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June 16, 2000
DYSON FOUNDATION TO AWARD MORE THAN $15 MILLION TO INNOVATIVE
PEDIATRIC COMMUNITY TRAINING PROGRAMS
-- New Grant Program Challenges Medical Schools to Redefine Role
of Pediatrician --
Millbrook, NY - The Dyson Foundation, committed to innovative programs
to enhance the health and well-being of children, is granting more
than $15 million to support innovative pediatric training in the
community. The goal of The Dyson Initiative - Pediatric Training
in the Community is to develop a new generation of pediatricians
with skills and knowledge of community-based medicine, advocacy
and the capacity to improve the health of all children in their
communities. This precedent-setting initiative will make grants
to six departments of pediatrics to develop curricula and scholarly
efforts to expand community-oriented and community-based health
care.
Anne E. Dyson, M.D., a pediatrician who serves as President of
the Dyson Foundation and Chair of the Dyson Initiative said, "Being
a good pediatrician no longer means that it is enough to sit in
your office and wait for individual children to come to you for
medical treatment. Most people do not realize that the United States
has some of the worst child health indicators in the developed world.
One in five children in this country live in poverty. Our infant
mortality rate ranks 17th out of 20 industrialized nations. Twelve
children are killed by gun violence every day. These are problems
that we must address in our communities - not just in our medical
offices. We must train pediatricians with new skills to advocate
and engage the community in solving the underlying causes of young
people's health problems."
The following outstanding medical schools have been selected because
of their interest in establishing or expanding innovation in their
pediatric residency programs:
- The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in
collaboration with Harlem Hospital Center;
- The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry;
- The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia;
- The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in
collaboration with the Naval Medical Center Pediatrics;
- The Medical College of Wisconsin;
- The University of Hawaii School of Medicine;
Each award will be funded for the duration of five years with funding
up to $500,000 per year.
The Dyson Initiative will broaden the focus of pediatric
resident education to include an understanding of and responsibility
to the health of all children in a community. Often, these same
communities have child health indicators well below national averages.
For example, in New York City's Washington Heights and Harlem,
served by both the Columbia University College of Physicians
and Surgeons and Harlem Hospital Center, nearly half
of the children live in poverty. Rates of infant mortality, lead
poisoning, asthma, HIV infection, and obesity are multiples of the
national and the overall New York City average. Columbia/Harlem
Hospital is extensively involved with community-based approaches
to problems including school-based health programs, a therapeutic
nursery for abused and neglected preschool children, literacy programs,
injury prevention and home visitation programs. The Dyson Initiative
will allow major expansion including doubling resident's hours for
community placement, providing a community pediatrics faculty mentor
to each resident and developing a web-based curriculum for community
partners and pediatric residents.
While child health indicators in Rochester, New York are stable
or improving, the city is ranked among the ten worst cities for
the rate of childhood poverty, a level that is double the national
average. The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
has already started a program that brings young doctors out of the
hospitals for home and school visits, participation in community
activities and mentorship by a social worker. They will receive
funds to expand their Pediatric Links to the Community program,
create a Child Advocacy Resident Education program and child
advocacy library.
In Philadelphia, overall health statistics are bleak with infant
mortality nearly twice the national average and teenage pregnancy
nearly 50% above the national average. With the grant from the Dyson
Initiative, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia,
one of the largest pediatric training programs in the country, will
create a Community Based Pediatrics and Advocacy Program.
The program will build on a 14-year effort that includes home visits,
presentations on health topics at elementary and middle schools
and a clinic to treat teen mothers and their babies. Because Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia trains over 100 pediatric residents each
year, this program will impact pediatric practice throughout the
entire country as these young doctors begin practicing in other
communities.
In San Diego, there is a large divide between wealthy communities
and underserved ones, which have dangerously high rates of poverty,
crime, poor health, and social problems. To expand their commitment
to equip pediatric residents to address these challenges, the University
of California, San Diego School of Medicine in collaboration with
the Naval Medical Center has already identified more than 30
community sites to work with residents in training. The Dyson
Initiative will allow the program to target four underserved
sub-communities, including the rural East County, home to 16 Native
American tribes. Current collaborative programs include a mobile
van and development of a cross-border, grass roots education and
training program for health professionals.
In Milwaukee, youth health indicators are the 8th worst among the
50 largest cities in the United States, and have worsened over the
last 20 years. Thirty eight percent of Milwaukee's youth live in
poverty. The Medical College of Wisconsin has built
excellent bridges in the community to serve these young people.
The grant will expand their dynamic program to train pediatric residents
to provide culturally competent, family-centered, coordinated and
community-based care that addresses the cultural and non-medical
influences to improve health of children in their communities. This
may mean, for example, counseling a teenage mother about her child
's development to help her have realistic expectations of her child's
behavior - often a key early step in preventing child abuse.
In Hawaii, recent surveys indicate that two of the most pressing
health issues in the state are child abuse and neglect and mental
disorders among children and adolescents. Through the Dyson Initiative,
pediatric residents at The University of Hawaii School of Medicine
will be trained to identify and provide services for children suffering
from not only child abuse and mental disorders, but also a myriad
of other pediatric problems. Throughout their three years of training,
residents will have community-based experiences in six core areas:
child welfare, mental health, chronic illness, early childhood,
adolescent health and school health. Pediatric residents will have
opportunities that range from traveling to serve children in hard-to-reach
rural areas on the outer islands to working on public policy and
legislative advocacy.
The Dyson Foundation plans to award a similar number of grants
at the same funding level to additional programs in 2002.
The Dyson Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation established
in 1957 by the late Charles H. and Margaret M. Dyson. The Foundation
is led by Anne E. Dyson, M.D., the Dysons' only daughter, who serves
as the Foundation's President. Headquartered in the Mid-Hudson Valley
of New York State, the foundation awards grants in two main funding
areas: a national program in child health and medicine and a regional
program in the Dyson family's home community of the Mid-Hudson Valley
of New York State.
Endowed through bequests from the estates of Charles H. Dyson and
Margaret M. Dyson, the Foundation's assets presently stand at over
$300,000,000 and in the year 2000 it will award grants totaling
$14,500,000.
For more information on The Dyson Initiative, please
visit our website at www.dysonfoundation.org
or call (914) 833-7093.
Contact: Jennifer Hahn, Sharon Lewis
Douglas Gould & Co. (914) 833-7093
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