Springing Into April
Springing into April
We ask that you Get Involved to enable
Children and families, say with social media use
Or, strive to prevent child abuse.
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President's Column: Get Involved!
John I. Takayma, MD, MPH, FAAP
As we adjust to daylight savings time and prepare for opening day and upcoming graduations, we remind you to be involved! Participate in the upcoming chapter elections by running for MAL (member at large, to represent your region) or Vice President; and remember to vote when elections begin in the middle of May. Plan to increase your clinical capacity by attending
Mental Health Day
(Saturday, May 4, in San Jose) or learn to advocate at Legislative Day
(Monday, May 20, in Sacramento). Get involved!
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2019 Resolutions:
Resolutions are a way for individual chapter members to raise local issues of concern to the national level for organizational advocacy. This year, authors could present their resolutions in virtual reference committee meetings. While some comments were decidedly negative, most resolutions submitted by chapter members passed at the Annual Leadership Forum (ALF), held on March 14-17 in Itasca, IL (AAP national headquarters). Chapter presidents, vice presidents; and chairs of national committees, sections and councils discussed the resolutions further before casting votes. Resolutions from our chapter included improving access to the natural environment; encouraging voting among young adults; mental health assessment in subspecialty clinics; improving access to EHR/EMR patient portals; patient mistreatment of medical professionals and trainees; supporting pediatricians who are underrepresented in medicine; and diversity, inclusion and implicit bias training for AAP leadership. Leaders from all four California chapters also met afterwards to discuss how we could respond and address the most popular resolutions (Top 10 Resolutions); more to come.
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Top 10 Resolutions:
1. Eliminating Religious Exemptions to Vaccinating Children
2. Family Separations at the Border: Safeguarding Children’s Health
3. Limitation of Prior Authorization Requirements for Medications
4. Continuity of Medicaid Benefits When Recipients Move
5. Access to Evidence-Based Treatment for Children and Adolescents with Neurodevelopmental Disorders Beyond Autism
6. Affordable Insulin Access for All Children with Diabetes
7. Revising the AAP Bright Futures Guidelines on Gun Safety Anticipatory Guidance
8. Drowning Prevention Recommendation Statement and Education
9. Providing Guidance on School Response to E-Cigarette Use by Students
10. Public Education About Intramuscular Vitamin K Administration at Birth
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2020 Census:
One of the timely and compelling issues raised at ALF by WP O’Hare, a demographer, was the chronic problem of undercounting of young children leading to misallocation of federal resources. Two main reasons are that family members do not include their young children because they did not know that they were supposed to include them; and that young children are more likely to live in households that include non-citizens who may be more likely to conceal their presence. Sometimes when many families share a housing unit, the adult responding to the census survey inadvertently excludes the children. Undercounting matters because the census data is used to allocate political power (i.e., decide numbers of representatives per state) as well as federal funds (e.g., Medicaid, SNAP, federal student loans). Census data is also used for civil rights enforcement, state and local government planning, and to provide denominators for rates. According to Mr. O’Hare, we can play an important role because families trust what pediatricians say. We can advocate by encouraging families to respond to census counts and include their children, especially those under age 12 months.
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More on the Annual Leadership Forum (ALF)
Raelene Walker, MD, MPH, FAAP
Vice President
The AAP Annual Leadership Forum (ALF) is held at AAP’s home in Itasca, IL every March. It is a 4 day meeting that brings together leaders from national AAP with every AAP district, chapter, section, council and committee to choose the highest new priorities for the American Academy of Pediatrics for the following year. This is done in a dynamic, democratic, and loud process that is both effective and inspiring (and occasionally messy and frustrating!). All AAP members are eligible and encouraged to submit resolutions every year -- ideas or concerns that they have and would like the AAP and its members to support. In years past, resolutions were submitted to each AAP district and then were vetted, possibly amended and then voted upon, all at ALF. The resolutions that passed by majority vote were then ranked and voted upon again by members to come up with the top 10 priorities for the upcoming year. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, the priorities were determined on the last day of the meeting, basically as everyone was departing for their homes.
For the first time this year, the AAP transitioned to Virtual Reference Committee meetings prior to ALF so that there was more time prior to ALF to provide input, and to encourage broader participation in the resolution process. Another major goal was to provide more time at ALF to debate and discuss the most compelling resolutions. I was fortunate to serve on the Advocacy Virtual Reference Committee, and I think that despite needing to tweak some details, the AAP was very successful in achieving the key desired goals. About 200-250 pediatricians participated nationwide in each of the three Virtual Reference Committees, many people commented online and the conversations at ALF were able to include and incorporate this earlier work. Our top ten resolutions/new priorities for the upcoming year were determined by Saturday morning and enthusiastic work on these issues has begun. I strongly urge all AAP members to participate in the resolution process in the future. We are our Academy and our ideas, goals, and suggestions can become national or state priorities when we speak up.
Chapter Executive Directors' Conference
Isra Uz-Zaman, MS, Executive Director
Taking place a day prior to ALF, the Chapter Executive Director’ Conference is an excellent opening to the ALF. This year’s focus was on Leadership, Membership and Partnership. The Executive Directors of each state connected and networked, learned about available resources, and most importantly, shared what is/is not working in their respective regions. The work being done by the AAP chapters nationwide is monumental! I left this conference with a sense of appreciation for all that is being done on behalf of children along with my own conviction and excitement about the potential for our chapter as we continue to grow. I am excited to be part of such a dedicated team of leaders and look forward to furthering the health and well-being of children in our chapter.
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Nominations Call Out
Interested in an active role in the AAP California Chapter 1? Consider running for open AAP California Chapter 1 Board positions:
- North Valley Member At Large - Includes counties Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yuba
- Sacramento Valley Member At Large - Includes counties El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Yolo
- Vice President
The AAPCA1 Board consists of the Past President, President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and representatives from our 11 Northern California regions referred to as Members at Large (MAL). Each position is elected for a 2 year term. The Past President, President, VP, Sec and Treasurer are on the Executive Board.
As a MAL, you are the conduit between the Board and the Region. During board meetings, MALs will have a chance to discuss information (including needs) from their respective regions. After the meetings, MALs may disseminate any information that they feel are particularly relevant to chapter members in their region. In your role as MAL, you will be asked to attend the board meetings which are bi-monthly or quarterly (usually one in-person and three virtual), become a member of any one of our advisory committees and provide one or more articles or blogs for the newsletter or website; you will also be encouraged to attend our CME events. As a board member, you will also be informed about any opportunities to advocate for children and families and/or pediatricians.
The appointment of the Vice President is a six year term in total: two years as Vice President, two as President, and two as Past President. The time commitment as VP includes monthly Executive Board meetings, quarterly/bi-monthly board meetings, annual Leadership Legislative Day in Sacramento, an annual weekend board retreat (1 day), Annual Leadership Forum in Itasca, IL in March (Thursday through Sunday), District Meeting in Itasca, IL (in the summer, also Thursday-Sunday) and other committee meetings. Specifically, Vice Presidents for each California chapter sit on the finance committee for District 9, along with District CEO, Kris Calvin and the District treasurer. This committee meets quarterly. Vice President also sits on and leads the AAPCA1 Foundation Board. The foundation has been a small responsibility to date but could become a larger responsibility if/when we have more funds via the foundation. The majority of these meetings are held via web conferencing. Travel and hotel for the meetings in Itasca are paid by the AAP.
In addition, each Board member is encouraged to attend the District 9 CME conference in Las Vegas at least once during their time on the Board. Upcoming Confirmed Meeting Dates:
District IX Meeting: July 25-28, 2019
41st Annual Las Vegas Seminars Pediatric Update: November 21-24, 2019
Annual Leadership Forum: March 12-15, 2020
As a member of the board, there are four basic responsibilities: Fiduciary and governance, Setting and promoting strategic priorities, Evaluation and oversight of staff (and committees), and Development (fundraising/membership).
If you are interested in any of the above positions, email your CV and headshot to
info@aapca1.org
. Deadline for open position Call Out is
May 1st
and positions begin July 1, 2019.
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Pediatric Mental Health Day - May 4, 2019
SOLD OUT!
The Spring CME conference is SOLD OUT! If you are still interested, you may join the wait list
HERE
. Pediatric Mental Health Day will provide pediatricians, family practitioners, nurses, and nurse practitioners with information and knowledge necessary to identify, address, and appropriately refer
, in the absence of a mental health professional,
the most challenging conditions that present.
