Community Programs
Faculty members are leaders within the local community collaborating with a variety of organizations on major child health and public health initiatives with a focus on vulnerable children. Expertise has also been shared on the state, national and international levels as faculty have served as leaders of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Academic Pediatrics Association.
Referral and Evaluation of Abused Children (REACH)
The REACH program provides inpatient and outpatient evaluations for children suspected of receiving physical or sexual abuse. Since 1993, it has served a vital community need by providing services for abused children.
The Pediatric Links with the Community (PLC) / The Hoekelman Center
The PLC intern rotation is an innovative partnership between the University of Rochester Department of Pediatrics and Rochester community-based agencies that serve children and their families seeks to enhance pediatric residents’ knowledge about community-oriented and community-based health care, especially for impoverished children.
Children’s Agenda
The Children's Agenda improves the health, education and success of our community's children and youth, especially the most vulnerable, through advocacy for evidence-based solutions and policy change at the local, state and federal levels. Our vision is that all children in our community thrive in body, mind, and spirit through young adulthood, so they become healthy, productive citizens.
WNY Lead Poisoning Resource Center – Rochester Office
The Rochester Office of the Western NY Lead Poisoning Resource Center, funded by the New York State Department of Health, provides medical and referral services for children, adolescents and pregnant women with elevated blood-lead levels who live in a 9-county region of the state. The Lead Poisoning Resource Center also works closely with county health departments, localities, community organizations and health care providers to improve lead screening efforts and educate the public about lead poisoning.
Primary Care Outreach Program
This community-wide program is designed to improve delivery of immunizations and preventive care services to urban children and adolescents. Based on prior research, and an evidence-based model called reminder-recall-outreach (sometimes referred to as “patient navigators”), we have placed outreach workers in most of the large primary care pediatric practices and community health centers throughout Rochester. Outreach workers track patients needing services, provide reminders, and perform home visits where needed. The program has demonstrated (a) markedly improved immunization rates and (b) improved preventive services such as preventive visits and specific services, for both young children and teens. The program serves more than 5,000 children and adolescents per year. This program was rated by CDC as the #1 program in the US and has received numerous local and national awards.
GR-PBRN
The Greater Rochester-PBRN (GR-PBRN) was established in 2007 to bring together primary care clinicians and researchers in a collaborative model designed to improve patient care and outcomes. Our collective efforts include research initiatives with all populations, where science can translate to better care.
Finger Lakes Children's Environmental Health Center
The mission of the Finger Lakes Children’s Environmental Health Center (FLCEHC) is to prevent, diagnose, and treat environmentally related conditions for families in our 15 county region. Environmental health hazards include physical hazards and toxic substances that may enter our bodies through air, food, or water. They can have many negative effects such as: physical illness, long lasting injury, mental damage, fertility problems, miscarriages, birth defects, and cancer. Some environmental health hazards can cause effects soon after exposure, while others may not cause effects for many years. Children are at high risk for the effects of environmental exposure. Their brains and bodies are still developing, their hand-to-mouth behavior increases likelihood of ingesting toxic substances, and they spend more time close to the ground where hazards are often found. Children can be exposed in the home, playing outside, or in other buildings like daycare or school. Being aware of hazards and taking action to avoid them contributes to a lifetime of well-being. FLCEHC is funded by NYSDOH as part of the NYS Children’s Environmental Center Network, the first state-based model for pediatric environmental health services in the country. Outreach and education are priorities for our center, and some of the priority areas we have targeted in recent years include: (1) addressing questions related to breastfeeding and medications taken during pregnancy and lactation, (2) questions about COVID and the COVID vaccine, and (3) and education on climate change effects on child health, among many other environmental health concerns. For more information visit the FLCEHC site.