3 UCEDDs Receive Grants from the Special Hope Foundation

Comprehensive Health Care for Adults with Developmental Disabilities Grants

February 5, 2013

CONTACT: Lynne O'Hara
Executive Director
650-320-1715

Palo Alto, CA
February 4, 2013

The Special Hope Foundation is pleased to announce that three University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) were selected to each receive $50,000 of funding through their grant program. These grants will support the organizations in their projects that promote comprehensive health care for adults with developmental disabilities. The organizations receiving grants include: The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, and the Westchester Institute for Human Development. The Foundation requested proposals throughout the UCEDD/LEND network and carefully reviewed and considered each application.

"We look forward to partnering with these organizations to enhance the quality of healthcare that adults with developmental disabilities receive. The Foundation is impressed by the invaluable service provided by the UCEDD's and LENDS to improving the lives of those with developmental disabilities and we are excited to see the results from the selected projects." Lynne O'Hara, Executive Director of the Special Hope Foundation.

Following is the list of the grant recipients and the purposes for which the funds were granted:

The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center, New Jersey's UCEDD, for a planning grant to develop "the NJ Developmental Disabilities Transition to Adult Health Care Forum." This collaborative process will focus on building the capacity of the adult health care system to support the transition of youth and young adults with developmental disabilities to age and developmentally appropriate health care. The outcome of this planning will be the development of an action blueprint for transition to adult health care for New Jersey. The Principal Investigator will be Deborah Spitalnik, PhD.
The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) UCEDD and LEND at Vanderbilt University, for the creation of an electronic toolkit for primary care of adults with developmental disabilities. It will be an adaptation of Tools for the Primary Care of People with Developmental Disabilities (2011), which is peer-reviewed, evidence-based, and user-friendly. They will collaborate with University of Tennessee Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities UCEDD and LEND and the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. The Principal Investigator will be Elise McMillan, JD.
Westchester Institute for Human Development (WIHD) UCEDD and LEND for developing and field testing training modules designed to guide parents and their young adult child with developmental disabilities to achieve successful transitions from pediatric to adult health care. It will focus on the transition period from 18 to 28 when parents and young adults often have many questions and difficulty getting answers. The content and focus of the training modules will draw on the experiences of parents and young adults currently in transition. This Project Director will be David O'Hara, PhD.

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The mission of the Special Hope Foundation is to promote the establishment of comprehensive health care for adults with developmental disabilities designed to address their unique and fundamental needs. Learn more at specialhope.org.