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Meet Our Interim Monterey Bay MAL:
Graciela Wilcox, MD, MPH, FAAP
Graciela Wilcox, MD, MPH, FAAP is a practicing pediatrician at the Monterey Peninsula Pediatric Medical Group (MPPMG) in Monterey County. She received her medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson, completed her residency there and obtained an MPH degree with a Maternal and Child Health concentration from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. She served as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the University of Arizona Department of Pediatrics, Section of General Pediatrics and was appointed the Pediatric Residency Continuity Clinic Curriculum Coordinator. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her outstanding work. Dr. Wilcox enjoys spending time with her husband and three daughters who are 21, 17 and 13. She also enjoys running, yoga, and reading. A warm welcome to our newest board member!
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Community Pediatrics Training Initiative (CPTI) Grant
Lena Rothstein, DO
What makes a good physician advocate? At the University of California, Davis pediatric residents are now being trained to use media as an advocacy and education tool. After being awarded the AAP community pediatrics training initiative (CPTI) grant and attending the AAP legislative advocacy conference last May and leaving inspired, Lena Rothstein (PGY2) and Lauren Gambill (hospitalist) and Dean Blumberg (department chair, peds ID) developed an advocacy training curriculum focused on media.
Residents from multiple specialties, including pediatrics, participated in a series of three workshops. Designed to teach how to write an op-ed, how to pitch and perform in a news interview and how to utilize social media to create a campaign. The advocacy issue the workshops were designed around was promoting safe marijuana legislation to prevent unintentional ingestions in pediatric patients. In each of these interactive workshops physicians were given an expert perspective, hands on practice with the different types of media and, at the end of each, created a tangible product. For example, in the opinion editorial workshop, four small teams collaborated and each wrote a short paragraph of the op-ed. Following the workshop that article we created as a group was published in our local newspaper
The Sacramento Bee
.
It is becoming more apparent every day that media plays a critical role in not only influencing public opinion and policy discussions, but also in the lives of our patients and their families. Now, through the AAP CPTI training, and collaboration with the AAP chapter 1 UC Davis pediatricians with be equipped to advocate for kids across all forms of media.
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April Newsletter Special Feature in honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month will be released in an accompanying email.
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Upcoming Events for Your Benefit
Foster Care Committee Relaunch
Interested in getting involved with the Foster Care Committee? Reach out to co-chair Katy Carlsen, MD, FAAP at
info@aapca1.org
AAP Hub & Spoke QI Opportunity
As an extension to the AAP HPV quality improvement (QI) initiative, there is an opportunity to gain additional QI knowledge and learn from each other at the upcoming AAP’s 2019 Hub and Spoke Quality Improvement Trainings:
May 17-18 in Atlanta, GA
: This training will be an intermediate QI course, with topics such as health collaboratives, QI coaching, measuring for improvement, sustainability, and spread. This training will be geared for participants that have some QI knowledge or experience.
August 23-24 in San Diego, CA
: This training will have two tracks and two presenters. One track will be QI Basics 101 and the other will be QI Intermediate.
Opportunities for Residents:
Resident Sponsorship for the AAPCA Legislative Day on May 20, 2019
The AAPCA Legislative Day at the Sacramento capitol is a day of training on how to advocate on policies of your interest and includes visits with your representatives. If you are a resident, AAPCA1 will pay for your travel to Sacramento. If interested, contact us at
info@aapca1.org
Hardship Scholarship Program for Residents and Trainees - Due April 12th
The AAP offers financial hardship scholarships designed to help allay financial difficulties for residents and fellowship trainees in good academic standing. Each application will be reviewed carefully, and a moderate number of scholarships varying from $1,000 to $5,000 will be granted to residents and fellowship trainees in most need. For complete instructions and information for this program please
click here
(AAP Member login required).
Find the scholarship application
Here
With questions, contact: Kimberley VandenBrook, Member Engagement Specialist at kvandenbrook@aap.org
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December 7, 2019:
Pediatric Puzzles Interactive CME Conference, SF
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April 7-9, 2019:
National AAP Legislative Conference, Washington D.C.
May 20, 2019: AAP California Legislative Leadership Day, Sacramento
October 25-29, 2019:
AAP National Conference & Exhibition, New Orleans
November 21-24, 2019:
AAP California 41
st
Annual Las Vegas Seminars
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Our mission is to promote the optimal health and development of children and
adolescents of Northern California in partnership with their families and communities, and to support the pediatricians who care for them.
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President:
John Takayama •
Vice President:
Raelene Walker
•
Secretary:
Janice Kim •
Treasurer
: Nivedita More
Past President:
Zoey Goore
Executive Director:
Isra Uz-Zaman
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