twitterfacebook

Initiatives


CHPCC is dedicated to improving hospital, home, and community based care for children with serious illnesses and their families. Our award-winning initiatives include: advocacy, family and provider education, supportive services, and community-based programs.

California’s Medi-Cal Pediatric Palliative Care Benefit (Partners for Children)

Pilot Site Providers

Learn more about Pilot Site Providers offering services in your community.
(click locales at left for more info.)

Pilot Site Location
Pilot Site Location
Pilot Site Location
Pilot Site Location
Pilot Site Location
Pilot Site Location

Coastal Kids Home Care

Monterey & Santa Cruz Counties
(parts of Santa Clara County)

Phone: 800-214-5439

Hinds Hospice

Fresno County

www.hindshospice.org

Hospice of Petaluma

Sonoma County

www.seriousillness.org/sonoma-marin/

San Diego Hospice

San Diego County

www.sdhospice.org

St. Michael’s Hospice

Los Angeles & Orange Counties

www.stmichaelhospice.com

Trinity Kids Care

Los Angeles & Orange Counties

www.trinitycarehospice.org

The Partners for Children demonstration project, a result of CHPCC’s public policy work, helps California families to address the challenges that accompany life-threatening childhood illness, without asking them to sacrifice hope for their child’s survival.

Currently there are ten California pilot counties, including Fresno, Los Angeles, Marin Monterey, Orange, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma. The project continues through April 2012, and CHPCC is working with California’s Department of Health Care Services to extend services through 2017.
Would you like to learn more about the origins of the Partners for Children project?

Read More

This pilot demonstration project evolved from CHPCC’s pioneering work to pass the Nick Snow Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Act of 2006. The bill required California to seek a waiver from a federal law that prohibits children from receiving any curative or life-prolonging medical treatment while accepting hospice care. The law also enabled the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to create pilot sites, where qualifying children may receive palliative (comfort) care in their homes in addition to medical treatment that may prolong their lives or even cure their illness. Early data indicates that families enrolled in the Benefit are experiencing a reduction of unmanaged pain in their child; greater emotional and physical health overall; a decline in emergency room visits; and fewer and shorter hospitalizations.

Designed to meet the needs of the whole person – physical, psychological, spiritual, emotional, and social – Partners for Children services include:

  • Care coordination
  • Pain and symptom management
  • 24/7 on-call nursing care
  • Expressive therapies like art, music, massage and play
  • Family education and training on palliative care issues
  • Support counseling for children and families
  • Respite

If you are a service provider seeking more information about participating, visit the California Children’s Services (CCS) website.

BEST in Pediatrics

Transformative change requires ongoing support. CHPCC’s Benefit Education Support and Training (BEST) in Pediatrics provides education and advisory services to healthcare professionals and organizations who are currently participating in the Partners for Children project, or who are considering joining.

Through BEST in Pediatrics, we bring providers together and help them to find solutions to common problems they encounter whether in the direct care of children, or when dealing with the complex administrative aspects of the program. We advocate for improvements to the Partners for Children project that help children, families, and those who care for them.

In addition, CHPCC creates educational opportunities for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers to improve their ability to provide palliative and end-of-life care to children. We also raise awareness about the issues facing chronically ill children and their caregivers through HOPE magazine, our internationally acclaimed publication.

For more information about BEST in Pediatrics educational tools and/or webinars, go to our Education and Research page.

Legislative Advocacy Day

Each year CHPCC hosts a Legislative Advocacy Day at the Capitol in Sacramento for families, clinicians, community leaders and other stakeholders.  It’s an opportunity to talk with legislators, their staff and government officials about the unique needs of children living with life-threatening conditions.

Interested in joining us in Sacramento in 2013? Just take a moment to fill out the Stay Informed box on the right. You’ll receive monthly updates on our activities including the opportunity to register for next year’s Legislative Advocacy Day.

We share personal stories about how pediatric palliative care can improve the lives and well-being of children and their families and update them on programs and issues specific to their communities.  Our goal is to engage policymakers in helping us develop innovative solutions which ensure that children and their families have access to comprehensive community-based services in California.

Our 2012 Legislative Advocacy Day on April 17th was a tremendous success. We met with more than 30 California legislators and their key staff members, as well as the Department of HealthCare Services  and Governor Brown’s office.

Community-based Initiatives

Pediatric Palliative Care Collaborative of Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito Counties

Not every community has a hospice agency that is willing or able to care for children. In Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito Counties (in California), Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition (CHPCC) formed an innovative collaboration to provide care. The model program includes the services of Coastal Kids Home Care and CHPCC.

By joining forces, the two agencies have taken care of hundreds of kids in the community, minimized duplication of services, and shared in the risks and joys of caring for children in need.

For more information – Click here!

If your agency is interested in becoming a collaborative partner in the Pediatric Palliative Care Collaborative, please contact Jennifer Ramirez at 831-763-3070 ext. 205.

California’s Central Coast Transportation Program

For low-income families living outside major cities and towns, getting their children from home to medical appointments at children’s hospitals and back again is a complex, expensive process. Already living with limited resources, many families simply can’t afford to own a car. For those with a vehicle, the cost of gas can quickly add up to overwhelming amounts.

Created in 2007, CHPCC’s Transportation Program offers free, safe, long-distance transportation from California’s Central Coast communities to children’s hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area. We also provide free gas cards to families who have access to a car. Thanks to the support of area partners and funders, we expect to provide more than 900 rides to children in need in 2012.

If you would like more information or to refer a family to the Transportation Program, please contact us.

Family Advisory Council / Partnership for Parents

The Family Advisory Council (FAC) is a group of parents and family members, both care giving and bereaved, who work with CHPCC in affecting systemic change and improving systems of care in pediatric palliative care.  The FAC embraces the philosophy that parents are indeed the “experts” in the care of children.  CHPCC maintains a policy of solidarity and inclusiveness – parents’ insights remain integral to shaping our core programs and advocacy efforts.

Partnership for Parents is an online source of support and information for parents of children with life-threatening illness. The site is the only multilingual resource of its kind, with support available in English, Spanish, and Chinese.