Past Events
10 Years of Advancing the Health of Connecticut's Children
On June 15, 2010 CHDI celebrated their 10th year anniversary by hosting an event titled “10 Years of Advancing the Health of Connecticut’s Children”. The keynote speaker was Lisa Simpson, Director of the Child Policy Research Center of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Panelists were: Lisa Honigfeld and Robert Franks (CHDI staff), Paul Dworkin, Chair of Pediatrics, University of CT School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief, CT Children’s Medical Center, and Bert Plant, Director, Behavioral Health Programs and Services, CT Dept. of Children and Families.
Keynote Address: Lisa Simpson
Dr. Lisa Simpson, Director of the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, opened the evening program with a presentation on a vision for children’s health. Dr. Simpson conceptualized health as a state that evolves and changes over time as children interact with their social and physical environments.
Panel Remarks:
Dr. Bert Plant and Dr. Bob Franks
Dr. Bert Plant, from the Department of Children and Families, provided an overview of the development of the child mental health system in Connecticut over the past decade. In particular, Dr. Plant emphasized the shift to develop an increasing number of community-based services and a decrease of relying on residential and congregate care services for children in Connecticut.
This presentation was followed by comments by Dr. Bob Franks, Vice President of the Child Health and Development Institute and director of the Connecticut Center for Effective Practice. Dr. Franks discussed the role of CHDI in facilitating systems change and improving mental health care for children in Connecticut and the importance of continuing to expand the use of evidence-based practices and developing our states infrastructure to collect and analyze data to promote best practices.
Panel Remarks: Dr. Paul Dworkin and Dr. Lisa Honigfeld
Dr. Paul Dworkin, Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, followed with a short discussion of the factors that have enabled CHDI to be successful in its mission to improve the health and mental health systems for children in Connecticut.
Dr. Lisa Honigfeld, Vice President for Health Initiatives at CHDI, commented on Dr. Dworkin’s remarks, discussing the opportunities moving forward to address critical issues in child health services.
