Sarah Rafton, MSW
In the past several years our impact on child health has grown through our partnerships with state agencies, allied providers, parents, youth, and philanthropic organizations. We’ve accomplished a lot in the advocacy space through our partnerships, and our clinic-facing footprint has also grown substantially under WA-CHIP, our Pediatric Improvement Partnership. Through WA-CHIP we facilitate learning collaboratives and learning networks in equity, immunizations, early childhood, and mental health to improve child health on the front lines of care.
To advance child health equity and combat racism in pediatric health care, WCAAP facilitates GATHER under the leadership and facilitation of WCAAP members doctors Harbir Juj, Annie Hoopes, Peter Asante and Marcus Baca, supported by WCAAP staff, Elexis Jackson. In the spring we served 16 providers in this peer-led learning collaborative and we are currently enrolling providers for our fall cohort.
Between 2019 and today we have served over 60 primary care clinics with evidence-based interventions to increase child and adolescent immunizations. This year WCAAP member Annika Hoffstetter, MD, MPH, and program manager Marina Martinez are leading our work to serve 12 clinics statewide to reduce missed opportunities to vaccinate 4-6 year olds and 9-17 year olds, and WCAAP member Sherri Zorn, MD and program manager DeAnna Dudley, RN, are serving 13 rural clinics to initiate the HPV vaccine at age nine.
We are also working closely with clinics on child development, relational health and mental health. Several community partners, including WCAAP members and faculty leaders at UW/Seattle Children’s, doctors Tumaini Coker, Larry Wissow, and WCAAP program manager Ali Goodyear are supporting 10 clinics across the state to ensure the success of pediatric community health workers on the job.
WCAAP staff Kailani Amine and DeAnna Dudley are supporting Sea Mar in implementing reliable workflows for developmental screening and early intervention.
WCAAP members doctors Larry Wissow and Mary Ann Woodruff, community partner Wendy Pringle, and WCAAP staff Leslie Graham, MSW, LICSW are supporting 10 primary care clinics building behavioral health integration for children and teens.
Check out our staff directory at the bottom of Developments to learn which staff are leading our work. Click here to join GATHER or here to join our next immunizations learning collaborative.
Later this month our board, staff and committee chairs will meet to set our future strategy and clinic-facing focus. As we do so, we will work to ensure all our work is built on the foundation of
- equity
- parent and youth voice, and
- partnerships
and informed by our members’ top priorities to advance child health equity, early childhood, kids’ mental health, families’ social and financial needs, and increasing immunizations.
I am deeply grateful for the hard work of our staff and physician leaders to make this impact possible. Their dedication is resulting in a ripple effect in clinics throughout the state.