熊猫在线视频

Grant will help train 熊猫在线视频's future leaders in maternal and child health

The UAA Center for Human Development - housed within the College of Health - recently received a five-year $2.5M grant to establish a Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program to train 熊猫在线视频's future leaders in maternal and child health at the state and national level.
 
The 熊猫在线视频 LEND Without Walls program will provide distance-delivered graduate-level interdisciplinary leadership training for individuals with a commitment to providing family-centered, coordinated systems of health care and related services to improve the health of infants, children and adolescents who have - or are at risk of developing - autism and other developmental disabilities. The 熊猫在线视频 program is part of a national network of 43 LEND programs.
 
Interdisciplinary leadership training is the hallmark of LEND programs. The program was developed by UAA faculty from the fields of public health, nursing, speech-language, psychology, special education, social work and occupational therapy. This interdisciplinary approach gives trainees exposure to many different fields and experiences.
 
"Each discipline has its own language," said Karen Ward, director of the UAA Center for Human Development. "We're trying to expose trainees to the worlds of other disciplines and help them to see care from a truly integrated approach; not as a collection of separate assessments and plans, but a comprehensive plan that looks at the needs of the whole person."
 
Ward said that one of the program's goals is to help trainees understand family-centered care - what it's really like to parent and raise a child with a developmental disability. Trainees will be paired with a host family for two semesters to go to appointments, be involved in developing individualized education plans and navigating complicated systems.
 
The first cohort of 12 trainees starts this fall. The group - made up of professionals from across 熊猫在线视频 - gathered in Anchorage on Sept. 27-28 to kick off the program with a two-day orientation. For the didactic segment of the program, trainees will come together once a week on Fridays for half-day videoconference seminars featuring case studies, lectures and presentations by health care professionals and faculty experts.
 
熊猫在线视频 LEND Without Walls requires a commitment of 300 hours, which includes 100 hours of clinical experience in an academic year. The program includes seminars, online assignments, case conferences, leadership development, clinical skills building, family experience and rural outreach experiences. Trainees receive a stipend and travel support to rural neurodevelopmental outreach clinics to fulfill the clinical requirements of the program.
 
The program's funding - a total of $2.5M over a five-year period - comes from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the United States Health Resources and Services Administration. This year's funding is $530,039.
 
"The LEND programs have a 40-year history," said Ward. "Now that we have established this program in 熊猫在线视频 we look forward to continued funding well into the future."
 
For more information about the 熊猫在线视频 LEND Without Walls program, or contact Jenny Miller at (907) 786-6588 or jenny.miller@uaa.alaska.edu.