III.E.2.b.i. MCH Workforce Development

Title V

Organizationally, the Title V director leads the Division of the Maternal, Child, and Family Health Services, and reports to the Office of Women’s Health and Family Services (OWHFS) deputy director, Shannon Lightner, MPA, MSW (interim). The current Title V director is Kenya D. McRae, JD, PhD. Kenya joined OWHFS in October 2019. Dr. McRae has an MPH in epidemiology from George Washington University and a PhD in public health, community health sciences, behavior health, and health education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has more than 15 years of experience in public health and research.

Key Personnel by Domain

Maternal/Women and Infant/Perinatal Health

The Title V is supported by several key personnel. Trishna Harris, DNP, APN, WHNP‐ BC, CNM, and Miranda Scott, MBA, MALS, BSN, RN, LNC, serve as perinatal health nurses. They have been with Title V for six years and are responsible for working directly with Illinois’ Regionalized Perinatal Networks and birthing hospitals to assure that health care services meet the standards of care identified in the state’s administrative code.

In FY20, two additional positions were added to the team. Alexander Smith, BA, was promoted to the Maternal and Infant Health coordinator position. He is responsible for the Administrative Perinatal Center Program, the MCH Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Program, and other programs to improve the health of women and infants. In addition, Smith supports advisory groups, such as the Perinatal Advisory Council.

Cara J. Bergo, PhD, joined the team as the Maternal Morbidity and Mortality analyst. Although Dr. Bergo’s position is primarily funded through a CDC grant, she provides her epidemiological expertise in addressing maternal morbidity and mortality in the state, which falls under one of Title V’s key priorities.

In FY21, two more positions were added to assist with these domains. Ashley Horne, MSPH, joined as the Maternal and Infant Health epidemiologist, and Marcelo Seminara joined as the Maternal Mortality Review operations manager and will assist the Maternal Morbidity and Mortality analyst with the MMRCs.

Child and Adolescent Health

Kelly Vrablic, MS, MPH, is the Adolescent and Child Health coordinator, responsible for the Adolescent Health Initiative, increasing adolescent well-visits, and other programs to improve the health of Illinois’ children and adolescents.

The School Health Program consists of three registered nurses, a data/grant manager, and an administrative assistant. The nurses are responsible for monitoring and supporting the state’s school-based health centers to assure that they are providing quality and culturally relevant health care services in accordance with the state’s administrative code. The data/grant manager is responsible for administering and monitoring the Title V grant program that supports selected school-based health centers across the state.

In FY21, Julia Howland, MPH, joined IDPH to serve as the Child and Adolescent Health epidemiologist.

Other Key Personnel

CDC MCH epidemiology assignee, Amanda Bennett, PhD, MPH. Dr. Bennett has supported the Title V since 2014 and provides knowledge and expertise on data linkage and analysis, research methods, and program evaluation.

The Title V provides funding support for two graduate program student interns, a structured internship program operated out of the University of Illinois at Springfield. One intern supports school health data collection and analysis, and the other intern supports the IDPH Office of Health Promotion’s Injury Prevention Program to work on adolescent suicide prevention and to develop a state strategic plan around youth suicide.

Anticipated Personnel for the Future

In FY22, Title V anticipates filling several vacant positions and adding a Title V Block Grant coordinator to the team. Once filled, the School Health Program administrator will oversee the program and report directly to the Title V director. Responsibilities of this position include monitoring and supporting the state’s school-based health centers; providing technical assistance and support to the school nurses, data/grant manager, and administrative assistant; and representing IDPH and the Title V program at meetings that include such partners as the Illinois State Board of Education, National School Based Health Alliance, and Illinois Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics (ICAAP). A second position within the School Health Program will assist with grant monitoring and the school health center certification process.

The Title V administrative assistant will provide administrative support to the Division of Maternal, Child, and Family Health Services, including scheduling, computer issues, and assist with the management and support of the various advisory groups, such as the Perinatal Advisory Council and the Task Force on Infant and Maternal Mortality Among African Americans.

The Title V Block Grant coordinator will be essential to the Title V team and work closely with the Title V director. The coordinator will be responsible for helping to compile information for the annual Title V Application and Report process, reviewing MCH data and identifying areas requiring additional attention, identifying and engaging key stakeholders in Title V programs and initiatives, and representing Title V through presentations and in meetings.

Training and Development

Title V encourages staff members to attend as well as present at national and local MCH conferences (e.g., AMCHP conference, CityMatch annual conference, APHA annual conference).

Title V also provides workforce development for those in the MCH field through: (1) the regional perinatal health APCs, which support perinatal and obstetric educators by assessing educational needs and providing continuing education; (2) the Illinois Women and Families Health Conference, which is an annual event organized by OWHFS to build the skills of health care and social service providers working with vulnerable families; and (3) the School Health Program, which provides ongoing technical assistance and support as well as structured training events to school nurses and school-based health centers.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Title V has not rescheduled technical assistance workshops it previously postponed in FY20. Title V hopes to reschedule these workshops for FY23. Title V acknowledges that staff would benefit from a refresher in program planning, monitoring, and evaluation, especially as it pertains to the current grant portfolio. In addition, Title V seeks to improve its ability to effectively engage families and consumers in its strategic planning and programmatic execution.

CYSHCN

UIC-DSCC uses Title V funds to support operation of the Core Program. The UIC-DSCC Senior Administration Team includes Thomas F. Jerkovitz, executive director; Molly W. Hofmann, director Care Coordination, Systems Development and Education; Kevin W. Steelman, associate director of Finance; and Andrew B. Nichols, director of Information Technology.

UIC-DSCC staff participates in an organization wide action plan program called Connecting the Dots. The program involves strategic messaging from UIC-DSCC’s leadership team on a list of topics that includes an educational component developed by UIC-DSCC’s educators. These educational components are shared online through a Microsoft Teams channel and incorporated into team meetings. Managers review the topics with their teams and UIC-DSCC quality champions identify regional level projects to help improve the teams’ performance regarding each topic. Topics covered include time management, prioritizing goals in the Person-Centered Care Plan, and following up on identified participant/family needs. More detail regarding the program can be found in the Crossing Cutting domain section under strategy 10-C.

In addition to the Connecting the Dots program, UIC-DSCC engages in additional workforce development through its staff meetings and pipeline activities. UIC-DSCC hosts monthly, statewide multidisciplinary staff meetings. During these meetings care coordinators discuss the various challenges they encounter, and other staff members share their personal knowledge and experiences to help identify solutions. Through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), UIC-DSCC is authorized to provide continuing education credits for nurses and social workers. This allowed UIC-DSCC to support the ongoing education of its care coordination workforce and helped them maintain their professional licensure. The care coordination staff receives 20 hours of continuing education annually. Trainings for staff include: Flu Vaccine, Comprehensive Assessment and Person-Centered Planning Refresher, Cultural Competency, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Abuse and Neglect, Medical Home, Incident Reporting, Mandated Reporter Training, Intermediate Motivational Interviewing (2 parts), Transition of Care, ADA, Supported Decision Making: Protecting Rights Ensuring Choices, Social Emotional Health, UIC Ethics Training, UIC Sexual Harassment Training, SANS Computer Security, UIC Sensitivity Training, and HIPAA. UIC-DSCC also works with interns from the university’s College of Nursing and School of Social Work.