NYS Developmental Disabilities Planning Council Announces Grants

ALBANY, NY (03/24/2008)(readMedia)-- New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC) announces grants of $35,000 going to SUNY Upstate Medical University, New York Medical College, Maimonides Medical Center, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Institute for Urban Family Health, Southern Nassau Community Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital Center, and a $40,000 grant to the Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME) via Health Research Inc. for the Parent Partners in Health Education (PPHE) program.

George E. Fertal, Sr., Chairperson, announced that on March 13th, 2008, the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC) awarded seven $35,000 and one $40,000 grant to continue the Parent Partners in Health Education Program for Medical Residents in Primary Care.

The PPHE curriculum seeks to help medical residents gain a greater understanding of disability issues through building partnerships with caregivers and the community and to adjust practice to provide better care. Core features of the curriculum include a series of interviews between resident physicians and parents who have children with developmental disabilities or individuals with disabilities and staff from residential programs serving adults with developmental disabilities. Other features of the curriculum include a series of lectures and community agency interviews designed to increase sensitivity, awareness, and relevant skills so that physicians can better serve individuals with disabilities. The purpose of the parent/residential interviews and other curriculum activities is to help the residents gain an understanding of the experiences of raising a child with a disability from the perspective of the family and the strengths and needs of adults who live in residential programs.

Dr. Samuel Sandowski of the South Nassau Community Hospital stated about the program, “This grant has been tremendous. It fulfilled a self identified need, both at their organization and in the field in general. It has been fulfilling at the faculty and at the residence level for treating these children, not just at the biomedical level, but also at the psychosocial level. This could not have been done without this grant.” Other program participants have been similarly supportive. Thomas F. Burke, Executive Director of the Council on Graduate Medical Education and Project Director for the PPHE grant states “The NYS Council on Graduate Medical Education is excited for this opportunity to continue to work with residency programs to improve skills for physicians to care for families and children with developmental disabilities. The physician residents involved with these programs are gaining important insights into the challenges families face and the resources physicians can tap to promote high quality care for these families.”

The DDPC is a federally funded state agency dedicated to designing and implementing new programs that serve New Yorkers with Developmental disabilities and their families in the most effective way possible. Sixty percent of the Governor-appointed membership of the DDPC is parents and people with developmental disabilities. For more information on the DDPC, go to: www.ddpc.state.ny.us.

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