Children's Health Service Primary Care
Co-Directors: Patricia S. Beach MDThe UTMB Child Safety and Protection team consists of one Board Certified Pediatrician with extensive experience in Child Protection and two additional Board Certified Pediatricians with expertise in education and services to Foster Children, one Nurse Practitioner, and one full-time Social Worker/full-time Coordinator. The program works very closely with the Advocacy Center for the Children of Galveston County. Team members meet weekly for multi-disciplinary reviews of cases with Law Enforcement, CPS, the DA’s office, and Advocacy Center personnel. Team members provide comprehensive evaluations of children who may have been victims of abuse or neglect at the Advocacy Center. Consultation is provided for children seen in the hospital setting. Children can be followed or evaluated in one of our Foster and Patient Safety Clinics in League City or Galveston.
Education of health care providers and preventive programs are priorities for the program. The 42 pediatric residents who are training in the Department of Pediatrics spend a minimum of 2 weeks participating in the diverse activities of the program, participating in organized educational programs, and creating individual educational modules to be used by future pediatric residents, other learners, or non-medical providers of services to children. Senior Medical Students can elect to spend time on the service learning about child abuse prevention and work as community advocates. Prevention programs include the development of materials distributed through social media to parents which combine child care and safety messages with messages designed to prevent abuse or neglect. Most are available in English and Spanish. A set of brochures that are appropriate for distribution with medical visits or at community events such as Health Fairs, school events, or community festivals have been developed and are being distributed.
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