IL Title V

Organizationally, the IL 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. 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 IL 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 IL 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

CCDC MCH epidemiology assignee, Amanda Bennett, PhD, MPH. Dr. Bennett has supported the program since 2014 and comes with a wealth of knowledge and expertise on data linkage and analysis, research methods, and program evaluation.

The IL 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, IL 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 IL Title V through presentations and in meetings.

Training and Development

IL Title V encourages staff members to attend as well as present at national and local MCH conferences (e.g., AMCHP conference, CityMatch annual conference, American Public Health Association [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 COVID-19 Pandemic, IL Title V postponed several technical assistance workshops it had scheduled in FY20. It is expected that these workshops will be rescheduled to occur in FY22. 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

DSCC uses Title V funds to support operation of the Core Program. The 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.

DSCC continued the commitment to ensuring care coordination staff receive 20 hours of continuing education every year throughout their employment.  Trainings for staff this year included: 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. 

In July 2020, DSCC implemented an organization wide action plan called Connecting the Dots.  This action plan involved strategic messaging from its leadership team on a list of topics.  There was an educational piece for each topic developed by the DSCC educators and shared online on a Microsoft Teams channel.  The managers were then asked to review the topics during team meetings and DSCC quality champions identified regional level projects to work towards improvement.  The topics covered during this reporting period included time management, prioritizing goals in the Person-Centered Care Plan, and following up on identified participant/family needs. 

During FY20, DSCC continued to hold monthly, statewide multidisciplinary staff meetings. All DSCC staff are invited to participate in these meetings. Care coordinators present on various challenges they have encountered.  Staff then share knowledge and experience to help find solutions.  This process has grown more robust since its inception in FY19.

DSCC also works with many interns each year from the university’s College of Nursing and School of Social Work. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDPFR) has authorized DSCC to provide continuing education credits for nurses and social workers. This allows DSCC to support the ongoing education of its care coordination workforce and to help them maintain their professional licensure.