We have a date!

We’re very excited to announce that this year Residents Day at the State House will take place on Thursday, April 15th 2010.  We’re currently working on contacting speakers and getting the word out.  Stay tuned for more information in the upcoming months.

Children’s Health Advocates Unite

Residents and fellows of MassGeneral Hospital for Children devote most of their time to treating sick children in a hospital setting, but this June they devoted a day to preventing and curing illness outside of the hospital wards.

This year’s fourth-annual Pediatric Residents and Fellows Day at the State House (RFDASH) brought out about 80 residents, fellows and faculty from various hospitals to advocate for legislation that affects children’s health.

Updated schedule

8:30          Registration and breakfast

9:00          Welcome and introductions

9:15          Lauren Smith MD, MPH – Medical Director of the Mass Dept of Public Health

“Public Health and Health Disparities:  The Social Becomes Biologic”

9:45          Peter Masiakos MS, MD – Pediatric Surgeon, Mass General Hospital

“The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few:  How Meaningful Legislation Impacts Children’s Health”

Focus on the Issues:  S366: An Act to Regulate the Use of Off Highway and Recreation Vehicles

10:15        The Kearney Family: A family’s perspective on the ATV bill

10:30        Short break and snack

10:45        David DeMaso MD- Chairman of Psychiatry, Children’s Hosp of Boston

Focus on the Issues:  S757 & H3586: An Act for Coordination of Children’s Mental Health Care Services

11:00        Sean Palfrey MD- Prof of General Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center

With a visit from Alice Wolf- State Representative 25^th Middlesex District

Focus on the Issues: S859 & H3453: An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Childhood Vaccines Program and    the Massachusetts Immunization Registry

11:45        Visit from Senate President Therese Murray

12:00        Sean Palfrey MD & Ed Brennan, Esq. – Legal Counsel & Lobbyist, MCAAP – Workshop: “How to be an Effective Lobbyist” & Question & Answer Session

12:30        Lunch

1:00          Meetings with individual legislators

2:00 –       Feedback and Wrap-up

Schedule of Events

8:30                 Registration and breakfast

9:00                 Welcome and introductions

9:15                 Lauren Smith – Director of the Mass Dept of Public Health

9:45                 Peter Masiakos- Professor of Pediatric Surgery, Mass Gen Hospital

10:00               The Kearney Family: Discussing Impact of the ATV Bill

10:15               Short break and snack

10:45               David DeMaso MD- Chair of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Boston, Mental Health Bill

11:00              Alex Calcagno – Lobbyist for the Mass Med Society, How to be an Effective Lobbyist

12:00               Sean Palfrey-Prof of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center & Ed Brennan- Lobbyist for the MCAAP, Immunization Bill                     

12:20               Questions & Answers

12:30               Lunch

1:30                 Meetings with individual legislators

Mental Health Bill

Mental health coverage for the young is critically important.  I am faced with patients regularly who struggle to get the healthcare they need.  For those with insurance, the waits are tremendous and for those without (or with coverage that limits mental health benefits) they often go without or their parents take on significant financial risks to get them care. 

The MCPAP-Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project (http://mcpap.typepad.com/) has offered some much needed relief but it is not enough.  We must get more coverage for childhood mental health and increase reimbursement in order to encourage more mental health providers to train to take care of children.

ATV Bill

Once again, this year’s Resident Day at the State House event is shaping up to be a phenomenal combination of education and advocacy. I remain extremely proud of the tireless work the MGHfC residents put into this event. Every year is better than the last. I am really excited to be coming this year and we’re all hoping that this may be the extra push that the ATV age restriction legislation needs to pass!

RSVP for RDASH 2009

We just had a recent meeting of our pediatric advocacy group!

We are ready to send out the final information for our RDASH 2009 event. We are so excited to have two amazing keynote speakers this year: Dr. Lauren Smith who is the medical director of the Department of Public Health and Dr. Peter Masiakos who is one of our pediatric surgeons at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. We are still working on settling our active issues from this year but will definitely be learning about the ATV bill and talking to legislators about it. We are also hoping to discuss the Mental Health Bill this year and funding for immunizations.

Here is the info for our event ! Please RSVP if you are interested in attending.                                   – Alenka Zeman MD PGY-3 Senior Resident

Pediatric Residents and Fellows Day at the State House                                                                                                                                       

Monday June 1, 2009 

8:30am- 3:00pm Great Hall- Massachusetts State House

RSVP by April 1st to Catherine Aftandilian    caftandilian@partners.org

Please include in your reply:

Name, Institution, Home address, T-Shirt Size & whether or not you will participate in the morning only or full-day session.

We hope to see you there!
Resident Advocacy Group, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children

 

RDASH 2009

After a good deal of soul searching and numerous email exchanges, we finally have a date for RDASH 2009!  This year, we will be visiting the Massachusetts State House to advocate for pediatric health issues on Monday, June 1st, 2009.  The event is from 9 am to 4 pm and is free to all participants.  We’re already working hard to come up with a great set of speakers.

First Advocacy Meeting of the Year

On Saturday September 6th, the MGHfC Pediatric Advocacy Group had the first meeting of the year. Dr. Shannon Scott-Vernaglia provided a delicious clambake while we discussed projects for the coming year. Top on the agenda is selecting a date and key issues for Resident and Fellow Day at the State House. Other ideas include an advocacy pocket card for residents and extending the Reach out and Read program to all clinic locations.

 

Alenka Zeman (on left) and Emily Kung (on right) spend some quality time with Rebecca, one of Dr. Scott-Vernaglia's children.

Deepak Palakshappa, a second year med peds resident, shows off his ability to identify with children.

Wrap up

I would have to say that I think Residents Day at the State House 2008 was a great success!  We had a group of fabulous speakers and fabulous participants.  I was very excited to see that the Booster Seat Bill was recently signed by Governor Patrick:  http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/04/11/patrick_signs_booster_seat_bill/

And I’ll keep an eye out for the other bills we supported.  Stay tuned to see some great pictures from the event…