For the past 12 years, the Health Resources and Services Administration/Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)-funded Baylor College of Medicine Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Training Program, based at Texas Children’s Hospital, has sponsored the two-day “Chronic Illness and Disability: Transition from Pediatric to Adult-based Care Conference.”
The purpose of the Conference is to bring together health care professionals and YSHCN and their families to further each other’s knowledge about and skills related to HCT. The Conference is important for the educational content and opportunity for interaction between YSHCN, families, community agencies and academic experts on HCT from around the U.S., Canada and other countries.
It also represents a model of collaboration among YSHCN, families, MCHB-funded BCM LEAH and Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) training programs, the Texas Title V CYSHCN Program and in 2011, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD).
Health care professionals targeted by the Conference include internal medicine, pediatric and family medicine physicians; other health care providers including psychologists, social workers, nurses, dietitians, case managers, counselors and public health officials; and community agency representatives. This audience, plus YSHCN and family members, creates a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary and family-centered care interchange.
The Conference includes didactic presentations, parent and young adult panels, breakout sessions, and question and answer sessions. In 2011, the conference was held in Houston on October 19-21, and the collaboration was expanded to include: 1) the annual meeting of the Health Care Transition Research Consortium (HCTRC), which added an important research component; 2) the AUCD that supported the HCTRC meeting and the live broadcast of the Conference to all LEAH and LEND sites across the U.S.; and 3) the Texas Title V CYSHCN Program-sponsored live broadcast of the Conference to five sites in Texas.
For the third consecutive year, 50-60 Texas YSHCN and their parents/guardians were given scholarships to the Conference, through a Texas Title V CYSHCN Program grant. In addition to providing funding support for the HCTRC annual meeting to be in conjunction with the Transition Conference, the AUCD also sponsored the archiving of 14 of the lectures presented at the Transition Conference, which you can access through links on this page.
