171 Ashley Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425
843-792-1414
800-424-MUSC
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September 2008
Dear faculty, Children's Hospital staff and other friends,
One of the missions of the MUSC Children's Hospital is to support the advocacy for children's health. In recent years, we have been involved with many advocacy programs. Family Connection of South Carolina has been a partner with the Children's Hospital and advocate for pediatric care, especially for children with special needs for several decades. They have provided lobbying efforts with the legislature, given help to fragile patients with multiple problems, and have offered counseling and advice for parents.
Advocacy is one of the competencies that are being evaluated as we train our residents. A few years ago, we found that residents had no idea about how Medicaid and funding for children's health worked. On a day, where there was a push to get cigarette taxes to be increased and used to help children, Family Connection and the Alliance for Children put on a 1960's still protest on the capitol steps. The rally was impressive, but did not accomplish much. However, when we sent in our residents to "lobby" our legislators, we found that the legislators were very interested in the need for additional funding for pediatricians and children's hospitals.
Perhaps you don't know what "lobbying" is. The concept is that while the legislature is in session, a concerned citizen or a "lobbyist" can pass a piece of paper into the chambers of the house and senate and can meet with their legislator in the "lobby" of the Capital building. This allows you to have an immediate opportunity to sway your legislator's help. This year, we plan to have all of our second year residents to go on a field trip to the Capitol to lobby for improved funding for children's health. One of the areas that will be particularly important will be the Medically Fragile Medical Home.
Most people are unaware that getting the best care for patients is not just a matter of knowing how to take care of the patients, but making sure that they can access physicians, medical diagnostic studies, and when needed hospital medicine. However, we also need to advocate for wellness and cures. For many chronic problems, new therapies are on the horizon. It is crucial that we also keep our best and brightest students, residents, and physicians working with researchers to improve chances for cures. "The Race for the Cure" has been a slogan for Type 1 diabetes; however, I suggest that we all need to race for the cure. We don't want to have to "manage" the illness, we want to prevent and cure.
Thanks to the many advocates including the Family Connection, the Center for Child Advocacy (which is a branch of our department). Thanks to everyone who helps us to not only do our work, but to expand therapy, refine treatments, and cure the presently incurable. They work behind the scenes, but I would like to thank a number of special people on our team, who have helped us: Dr. Charlie Darby, Ms. Maggie Michaels, and Dena Hughes, Barbara Rivers, and Wanda Bazemore and company. We also want to thank all the people from our community who donate their time and treasure to help us help kids.
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Sincerely,
L. Lyndon Key, MD
Chair, Department of Pediatrics |
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