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Although considered by most to be an educational issue, health care does play an important role in this critical stage of life, generally thought of as the time between birth and age 5.
Increasing its contribution to early childhood development in the state of Nebraska is a focus point in the 2006-2009 UNMC strategic plan and progress is being made in that effort, said Cynthia Ellis, M.D., director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute’s Department of Developmental Medicine.
“We’re trying to weave a role for UNMC in something that’s traditionally been an educational effort,” Dr. Ellis said. “And we are actively seeking ways that we can increase the involvement of the medical center.”
After reviewing the extensive needs assessment and strategic plan developed by the Nebraska Health and Human Services to optimize outcomes for Nebraska children and their families, oral health, telehealth and promoting the “medical home” concept were identified as areas in which UNMC could effectively collaborate with community partners take a leadership roles, Dr. Ellis said.
UNMC’s resources in dental health make it an obvious leader to help the state’s young children obtain and maintain oral health, Dr. Ellis said.
Telehealth connects UNMC with medical centers throughout the state via television as a vehicle for communication, training and service delivery. This system allows patients and practitioners to interact with each other from across Nebraska by video. This can be particularly helpful for children with special needs and some UNMC care providers are already using this method to evaluate and treat children, Dr. Ellis said.
UNMC is also in a good position to collaborate with the community to promote the “medical home” concept in health services.
The medical home concept is an approach to primary care that provides accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family centered, coordinated, compassionate and culturally effective health care services. In a medical home setting, the primary care team works in partnership with families and community services to assure that all medical and non-medical needs of the patients and families are met.
Using this approach, primary care providers continue to manage a patient’s general medical care while also helping patients and families understand and integrate recommendations from other health care and service providers.
“In a medical home, a primary care provider serves as a ‘home base’ to help patients and families access and coordinate the care and services they need,” Dr. Ellis said.
Other examples of UNMC looking to increase its presence in early childhood development include:
- UNMC has explored opportunities targeting early childhood within the College of Public Health, which was recently approved by the Board of Regents.
- Several medical center professionals took part in a discussion in November to discuss Amendment 5.
“More and more we are finding that birth to age 5 is critical period of development in a child’s life,” Dr. Ellis said. “UNMC is looking to do its part to make sure Nebraska’s children are getting the help they need to flourish during this time. We are still assessing our strengths in this area and are seeking input from our community partners as to how we might better collaborate with them in pursuing this goal.”
“UNMC is strategically seeking select leadership roles in working with community partners to address the needs of this critical population,” said Bob Bartee, vice chancellor for external affairs at UNMC. Bartee is assigned oversight responsibility for the “Advancing Community Partnerships” critical success factor in UNMC’s strategic plan.
“Dr. Ellis and her team have taken giant strides to position UNMC to be a major contributor in early childhood development in the community and the entire state,” Bartee said. “For that, Dr. Ellis and her team deserve our thanks and support.”