The Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND) in the University of Wyoming College of Health Sciences received a one-year, $95,700 grant to become the Family-to-Family Health Information Center in Wyoming.
The award is funded by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
The Family-to-Family Health Information Center in Wyoming is a statewide, family-led initiative that will provide information, education, training, outreach and peer support to families of children and youth with special health care needs and the professionals who serve them, says Sara DiRienzo, WIND Family-to-Family project coordinator.
WIND will partner with the Wyoming Department of Health’s Maternal and Family Health Section and Office of Multicultural Health, UPLIFT-Wyoming’s Federation of Families, UW faculty members, families and Wyoming health professionals to develop and provide health care information.
The centers are staffed by trained family leaders who have children with special health care needs and expertise in navigating federal, state and local public and private health care systems.
DiRenzo says topical information will be delivered to families, youths and health professionals through interactive webinars, fact sheets, social media and a transition age youth panel. Topics to be covered include establishing a medical home, exercise, quality family time, preventive health care, safety in and out of the home, oral health and youth transitioning to adult health care.
"I am looking forward to this project, where UW faculty and Wyoming health professionals can develop a closer relationship with families of children with special health care needs and implement strategies to make the best health care choices,” DiRienzo says.
The federal news release and a list of fellow grantees can be found at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/05/20120523a.html.
