Advocacy
Child Advocacy
Child Advocacy is one of the fastest growing areas of our program, and P.U.S.H. - our resident-driven child advocacy group - is gaining lots of ground within the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The current areas of emphasis for the child advocacy rotation and P.U.S.H. are child abuse and obesity. In these efforts, our P.U.S.H. program had a big role in getting Kentucky's House Bill 285 passed. This bill, in part, mandates training for healthcare workers who interact with children about signs of child abuse and training for new parents in hospital nurseries about Shaken Baby Syndrome.
P.U.S.H. is now strongly advocating for House Bill 200 to create a statewide child fatality panel to look closely at all fatalities and near fatalities in an effort to understand risk factors that will allow focus on preventable injuries and fatalities.
Additionally, our advocacy leaders created a "Child Abuse Quick Reference Guide" to be shared with all of the pediatricians practicing in Kentucky as well as all of the pediatric and family practice residency programs in the country.
Child Advocacy Elective
Our two-week advocacy elective is dedicated to furthering our residents' development as advocates outside of the exam room and requires residents to spend time at the following sites with their respective leaders:
- Kosair Children’s Advocacy Department
- Kentucky Chapter of the AAP in Frankfort
- Department of Public Health in Frankfort
- Medicaid Department in Frankfort
- Capital in Frankfort
AAP Involvement
Kasey Strothman, MD, is the AAP Section IV Representative as part of the AAP's Section on Medical Students, Residents, and Fellowship Trainees. Dan Kischnick, M.D., is the University of Louisville's program delegate. The sections of the AAP "enable residents, fellowship trainees, and medical students of the AAP to meet for the purpose of developing ideas and generating programs and projects which will improve the care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults."
