:
The year in review
The year in review | The
year in research | The year in advocacy
Children’s Office of Child Advocacy (OCA) had a busy year in
2002, successfully advocating for children and youth on both the
community and government levels.
Strong collaborations have been the hallmark of OCA’s
successes in 2002. “Partnering with individuals within the
hospital and with community-based groups, the OCA has enjoyed successes
in passing legislation and establishing community-based programs
to improve the health and well being of children, as well as improving
state and federal reimbursement rates to enable Children’s
to continue to fulfill its four-part mission,” says M.
Laurie Cammisa, Esq., vice president for Child Advocacy.
The OCA has focused its efforts in two areas that affect
the health status of children: injury prevention and living with
asthma. In November, Children’s Trauma Program and OCA were
awarded a four-year Injury Free Coalition for Kids (IFCK) grant
to create a comprehensive, community-based injury prevention initiative
in Jamaica Plain. And more than 60 children and families affected
by asthma attended Asthma Action Games and Kids with Asthma Can
Camp, two events designed to encourage children with asthma to exercise.
Recognizing the crisis in the adequacy and availability
of mental health services for children and adolescents, the Children’s
Hospital Child and Adolescent Mental Health Advocacy Initiative
(CAMHAI) joined with advocates from across the state in creating
a Mental Health Commission for Children that will provide needed
information and recommendations about how best to address this crisis.
Two members of the Children’s Hospital staff sit on the commission.
In addition, the CAMHAI and its partners developed a parent and
provider resource guide about accessing mental health care and installed
billboards throughout the city to support Boston’s public education
campaign to erase the stigma of mental illness.
Ensuring that Children’s Hospital remains financially
strong is crucial to the hospital’s ability to continue to
fulfill its four-part mission of patient care, research, teaching,
and community service. James Mandell, MD,
president and CEO, served on the Uncompensated Care Pool Commission,
advocating for the protection of this important safety net for the
uninsured while at the same time ensuring the equitable administration
of the pool funds. In addition, Children’s was successful in
gaining $20 million in federal funding to support our Graduate Medical
Education program while also improving the level of reimbursement
the hospital receives for caring for children insured by the Medicaid
program.
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