$3.5 million for local children's health and wellness network

A community-university health partnership received one of 12 grants awarded nationally to promote the health and wellness of children 8 years old and younger. The local funding will benefit more than 11,000 children living in Athens, Hocking, Vinton and Meigs Counties, according to a news release.

Project LAUNCH "“ Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children "“ is a federal project administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a public-health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to increase and address the physical, emotional, social, cognitive and behavioral aspects of child development.

The local non-profit children's health network Integrating Professionals for Appalachian Children (IPAC), in partnership with the Ohio departments of Health and Mental Health, has secured $4.25 million "“ $850,000 per year for five years "“ to fund "Project LAUNCH for Appalachia Ohio." Ohio University will receive $705,500 annually to implement to the local project developed by IPAC.

"[Project LAUNCH] is a very promising approach to promoting healthy-child development in a way that offers new hope to young people, families and communities," said SAMHSA Acting Administrator Eric Broderick in the news release. During the next five years, the project will distribute $51 million to 12 projects nationwide, including the $3.5 million to the IPAC four-county partnership.

IPAC President Jane Hamel-Lambert said in the release that Project LAUNCH for Appalachia Ohio will bring together organizations "to sustain effective, integrated services and systems that support the wellness of young children and their families." The goal echoes IPAC's vision of combining community efforts to help ensure healthy development for all children.

Hamel-Lambert is an assistant professor of family medicine at the OU College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM), president of IPAC, and associate director of the Appalachian Rural Health Institute.

"This grant will provide jobs, increase evidence-based screenings and treatments, add arts and recreation programming for area youth, and further efforts to integrate mental health and primary care," Hamel-Lambert said in the release.

Such efforts involve IPAC's Family Navigator Program, housed within OU-COM's Community Health Programs. IPAC also has fostered the development of the Interdisciplinary Assessment Team, which brings together professionals in speech pathology, audiology, pediatrics and psychology into one clinic to assess and diagnose children in a collaborative environment. Among other things, this LAUNCH grant will help fund telemedicine services at the Interdisciplinary Assessment Clinic.

Overall, the grant promotes healthy young child development, Hamel-Lambert said in the news release. "This funding will help establish a local child wellness council (which expands IPAC) that will work cooperatively with a parallel council at the state level to facilitate the development of policies that are responsive to community needs."

In addition to supporting the contributions from OU's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, and its colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, Communication, Education, and Health and Human Services, the resources will reach the following community agencies:

Health Recovery Services, Inc.; TriCounty Mental Health and Counseling Services; the Diary Barn Arts Center; Family and Children First Councils in Athens, Hocking, Meigs and Vinton Counties; Athens County Help Me Grow; Athens County Children's Services; and IPAC's tertiary care partner, Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus.