Connecticut's Hospital Community Service Award
This
prestigious community service award recognizes the special
programs established by Connecticut’s hospitals to
meet the healthcare needs of their communities. Prior winners
have offered successful programs in parenting skills, cancer
screening, substance abuse prevention, HIV/AIDS support,
primary care outreach, community health planning, smoking
intervention, dental services, vaccinations, and pediatric
asthma management. These programs have benefited countless
Connecticut adults and children.
The
award, in its fifteenth year, is sponsored jointly by CHA
and the Department of Public Health (DPH) and is presented
at CHA's Annual Meeting.
Bridgeport
Hospital is the recipient of the 2007 Connecticut’s
Hospital Community Service Award, in recognition of
its Child FIRST program, which targets high-risk children
and their families, to decrease the incidence of development
and learning problems, emotional disturbance, abuse, and
neglect.
Child FIRST conducts community-based screening and consultation
for children with emotional, behavioral, and developmental
concerns, and for families with multiple challenges (e.g.,
maternal depression, domestic violence). Children and families
are offered comprehensive, home-based assessment, targeted
intervention, and a family-driven plan of services and care
coordination.
Each year more than 700 children are screened; approximately
100 receive a consultation; and between 200 and 250 families
receive intensive, home-based services, free of charge.
A randomized trial on Child FIRST effectiveness has shown
decreased child behavioral problems, reduced cases of parental
stress and depression, improved language development, and
overall increased access to resources.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, one of the supporters
of Child FIRST considers this a program of “national
significance.”
“By addressing the needs of the highest risk young
children and families, Child FIRST can help close the achievement
gap,” said Darcy Lowell, MD, Chief, Section of Developmental
and Behavioral Pediatrics. “It’s particularly
satisfying to know that other healthcare facilities across
CT are interested in serving this population by replicating
this early childhood system of care in their own communities.”
