HR0438 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0438 LRB096 12944 GRL 27113 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate the pediatricians, family physicians, nurse practitioners, staff, volunteers, and supporters of the Enhancing Developmentally Oriented Primary Care (EDOPC) project on the occasion of being the recipients of the 2008 Summit Award from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Associations Advance America (AAA) Committee of the Center for Association Leadership; and

WHEREAS, The EDOPC project is a collaborative partnership between the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (ICAAP), the Advocate Health System's Healthy Steps for Young Children Program, the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians (IAFP), the Ounce of Prevention Fund, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, and multiple private foundations to improve the health and development of Illinois children; and

WHEREAS, The EDOPC project has sought to increase primary care providers' use of validated tools for developmental screening, socioemotional screening, and maternal depression screening; the project also seeks to raise awareness of symptoms of autism during pediatric visits with children under the age of 3 and has recently added promotion of screening for domestic violence, another family risk factor that impacts child development; and

WHEREAS, Such developmental screening by means of a validated developmental screening tool has been demonstrated to appropriately address the social and emotional needs of families and improve rates of identification of developmental delay and referrals to the early intervention program, providing critical notice of development problems before it is too late; and

WHEREAS, The EDOPC project has had a profoundly positive impact on pediatric primary care providers, enabling these providers to have greater knowledge of key developmental topics, have greater confidence during the identification process, overcome barriers to the implementation of routine screening, and increase the frequency of screening tool use and subsequent referrals; and

WHEREAS, The EDOPC project has initiated another three-year phase, taking place from 2008 to 2010, that will provide for outreach to additional pediatric and family practice providers in the State and further address barriers to care coordination and entry into services; this phase will foster more "medical homeness" and patient-centered care; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the pediatricians, family physicians, nurse practitioners, staff, volunteers, and supporters of the Enhancing Developmentally Oriented Primary Care project on the occasion of being the recipients of the 2008 Summit Award and wish them continued success in the future; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the lead organizations of the EDOPC project as a symbol of our esteem and respect.