Ohio AAP Foundation
The Ohio AAP Foundation was established in 2000 as a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt foundation to support the Ohio Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to advocate for the physical health, mental health, safety and education, and prevention of cruelty of Ohio’s infants, children, adolescents and their families; and to advance education and research to benefit infants, children, adolescents and their families.
The Foundation has recently taken on new energy by expanding bylaws, bringing on new programs, and allowing for community support by permitting board membership from community members.
As the charitable arm of the Ohio AAP, the Foundation has three programmatic initiatives:
- Reach Out and Read Ohio – As the signature program of the Ohio AAP Foundation, the mission of Reach Out and Read is to prepare America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals incorporate Reach Out and Read's evidence-based model into regular pediatric checkups, by advising parents about the importance of reading aloud and giving brand new, developmentally-appropriate books to children. The program begins at the 6-month checkup and continues through age 5, with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities. Families served by Reach Out and Read read together more often, and their children enter kindergarten with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills, better prepared to achieve their potential.
- Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound- With support from the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio AAP is currently implementing a statewide obesity prevention grant which seeks to train at least 250 health care professionals in the Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound program. As one of the founding partners in the development of the Ounce toolkit, the Ohio AAP is poised to spread the materials and educate even more providers on the increasing childhood obesity epidemic and encourage them to address obesity prevention strategies at each well child visit, including charting and plotting BMI and providing anticipatory guidance around nutrition and physical activity. Through this grant, Ohio healthcare providers are trained in the Ounce of Prevention materials through one hour CME regionalized trainings, as well as through webinars. A Quality Improvement Learning Collaborative launched in November, 2010 as another means to training physicians and practices.
- “My Story” Foster Care Program – Every person has a story to tell, and this is no different for children. The “My Story” Foster Care Program was developed to give Ohio’s foster children a chance to tell their story. Physicians are in a unique position to have one-on-one conversations with foster care children, at the initial well-child foster care medical exam. The “My Story” program provides medical care providers with information in caring for these children, and provides bags for the foster children that include a portable medical record, social/emotional information for the foster parent, and a variety of other tools to help children become more comfortable in their new environment.
- Wear Your Sports Helmet to Work/School Day- Unintentional injuries are one of the most serious health problems facing our society. They are the leading cause of death in our nation for persons aged 1 to 34 years and specifically, in children, injuries cause more deaths than all other diseases combined. Every year, more than 16 million children will visit an emergency department for an injury, resulting in over 600,000 hospital admissions. This accounts for a child or adolescent visit to the emergency room once every second, and almost one-half of these visits are due to an unintentional injury. Following an official request from the Ohio AAP, Governor Kasich's office to officially declared Tuesday, September 21, 2010 the "Wear Your Sports Helmet to Work/School Day." The Ohio AAP would like to be able to provide bike helmets to children across Ohio, free of charge at well-child pediatrician visits.
The Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics was founded in the mid-1950s, and represents nearly 2,900 pediatricians, pediatric medical specialists, pediatric surgical specialists and residents in Ohio.
To support the Ohio AAP Foundation, you can make a donation by clicking here, or you can attend one of our fundraising events. For more information, click the event below.
