Early Childhood Task Force
The AzAAP First Things First Task Force recently voted to change their name to the AzAAP Early Childhood Task Force. The group agreed that our work has expanded far beyond just dealing with the FTF Board, FTF Regional Councils and the initial work group topics. Much of the work that you all have done is being expanded into tools for AzAAP members and has led us to many new collaborations with state agencies besides FTF. The new name more adequately expresses the scope of the work that we are doing and does not limit our activity to that which is associated with FTF.
Passage of Proposition 203 “First Things First” in November 2006 provided advocates for early childhood health and education enormous opportunity to improve the lives of Arizona’s young children. The proposition approved an 80-cent per pack tax on cigarette sales and is expected to generate approximately $150 million each year for early childhood health and education issues. These funds will be administered on both a statewide and regional basis.
The administrative structure for this distribution is as follows. A state board has been appointed by Gov. Napolitano as the governing body. This board is chaired by Nadine Mathis Basha and includes representatives from around the state. The board has convened a child health council that is charged with developing statewide policy on health issues. This council is chaired by Gary Pasquinelli of Yuma, co-chaired by Dr. Grace Caputo, and staffed by Judy Walruff.
In the spring of 2008 the Board prioritized and adopted several state level strategies. Funding was also allocated for support of several activities in state fiscal year 09 including:
Quality Improvement and Rating System (QIRS) - $4.5 million
Child Care Health Consultation - $.6 million
Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) - $.375 million
Statewide distribution of Parent Kit - $.5 million
Public Awareness - $2 million
By statute, the majority of these funds will be distributed through regional councils. The Board identified 31 regional councils and appointed the first members to these councils in spring 2008. Chapter volunteers worked to recruit pediatricians to apply to become members of their regional councils. As a result of these efforts, 12 pediatricians and two family practice physicians have been appointed to the health seat in their region, and several other pediatricians have been appointed to other positions, such as the at-large seat. This represents an enormous opportunity for pediatricians to step forward and proactively advocate for child health issues.
AzAAP Early Childhood Task Force
AzAAP Early Childhood task force surveyed chapter membership in the fall of 2007 and identified several key areas to support. Many members of the task force went to FTF Board meetings to advocate for health issues and also participated in the FTF Board strategic planning sessions in January 2008. Information on the four key areas of concern have also been sent to each FTF regional council and staff.
The task force established four workgroups to address these key areas of concern:
- The Early Intervention/ Therapist Availability Group has recently published their initial white paper focusing on the lack of therapists to provide needed therapies to infants and children identified with developmental delays. The group has now turned its attention to developing therapist and parent surveys to further delineate specific problems that could be addressed.
- The Obesity Group has pulled together multiple programs that look at obesity in early childhood and will be publishing their position paper soon.
- Reach Out and Read (ROR) continues to advocate for the importance of early childhood literacy with the goal that every Arizona child will receive early literacy guidance from their health care provider during well child visits so they are ready to learn and succeed in school. A ROR presentation was provided for the FTF Board in March 2008 and each FTF regional council has been given ROR information for their needs and assets report.
- The fourth area that the Chapter chose for initial support was child care health consultation. As noted above, this was funded by the state board as a component of the Quality Improvement and Rating System.
One of the most gratifying parts of all of this work has been 1) the number of pediatricians who have contributed significant time and energy to this work and 2) the many new connections that the Chapter has been able to make with state agencies, and 3) the number of Chapter projects and work that will go forward regardless of what happens within the FTF structure. If you are a current chapter member and would like to participate in any of these workgroups, please let Rebecca know (rebecca.nevedale@azaap.org).
As always, thank you for all that you do for Arizona’s children. Prop 203 represents a terrific opportunity for Arizona’s children. We want to make it count!
Barb Smith, MD
520 722 2585
blsmd@comcast.net
June, 2008