The
Health & Wellness Alliance for Children (the Alliance) is a coalition with
the goal that “Every child achieves their fullest health, well-being,
and potential.”
· The
Alliance plans to use a “collective impact” approach to work across sectors,
including health, education, government, the faith community, nonprofit service
providers, and others, to form and implement a common agenda for change in
children’s health.
·
The
initial clinical focus will be children’s asthma, though over time the Alliance
plans to tackle children’s health across issues.
·
The
initial geographic focus will be on Dallas County, though the Alliance is
working with partners throughout North Texas.
Why asthma?
·
While
there are many health issues that demand our community’s attention, it is
important to focus on one area in order to have a measurable impact.
·
Addressing
asthma allows us to focus on several areas that are crucial to children’s
health overall: improving financial and physical access to care, improving
quality of health care delivery, equipping children and families with tools for
wellness, creating asthma-healthy physical environments.
·
The
Alliance can use its experience with asthma to expand focus to other areas in
the near future.
·
Asthma
and other pulmonary illnesses are the top causes for admission to the emergency
department at Children’s Medical Center, indicating a real community need.
·
Other
communities around the country have had great success in using a coalition
approach to improve child asthma.
Who is involved in this
effort?
· The
Steering Committee and Working Groups include representatives from many
organizations across North Texas, including hospitals, physicians, school
administrators, school nurses, the faith community, family health and wellness
service providers, urban planners, city and state government, and others.
·
Children’s
Medical Center (Children’s) has committed to catalyzing this effort. However, the
Alliance is comprised of and led by a cross-section of Dallas community
stakeholders committed to children’s health. The effort is and will be driven
by the community, not just one organization or sector.
· Children
and their families have been involved since the start in interviews and
workshops to better understand the challenges they face and potential
solutions.
Dallas
County Asthma Data
Asthma
outcomes
·
Approximately
60,000 children in Dallas have asthma, 9% of all Dallas children[i]
·
In
Texas, 54% of children with asthma missed at least one school day per year due
to their condition[ii]
·
In
2012, nearly 1500 children in Dallas County visited an emergency room or were
admitted to a hospital due to asthma[iii]
·
The
hospitalization rate for African-American children is 3.8 times the rate of
white children in Dallas (2010)[iv]
· Annual
economic costs to Dallas including cost to families and to medical care
facilities across the community is estimated to be a staggering $60M[v]
Potential
contributing conditions
· 18%
of Dallas children don’t have health insurance; this exceeds the 15% fraction
across TX, which is the highest percentage of uninsured children of any US
state (2010)[vi]
·
While
46% of Dallas children are covered by Medicaid and CHIP, it is estimated that
76% percent of Dallas physicians would not accept new Medicaid or CHIP patients[vii]
·
Children
with asthma are especially susceptible to the effects of ozone pollution, and
Dallas’s ozone levels exceed the EPA’s legal standard[viii]
·
Child
poverty in Dallas: 29% of Dallas kids live in poverty; 28% have inadequate food
and nutrition; 35% live in a single-parent home[ix]
[i] Harrison,
Whitney (MPH, Epidemiologist), Texas Asthma Control Program, Dept. of State
Health Services. “Asthma Morbidity and Mortality in Texas and Health Region 3.”
October 17, 2011.
[ii] Harrison,
2011.
[iii] Dallas
Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation, 2013.
[iv] Texas
Health Care Information Collection (THCIC), Inpatient Hospital Discharge Public
Use Data File, 2010.
[v] The cost
estimate per child based on: Li Yan Wang et. al; “Direct and Indirect Cost of
Asthma in School age Children”. Preventing
Chronic Disease (January 2005). This
number is multiplied by the number of children with asthma in Dallas.
[vi] Harris,
J., Hogan, J., and the Beyond ABC Advisory Board, ed. Beyond ABC: Assessing Children’s Health in Dallas County,
2011.
[vii] “Texas
State Health Facts”. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
; Harris, J., Hogan, J., and the Beyond ABC
Advisory Board, ed. Beyond ABC:
Assessing Children’s Health in Dallas County, 2011.
[viii]
“Dallas-Fort Worth: Current Attainment Status”. Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality. <http://www.tceq.texas.gov/airquality/sip/dfw/dfw-status>.
[ix]
Harrison, 2011.
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