DHDD Newsletter - July 2018
I hope you are all enjoying your summers so far! It seems to go by faster every year. As July comes to a close, I’m reminded of the 28th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the many opportunities it presented for people with disabilities to thrive in their communities. Let’s keep up the good work!
– Dr. Georgina Peacock, Director, DHDD
dhdddirector@cdc.gov
Special Olympics US Games and Inclusive Health Summit
Members of the CDC’s Disability and Health Branch traveled to Seattle in early July to attend the 2018 Special Olympics USA Gamesexternal icon and support the funded programs: Healthy Athletes and Healthy Communitiesexternal icon. While in Seattle, CDC and Special Olympics also co-hosted an Inclusive Health Summit with the Golisano Foundation and the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistryexternal icon. It brought together hundreds of leaders from across the health field, including the Surgeon General, to learn more about Inclusive Health and what organizations can do to help bridge health disparities that people with intellectual disabilities (ID) face in the U.S.
Read the CDC Feature “Healthy Athletes at Special Olympics Games” to learn how CDC is working with Special Olympicsexternal icon to improve the health of people with ID.
National Spina Bifida Patient Registry Coordinating Committee Meeting
More than 70 staff from CDC-funded and self-funded registry sites and the Spina Bifida Associationexternal icon attended the annual National Spina Bifida Patient Registry Coordinating Committee Meeting in June at CDC. Discussions included a comparison of registry clinics, workgroup meetings, and two sessions addressing transition of care from pediatrics to adulthood. Grantees also had a chance to meet individually with CDC staff for technical assistance.
NACCD/NPRSB Joint Meeting
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)/Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) hosted a joint meeting between the National Advisory Committee on Children and Disasters (NACCD) and the National Preparedness and Response Science Board (NPRSB) in Washington, D.C. The aim of the meeting was to identify key areas of analysis and recommendations related to providing strong leadership in health response, advancing an innovative medical countermeasures enterprise, building regional disaster health response systems, and sustaining robust and reliable public health response capabilities that could be provided to HHS/ASPR.
Dr. Georgina Peacock, NACCD committee member and CDC/DHDD representative, co-facilitated working sessions focused on the Future Strategies for Children’s Preparedness Work Group. This work group finds ways to support the achievement of HHS/ASPR’s mission to protect the health and safety of Americans during emergencies and to foster resilience to withstand and respond to the same.
