Project Access Learning Collaborative: A challenge

So, I'm feeling bright and chipper, a far cry from my earlier-in-the-week self when I nearly died on the airplane coming home from a business conference. I swear it wasn't hyperbole, either -- I must have had some sort of near-deadly 24-hour virus.

Anyway.

I work part time as a Parent Lead for a group that participates in a collaborative called Project Access. Teams from across the country, funded by grants from the federal government, participate in unique projects to improve the access to and quality of healthcare for children with special healthcare needs. Project Access works on quality improvement for children with epilepsy and their families, and these teams meet three times over the course of the grant, all together, to identify and work on strategies to not only improve care for children and youth with epilepsy, but also to foster the spread and sustainability of their efforts beyond the learning collaboratives as health care reform evolves. Each team is required to have parent and youth participants who are equal and integral partners, and my job is to help ensure that the parent and family voices are heard (I also do a fair amount of talking myself, as you well know!).

Here's where YOU come in.

Do you remember the astounding Spice Island Queen, the medical student who asked those of us with children with special needs for OUR OPINIONS? The post was titled Blog Call, and the response to this wonderful doctor's request for our help in guiding her as she continued her residency in Pediatric Neurology was enormous. If you didn't check back and read the comments that poured in after that post, please do -- they're all quite moving and very powerful. I knew that it was going to have to be my presentation at the collaborative meeting, so I asked my friend Cara's thirteen year old daughter to help me make a Power Point out of it and a subsequent conversation that I had with the Spice Island Queen -- a true collaboration. I think I can honestly say that my presentation, and the Parent Panel that came afterward, made up of several of the terrific parents on the teams present with our wonderful leader, Christy, was the hit of the two day brainstorm. If I knew how to post a Power Point slide show, I would, but I don't, so I won't.

But enough self-congratulation. I also want to highlight parts of the conference that drew my attention, in particular, and ask YOU, once again to help in our spread and sustainability efforts. If you find these interesting (and I know many of you will), please check out the links and send them to others in your circles.

Next week, I'll post the first of a short series of highlights of the conference and the work of the teams.

Carry on, Readers, with your own work! I have some exciting news that I'm posting later today!