Medical Home Plus for more information.

How Medical Home Plus can help your family:

If a child in your family has special health care needs, Medical Home Plus can provide a wealth of information, support, and referral assistance. Click the links below to learn more about the following free services specially designed for Virginia families like yours:

• The VA INFO Center
• Resource Referral and Care Coordination services

Medical Home Plus Programs:

Medical Home Collaboration

All children with special health care needs will receive coordinated, ongoing, comprehensive care within a medical home.

Healthy People 2010

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Maternal and Child Health Bureau

December 2001

2010 may be four years away but a collaborative initiative in Virginia is working to make “Medical Home” a reality for all children in Virginia.  Medical Home Plus, the Central Virginia Care Connection for Children (CVACCC), Family Voices, Medical Home Plus (MHP), Parent to Parent, Title V - Virginia Department of Health (VDH), and the VA Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics are working together to inform parents, practitioners and insurers about what a medical home is, how services are provided and how a medical home leads to a higher level of wellness for the child as well as improved customer satisfaction.  

The Medical Home concept was initially introduced in Virginia in the fall of 2002 but it wasn’t until the spring of 2003 when several members of the collaborative attended training sessions sponsored by the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) that planning for statewide implementation began in earnest.  There, team members learned about the necessary components of medical home and how to assist pediatric practices in implementing a change process by using a model for improvement called “PDSA” – plan, do, study, act.  The PDSA process is a way to implement small changes while evaluating whether they are workable and realistic for full practice wide implementation. 

With the assistance of a HRSA grant, 13 pediatric practices throughout Virginia have agreed to work with the Medical Home Plus resource team to make their practice a “Medical Home”.  Each practice team includes at least one physician, a service coordinator, and a parent.  Including a parent in the process of change has been a new experience for the majority of the practices.  As team members, parents tell it like it is.  It is through their experience that the areas for change are identified and the PDSA cycle begins.

For more information contact Colleen Kraft at 804-330-5030.

Family Voices is a national, grassroots clearinghouse for information and education concerning the health care of children with special health needs. We stay on top of public and private sector health care changes that affect our children and families through the collective effort of our families. We have a volunteer coordinator in every state; ten regional coordinators; and a small staff working in several locations around the country. Family Voices share the expertise and experiences of families from around the country with state and national policymakers, the media, health professionals, and other families. Family Voices works in public and private hospitals, public health programs, state capitols as well as Washington, D. C. Its members and volunteers serve on boards and task forces, working in partnership with health professionals and policymakers, bringing the family perspective to policy discussions and decisions. There are almost 40,000 Family Voices members – families of children with special health needs and friends and professionals who know and love our children.

Virginia Federation of Families

Formerly (PACCT) Parents and Children Coping Together   

VAFOF Spring 2006 Newsletter

VAFOF is a Virginia statewide organization for families of children and adolescents with mental, emotional and behavioral disorders.  VAFOF is organized and operated by parents and family members who found a new home and an opportunity to share resources and expertise at Medical Home Plus. 

History
Parents and Children Coping Together was formed in 1985 by a father whose child was in a psychiatric hospital.  As he walked through the halls of this hospital, seeing the faces of the other parents with the same exhausted looks, he realized that perhaps other parents were experiencing the same problems that he was – dealing with the stigma of having a child with special needs, difficulty at work because of frequent absences resulting from his Childs’s disorder, and etc...

John asked hospital staff if he could hold a meeting for these parents.  A room was provided and thus our family support network was born.  The group was an immediate success.  Parents were eager to share their experiences and concerns.  Within a short period of time, the network became involved with advocacy.  The Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services helped write VAFOF’s first grant and the program began. 

Today
A team of Resource Coordinators are available to assist children with mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and their families to connect with community services.  Simply call (877) 330-5030 for help. Additional VAFOF Services have been added: 

Thanks to the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Substance Abuse Services, VAFOF  helps lead the way for strengthening family support systems in Virginia…

VAFOF is working collaboratively with four other steering committee representatives to help facilitate building VA INFO (Virginia Integrated Network of Family Organizations) – helping to create a unified voice for families across the Commonwealth.  The other steering committee organizations include:  Family Voices (also a program of Medical Home Plus), Parent To Parent of Virginia, Parent Education and Advocacy Training Center, and Arc of Virginia. 

VAFOF Networking
There are opportunities to establish and maintain affiliation with local support groups with support through VA FOF:

• Create local and/or regional chapters of Virginia Federation of Families

• Promote state and local advocacy efforts; and

• Learn about legislative and policy issues related to mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

New VAFOF website coming soon. National website:  http://www.ffcmh.org/

Early Childhood Violence Prevention

Project Participant Login

Medical Home Plus does more than provide direct services to children with special needs. We have a growing commitment to violence prevention among children in our communities through strengthening social /emotional developments and resiliency characteristics.

We know that Virginia’s children are being expelled from school for behavioral problems at an early ages. With funding from the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation, Medical Home Plus in partnership with United Way Success By 6^® has connected evidence based programs with the adults in the lives of young children:

Al’s Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices, is an evidence based curriculum that trains teachers to foster kinder, gentler learning environments. Designed for children 3 – 8, it enhances children’s lives, helping them develop the social skills and the resiliency to carry them through their formative years. Using puppets, singing and dancing, this program teaches children to control their own behavior and resolve conflicts through problem-solving.

To date, Medical Home Plus has trained over 200 early childhood educators: In turn, those educators have implemented the program for over 3,000 children in 2005-2006.

Parent Education Outreach, Here, Now and Down the Road…Tips for Loving Parents, is a program for parents to assist them in guiding their children toward safe, supportive and productive lifestyles. The education program is based on the premise that the interaction and guidance of parents helps children not only in the present – but for their lifetimes.

Medical Home Plus has successfully implemented the program in various faith-based communities, pre-schools, day care centers and local schools. Medical Home Plus is also introducing Here, Now and Down the Road...to mothers and fathers who are inmates transitioning into their home and communities, contact Kate Olenyik for more information. For more information about Al's Pals, visit www.wingspanworks.com.