JUNE 2013
Community Health
Needs Assessment CHANGING MARYLAND COMMUNITIES FOR THE BETTER
Executive Summary Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Kennedy Krieger Institute is an internationally recognized institution dedicated, since its foundation in 1937, to improving the lives of children and young adults with developmental disorders and injuries through patient care, special education, research, and professional training. The focal community arm of Kennedy Krieger is the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (MCDD), which is dedicated to promoting independence, productivity, and inclusion for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities within their communities. In order to serve the community most effectively, a community health needs assessment was conducted by the MCDD as part of its ongoing needs assessment and planning process. Since 85 percent of the hospital’s patients are Maryland residents, representing every county in the state, this assessment targeted children and young adults with developmental disabilities and other disorders in Maryland. The MCDD assessment included a series of 18 public forums held across the state, and an online survey that was open from June 2011 to April 2012 to gather input from community members and stakeholders. Other demographic, quantitative, and qualitative data at regional, state, and national levels were collected from other needs assessment reports from state agencies and available private, federal, and state databases. The data was reviewed and analyzed to identify, prioritize, and develop a plan to address the community’s most pressing needs. The top five priority areas selected through this process are: • Training needs of educational and health professionals working with children and youth with developmental disabilities and their families • Improving access to care for families who encounter barriers related to payment, insurance, and other issues • Addressing transportation needs of families to access medical care and employment opportunities •A dvocacy for families and self-advocates through stronger inter-agency, cross-regional partnership and collaboration •Y outh healthcare transition to adulthood
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Implementation Plan Kennedy Krieger programs and projects that will address the specific prioritized needs are as follows: • Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (all audiences) • Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities
TRAINING
• RISE Programs • Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities Internship Program • Center for Autism and Related Disorders
• Telemedicine Pilot on the Eastern Shore/MD
ACCESS TO CARE
• Resource Finder • Centralized intake process
TRANSPORTATION
ADVOCACY
YOUTH HEALTHCARE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD
• Kennedy Krieger provides transportation for several hospitalbased programs, free of charge to families • Resource Finder assists families in finding available transportation options in their communities.
• Project HEAL • Cerebral Palsy Kinetic Connections • Chesapeake-Potomac Spina Bifida Association, Inc. • Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council • Maryland Disability Law Center • People on the Go • Maggie’s Light
• Adolescent Transition Lecture Series • Resource Finder • Project HEAL
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