Jennifer Donahue
Communications Manager, WCAAP
Thank you to everyone who completed our 2021 Member Survey! Your input drives our agenda and helps us understand the best ways to focus our resources – and we only conduct this survey every two years – so every response is crucial! We heard from 94 members who shared their thoughts on what Chapter activities they value the most, the biggest challenges they are facing this year, and ways in which WCAAP can help address those challenges.
Some of the themes that emerged were quite clear. Children’s and adolescents’ behavioral health remains a significant concern among pediatric providers across the state, with 77% listing lack of mental health resources for patients as a top challenge. Fifty-nine percent indicated addressing social determinants of health is a major challenge, and health issues that have emerged or worsened during the pandemic rounded out the top three challenges with 52%. Other issues that ranked highly among professional challenges include understanding how to become antiracist in your clinic or organization, and burnout.
Advocacy was once again the most valued Chapter service, with state legislative advocacy, working with state government agencies on child health policies, and public advocacy and education ranked as the top three. Members also value WCAAP’s learning collaboratives and our power to convene stakeholders across silos.
We also learned that many of you are interested in legislative advocacy (60%), best practice learning calls like our Project Firstline and COVID Community meetings (54%), Advocacy Day (44%), and learning collaboratives (40%), as well as support for personal and professional well-being and local/regional networking events.
Member survey feedback is informing our 2022 legislative agenda and we will continue to advance and pursue our longstanding commitment to improving kids’ behavioral health, our work to address Social Determinants of Health in the medical home and pursue strategies to combat racism in the delivery of health care.
We are so grateful for your feedback and will continue to do our best to provide the level of service and value you need. Of course, we are always interested in hearing from WCAAP members whether it is via survey, email, or phone call, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to share your ideas and concerns.