Fortune 100 health care insurance provider Aetna Inc. of Hartford has given nearly $100,000 to support the Connecticut Children”™s Medical Center”™s mission of providing child health services in the Hartford region and beyond, including in the health care company”™s Fairfield and Danbury specialty care centers.
With the $99,850 grant from the Aetna Foundation, the Connecticut Children”™s Medical Center”™s office for community child health, the coordinating entity for its community-oriented programs, is building upon past work and expanding the use of an approach called the “strengthening families protective factors framework,” to design, implement and evaluate interventions that will benefit vulnerable children across the country.
“There is a growing recognition that the foundations of a healthy, productive life are built in early childhood,” said Paul Dworkin, MD, executive vice president for community child health at the Medical Center. “Research has also shown a correlation between five protective factors and positive outcomes for children and families.”
The five protective factors ”“ parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete support in times of need, and social and emotional competence of children ”“ equip families to meet their children”™s needs, reduce the burden of adversity and foster healthy development in the process, according to the medical center.
“The protective factors framework, championed by the Center for the Study of Social Policy, focuses on building resilience in families to modify the impact of adverse childhood experiences and support family environments that promote healthy development,” said Dworkin.
Ensuring children”™s optimal healthy development requires a comprehensive system that engages parents and an array of community partners, she said.
The grant will allow the medical center to put into effect the ”˜protective factors framework”™ throughout the “Help Me Grow” national affiliate network, a statewide program of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood that helps families with children at risk for developmental or behavioral problems find local support and services through a central call center. With support from the “Help Me Grow” National Center located at the Connecticut Children”™s Medical Center, more than 25 states and territories are replicating the program, according to the medical center.
In collaboration with Center for the Study of Social Policy, the medical center”™s office for community child health will develop and customize tools, such as surveys and databases, to apply the Protective Factors Framework in program design and evaluation, and will provide training and targeted technical assistance to the “Help Me Grow” affiliates, among other activities.
The funding will also fuel development of an interactive data tool that maps affiliates”™ progress in addressing and strengthening protective factors, while providing real-time data analytics to help affiliates continually improve quality as they move forward.
“Children”™s health has the best chance to flourish when all of the community”™s resources ”“ whether it”™s family involvement or medical care ”“ are coming together at the right time and in the right ways,” said Garth Graham, MD, MPH, president of the Aetna Foundation. “This innovative program offers a structure for aligning these resources in ways that amplify their impact, and it can be used across the country to help improve health for children who face significant social and economic hurdles.”
“We are grateful to the Aetna Foundation for supporting this initiative,” said Dworkin. “Their support will help strengthen childhood development services at (“Help Me Grow”) affiliates across the country and, in doing so, will provide positive outcomes for thousands of vulnerable children and their families.”
