Valley Children's Pediatric Residency Program, Affiliated with Stanford University School of Medicine has been awarded one of four national Advocacy Training Grant Awards from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
The grant recognizes residency programs seeking to strengthen advocacy training within their institutions, and Valley Children’s program – in its first year – was awarded the grant based on its innovation, interprofessional collaboration and desire to create a culture of advocacy for the Central Valley’s underserved children.
“With our new residency program and the state of the health of our local children, there is tremendous opportunity for teaching advocacy to our residents and creating awareness around our faculty,” Chief of Pediatrics and Executive Director of Medical Education Dr. Jolie Limon said. “We are looking towards a sustainable model that will be part of our training program and infiltrate our organizational culture.”
As part of the grant, Dr. Limon and Chief Resident Dr. Janae Barker will attend the national Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. Following that, the faculty-resident team will start implementing an educational project in collaboration with Valley Children’s AAP chapter.
In concert with that project, the Residency Program will host the Central Valley Healthcare Disparities Panel Discussion on July 13 at the Hospital. The panel will include the AAP chapter leadership and focus on health care disparities in Central California.
The grant aids our Residency Program’s dedication to advocacy in local communities as well as statewide and nationally. The Central Valley is one of the poorest areas in the nation and is severely underserved in terms of pediatric physicians, making this effort and our Residency Program critical to the 1.3 million children Valley Children’s serves.
“This is a crisis that needs to be attended to by all levels,” Dr. Limon said, “and by working together I believe we can create the foundation for making this a priority, expectation and part of our organizational and educational mission.
“It’s time we begin to move the needle on positively affecting health care disparities and patient outcomes.”