San Mateo, CA, February 1, 2022 – The WITH Foundation is pleased to announce that a total of $250,000 will be awarded to five organizations as a result of their joint RFP with the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD). The RFP provided a unique funding opportunity for organizations to support projects that address the intersections of racial equity and healthcare equity for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A secondary goal of the RFP was to foster new partnerships or significantly enhance existing partnerships between disability organizations, self-advocates, community organizations, and healthcare providers.
“WITH and the AADMD embrace person-centered innovations and culturally competent care,” said Ryan Easterly, Executive Director of the WITH Foundation,” These projects will support community-based PCPs in providing care to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) adults with I/DD while engaging BIPOC adults with disabilities as leaders and experts. The projects will also provide additional educational resources for Primary Care Providers who serve BIPOC adults with I/DD.” Dr. Allen Wong, President of the AADMD agreed. “We want to see people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their advocates, healthcare providers, and others smoothly navigate in today’s complex world.”
The following projects were selected for funding:
University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
The Dismantling the Double Burden of Racism and Ableism through Medical Recommendations for PCPs project will expand on the existing work of the Center for Dignity in Healthcare to reduce healthcare inequities by engaging disabled Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) stakeholders to co-develop medical recommendations that reflect anti-ableist and anti-racist practices and beliefs and to develop plans to disseminate these guidelines to a) maximize the likelihood of their adoption into use by PCPs in their treatment of BIPOC with disabilities and b) ensure self- advocacy resources reach and are used by BIPOC with I/DD. The emphasis of the project will be informing strategy to reduce healthcare inequities experienced by BIPOC with disabilities through a disability justice framework.
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL
The Patient Instructor Training Program for BIPOC adults with IDD project will develop and administer trainings for six Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) with IDD to serve as patient instructors for medical and healthcare students across the state of Illinois. The project partners with the Chicagoland Disabled People of Color Coalition and Grupo SALTO. Through workshops co-led by BIPOC self-advocates, trainees will observe, learn, and practice strategies to effectively share their lived experiences with students in pre-service training to become primary care providers. Trained patient instructors will support student’s understanding of patient-centered care, shared clinical decision making, and culturally sensitive care for the IDD community.
University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation Inc. (UMB), Baltimore, MD
The Patient Care Navigator for Oral Health Management of BIPOC patients with I/DD project aims to develop a pilot implementation of an oral health care navigator for BIPOC individuals with I/DD seeking dental care in Maryland. UMB will work with the Maryland Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities to collate dental provider information of community-based dentists who can treat individuals with I/DD. A BIPOC self- advocate will be hired and trained to serve as a patient navigator for other BIPOC individuals with I/DD to help patients find providers in the community who can provide dental care for members of this population.
University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA
The Dugoni School will offer a two-day seminar – Providing Oral Health Care to BIPOC Adults with I/DD over one year featuring 25 BIPOC adults with I/DD as self-advocates. They will serve on panels, group discussions, and participate in patient simulations as part of a training program for over 430 Dugoni School faculty, students, residents, and staff. The purpose of the project is to offer educational resources, training, and mentorship to faculty, students, residents, and staff to improve oral health outcomes and increase their knowledge of disability justice, cultural competency, and cultural humility.
Virginia Commonwealth University Foundation, Richmond, VA
The Healing Narratives: Using Personal Stories to Improve Patient-Doctor Communication project will amplify the lived experiences of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) identifying as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) regarding communication with their doctors. In collaboration with three self-advocacy organizations, they will provide an avenue, through a photovoice research project, for BIPOC with IDD to advocate for change by sharing their stories about patient-doctor communication. Research findings will target the medical community and will be disseminated through virtual and in-person gallery walks in Washington D.C. as well as Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia.
Funder:
WITH Foundation promotes comprehensive and accessible healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities in the United States.
Partner Organization:
The American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) provides a forum for healthcare professionals who provide clinical care to people with intellectual & developmental disabilities (IDD) and improve the quality of healthcare for individuals with IDD
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Press Contact: Laura Shumaker
Director of Communications, WITH
communications@withfoundation.org