Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and UT Boling Center Announce Availability of IDD Healthcare E-Toolkit

February 28, 2014

  http://www.iddtoolkit.org/

With funding from the Special Hope Foundation, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN UCEDD/LEND) and the UT Boling Center (TN UCEDD/LEND), working with the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, have developed an online toolkit for health care providers: Health Care For Adults With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities: A Toolkit for Primary Care Providers (IDD Toolkit). Now available online at www.iddtoolkit.org, the IDD Toolkit offers health care providers best-practice tools and a wealth of information regarding specific medical and behavioral concerns of adults with IDD, including resources for patients and families.

The aim of this project is to equip primary care practices in the United States to care for adults with IDD as they transition from their pediatrician's care. The website's information is an adaptation for U.S. use of a Canadian book, Tools for the Primary Care of People with Developmental Disabilities, which is based on consensus guidelines and has been peer-reviewed.

Adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities often have difficulties accessing health care or receive inadequate care. Many health care professionals may feel that they have insufficient training or experience to feel comfortable providing care to adults with IDD. By adapting the Canadian tools and making them available electronically, virtually every U.S. primary care provider could have access to these tools.

For more information, contact: [email protected]