(BOONE, NC)—The Appalachian District Health Department was awarded a three-year grant to strengthen the systems of care that impact families with children and youth with special health care needs in Ashe, Alleghany and Watauga Counties. The Innovative Approaches initiative, funded by the NC Division of Public Health Children and Youth Branch, will partner with families, medical providers and community agencies to identify gaps in services children and youth with special health care needs and implement system level changes to bridge these identified gaps.
Parents with children and youth with special health care needs experience a complex system of uncoordinated services. The aim of the Innovative Approaches initiative is to thoroughly examine and foster improvement for community wide systems of care that will effectively meet the needs of families of children and youth with special health care needs, resulting in greater family satisfaction with services and improved outcomes for these children. Special health care needs include chronic, medical, physical, developmental, and behavioral/emotional conditions.
The Innovative Approaches initiative was first awarded to the Appalachian District Health Department in 2013 and is currently active in Watauga County. The Innovative Approaches Watauga Steering Committee is comprised of parents, representatives from Watauga County Schools, Parent to Parent-FSN, ABLE Recreation, AccessCare of the Blue Ridge, Children’s Developmental Services Agency, Daymark Recovery Services, Smoky Mountain Center, The Children’s Council, Blue Ridge Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Inc., High Country Families on the Spectrum, Watauga County Department of Social Services, Appalachian State University, Western Youth Network, Appalachian Regional Healthcare System, and private therapists.
The Innovative Approaches initiative will continue in Watauga County through May of 2019 and will expand to Ashe and Alleghany Counties beginning summer of 2016. “The Innovative Approaches Initiative is strengthening the linkages between families with children and youth with special health care needs and community resources in creative, lasting ways,” says Maria Julian, Innovative Approaches Coordinator in Watauga County. “Every medical provider and community organization that is involved in the initiative in Watauga County has made sincere changes to the ways they deliver services to families with children and youth with special health care needs.”
For more information on the Innovative Approaches initiative, contact Maria Julian, the IA Coordinator, at 828-264-4995 ext. 3120 or maria.julian@apphealth.com.
The NC Innovative Approaches Initiative is supported through the NC Division of Public Health Children and Youth Branch.