Healthy Tomorrows grantee, Dr. Felesia Bowen, discusses Healthy Tomorrows project in UAB website article
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) recently profiled the Moving and Grooving in Concert for Health- MAGIC City Health Healthy Tomorrows project on the UAB website! Dr. Felesia Bowen, professor and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing, was awarded a $250,000 (over 5 years) grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to lead a five-year initiative aimed at reducing childhood obesity and related health issues in the Birmingham area. The state of Alabama has witnessed a rise in childhood obesity rates, particularly among Black children. Dr. Bowen will collaborate with the Titusville community, a predominantly minority neighborhood, to enhance access to health information, nutritious food, health screenings, and physical activity resources for children and their families. The project will involve establishing a community-based nutrition and physical activity program, as well as forming partnerships with community and state organizations to ensure the sustainability of the program. The UAB School of Nursing will work alongside community organizations, such as Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, Viva Health, an insurance provider, and Live HealthSmart Alabama, to implement interventions to promote healthy living. The project is an interprofessional collaboration with other UAB health-focused schools and will provide training opportunities for health professions students. By addressing systemic barriers and promoting policy changes, this initiative aims to foster health equity and improve the overall well-being of children and families in under-resourced communities in Birmingham.
Healthy Tomorrows grantee, Dr. Corinna Rea, receives grant funding to test virtual ASD evaluations
Dr. Corinna Rea and her research team at Boston Children’s Primary Care are re-thinking the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) evaluation process to improve patient care. Their work has led to funding for their spin-off project! Congratulations to Dr. Rea and her team! Dr. Rea is the Project Director for a Healthy Tomorrows project called “An Autism Care Navigator Model within the Medical Home”.
In her spin-off project, Dr. Rea and her team will pilot a new diagnostic model that will employ virtual evaluations. It will be a fast-track virtual diagnosis method to diagnose children under the age of 3 with ASD. If a primary care provider (PCP) suspects a child may have ASD, they fill out a structured referral document that the team’s autism project coordinator will use to contact families to schedule a virtual assessment and determine if interpreter services are needed. Since last October, the team has received over 80 referrals for this virtual evaluation model. Dr. Rea said that in many cases, the evaluations are taking place sooner than the goal of six weeks from referral and families are liking virtual evaluations overall.
Please read the full blog post for more information about Dr. Rea’s innovative work!
Research from HT-supported BRIC FIT Program publishes two articles
Dr. Yonit Lax, Project Director for the Healthy Tomorrows BRIC FIT program at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, published two articles.
- Identifying Nutritional Insecurity Among Families in an Urban Pediatric Practice - This study looks at screening for food scarcity, state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable foods, and nutritional insecurity defined as inconsistent access, availability, and affordability of food that promotes well-being. The study found that by screening for food scarcity alone, the sites would have missed a third of caregivers who only had nutritional insecurity. Download the PDF at JAMA Network Open.
- The Use of Telemedicine for Screening and Addressing Social Needs in a Primary Care Pediatric Population in Brooklyn, New York - This study analyzes how at different points in time, social needs in a cohort that receives social needs screenings biannually by telemedicine and in-person care were more likely to have their social needs addressed compared to individuals in a control group that received annual routine in-person care. Visit the Journal of Community Health to access the article.