Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin recently named Kathy Clark as chair of the Advisory Board. Clark is deputy resource director of information systems for Northwestern Mutual. Clark has extensive experience in the insurance industry as well as a background in child and family social work.

Sandi Cihlar was named vice chair of the Advisory Board. Cihlar is a child advocate and dairy producer for Cihlar Farms in Mosinee, Wis. Cihlar will work closely with Clark and brings the valuable rural perspective to our statewide organization.

Both Clark and Cihlar have been valuable members of the Alliance Advisory Board, since joining in 2003. The Alliance looks forward to their leadership and guidance as it continues to be a voice for children’s health in Wisconsin. View the Alliance Advisory Board.

Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin, in collaboration with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Dental Center, Marquette University School of Dentistry, Medical College of Wisconsin and Milwaukee Public Schools, developed a plan to improve the oral health of Milwaukee children. This collaborative effort was accomplished through a development grant received from the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program (HWPP). The plan titled, Health Teeth = Healthy Kids, was released in late August at a meeting attended by community stakeholders, advocates and state legislators. The mission of the plan is to increase the number of children with a permanent dental home that will allow for early prevention, continuity of care and quality treatment. The overarching goal of the plan is to reduce the proportion of children in the City of Milwaukee with active dental decay.

The four main objectives are to:
• Reduce treatment urgency.
• Increase the capacity of clinics.
• Increase school-based oral health programming.
• Increase the role primary health professionals play in oral health care.

The plan offers specific strategies and action steps to accomplish these objectives. The Alliance will continue working with the partners as well as Columbia St. Mary’s school-based oral health program, Southeast Dental Associates and Milwaukee Health Services, Inc. to further the mission of the plan by applying for an implementation grant from HWPP. View the Healthy Teeth = Health Kids executive summary, or the full plan. For additional information contact, Matt Crespin.

Every child death deserves a conversation that could prevent other deaths. Given Wisconsin is only one of five states without a comprehensive system, now is the time to collectively build CDRT’s.

Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin, in partnership with the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Family Services, is working to develop a comprehensive statewide child death review system. The partners recently completed four regional child death review trainings in Outagamie, Oneida, Jackson and Dane counties. The target audience consisted of law enforcement, medical examiners and coroners, public health, child protective services, emergency medical services and community advocates. Teri Covington, director of the Maternal and Child Health National Center for Child Death Review, and William Perloff, MD, retired pediatrician and chair for the State Child Fatality Review Team, presented information on how to create a CDRT and review child deaths.

Currently, only 10 counties in Wisconsin have a CDRT. The Alliance provides technical assistance and guidance to counties wanting to develop a CDRT. Additional trainings will be scheduled for Southeastern Wisconsin counties in early 2008. View the CDRT training materials. For additional information, contact Karen Ordinans.

Childhood lead poisoning is gaining lots of attention given the increasingly high amount of recalled toys from China. Lead found in toys is very serious and should not be tolerated. In addition, we also must acknowledge that the greatest exposure to lead poisoning is through unsafe housing. Unfortunately, deteriorating lead paint on the interior and exterior of homes poses an even greater health hazard to our children.

In Wisconsin, over 450,000 housing units contain lead-based paint that put vulnerable young children at risk. Since 1996, more than 40,000 Wisconsin children were known to be living with lead poisoning.

In honor of awareness prevention week, you can play an important role by helping inform fellow citizens about childhood lead poisoning through your local media. In addition, you can urge legislators to generously support community-based lead hazard elimination programs and public policy. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Send another letter to your federal, state or local legislator. Utilize our sample letters that provide suggestions to help you write your own letters. Click here to locate you state legislator. Visit our Web site for more lead resources.

It is important to become involved, whether it’s recalled toys from China or unsafe housing units, our children deserve better.