The Florida Center for Inclusive Communities recognizes that good health is vital to enjoy all other life activities. People with developmental disabilities often have difficulty accessing appropriate high quality healthcare oftentimes because health care providers lack training or familiarity with the supports people with developmental disabilities need. FCIC is addressing this issue by undertaking activities that either a) educate health care providers to be sensitive to special health needs of people with disabilities, or b) assist individuals and their caregivers to be proactive about knowing and communicating their own health needs across their lifespan. FCIC's health activities are coordinated by Dr. Elizabeth Perkins.
Training Healthcare Providers
Medical Students
FCIC collaborates with the USF’s Morsani College of Medicine to provide the innovative “Health Care of Persons with Disabilities” Module. To our knowledge it is currently the only mandatory training in care of people with disabilities undertaken by medical students at any medical school nationwide. This ensures that all graduating medical students graduating from USF’s Morsani College of Medicine now have clinical and community based experiences of people with disabilities. Dr. Perkins also provides guest lectures to graduate students in USF’s College of Public Health, and School of Physical Therapy regarding health and health disparity issues.
Nursing Students
At Bethune Cookman University - L. Gale Lemerand School of Nursing: Since 2010, Dr. Perkins has provided an annual lecture to all BSN nursing students at the historically black Bethune Cookman University. This ensures that all nurses graduate having received some sensitivity education in caring for people with disabilities in a culturally competent manner.
Physicians
Florida Physician’s Education in Developmental Disabilities: Through a grant from Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry and the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities established the Florida Physician’s Education in Developmental Disabilities (PEDD) Consortium. PEDD developed a 12 CME credit-hour seminar series based on the first internationally vetted curriculum in developmental medicine created in the United States. This free webinar series, is focused on enhancing the practices and skills of primary care physicians and other healthcare professionals to provide better care to their adult patients with developmental disabilities. For more information, contact Nila Benito.
Development of Health Materials
FCIC staff have developed materials to support effective communication of special health care needs and health promotion. These include My Health Passport - health advocacy document, and the BHIP (Be Healthy Information Program) range of health and wellness brochures. These can be found under the Materials & Resources tab.
FCIC Materials & Resources
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Education for Lifelong Health Series Factsheets This series of factsheets were designed for people with mild intellectual disability. They can be used to help raise awareness about serious health conditions that become more common with increasing age. Usual treatments and prevention tips are also highlighted. Download each factsheet individually from the links below, or click on the complete series to download all five at once! Dr. Liz Perkins (eperkins@usf.edu) would welcome any feedback or comments regarding these factsheets.
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FCIC's My Health Passport is a health advocacy document that describes the unique supports and preferences of an individual. It is designed to be shared with many types of healthcare providers, in clinic and hospital settings, especially for those who are not very familiar in providing care to individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities. Hard copies of My Health Passports are currently available, and can be ordered free of charge by contacting Dr. Liz Perkins or (813) 974-7076. The forms are also available for free download.
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BHIP Health & Wellness Brochures The FCIC has developed the BHIP (Be Healthy Information Program for Children and Adults with Disabilities) health and wellness brochures to provide individuals with developmental disabilities with important information about living a healthy life. All brochures are available to download as pdfs documents from the links below.
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Compound Caregivers: Overlooked and Overburdened (White Paper) Compound Caregivers: Overlooked and Overburdened is a white paper authored by Dr. Elizabeth Perkins regarding the challenges encountered by older caregivers of adults with intellectual disabilities when they also caregiving for other family members. The white paper is an attempt to alert policy makers and service providers alike of this emerging trend and offers recommendations for how to increase the availability of supports. |
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Sexuality & Developmental Disabilities Across the Lifespan The subject of sexuality can be daunting. Add to the mix a physical or cognitive disability and you may find yourself feeling totally unprepared to deal with the subject matter. Staff from the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities collaborated with the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council and the Center on Intellectual Disabilities at the University of Albany to create an easy to use workbook for families and educators of individuals with developmental disabilities. The Instructional Manual and the accompanying Resource Guides are designed to help educators and family members assist individuals with developmental disabilities in their exploration of self and sexuality.
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Other Useful Materials & Resources
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Affordable Care Act - What Disability Advocates Need to Know The Arc (link to Arc's main website http://www.thearc.org/) released this policy report to clearly describe the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is vital that the disability community understands the law and the many benefits it can provide to people with disabilities. View pdf document. |
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Health Insurance for Young Adults Just The Facts: The 411 on Health Insurance for Young Adults Ages 18-30 in Florida is designed to help all young adults - including those with chronic health conditions or disabilities - identify, access, and maintain health insurance coverage that meets their needs. To view the document or download a PDF version, click here. Resource provided by FloridaHATS. |
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A handbook for parents, family members and guardians of adults with developmental disabilities. Provides information that will help identify and plan the direction and future regarding the quality of life family members' desire. Personal information summary included to ensure the safety and happiness of a surviving family member with a disability. (2005) Resource provided by the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council. |
This page includes links to both internal (FCIC) and external (non-FCIC) websites. External links are selected and reviewed when the page is published. However, the FCIC is not responsible for the content of external websites. The FCIC website does not accept submissions or requests.
Florida Office on Disability and Health
Florida was recently awarded a disability and health grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This grant allowed for the creation of the, housed within the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida The establishment of the Florida Office on Disability and Health (FODH) in Florida will facilitate the movement toward continuity in care for people with disabilities and their families, serving as a centralized location for designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating programs and services. A major aim of the FODH will be to generate epidemiologically sound and consistent data on disability and health, using both new and existing sources of data, so that disability and health-related public health policies and programs within the state are data-driven, evidence-based best practices.
Association on University Centers on Disabilities - Healthcare
AUCD works on all of the issues encompassed in the very broad term "health care" for people with disabilities. Specific emphasis is placed on a community rather than institutional bias in affordable, equal access to health care. This includes private health insurance, public programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, managed care, as well as quality assurance and consumer education protections
Florida Health and Transition Services (FloridaHATS) is a collaborative program of the Florida Department of Health, the Children’s Medical Services Network, the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, and other partners throughout the state.
FloridaHATS’ mission is to ensure successful transition from pediatric to adult health care for all youth and young adults in Florida, including those with disabilities, chronic health conditions or other special health care needs.
Presenter(s): Nila Benito and Jackie Selbst
Date: October 14, 2011 Duration: 1 hr 25 min
Description: Parents and caregivers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often have so much on their minds that teaching sexual health falls on the backburner. Unfortunately, lack of proper sexual health education may lead to grave dangers for those individuals, including sexual abuse or inappropriate sexual behaviors. This webinar includes studies, statistics, lessons learned, and teaching tips. Presenters: Nila Benito, FCIC Coordinator of Community Supports, and Jackie Selbst, USF second-year medical student. Moderator: Liz Perkins, FCIC Health Coordinator. For More Information: contact Nila Benito.
IMPORTANT! Please complete this 3 minute survey after you view the webinar.
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Communication of Health Care Needs
Presenter(s): Elizabeth Perkins, PhD, RNMH & Robyn Wallace, MD
Date: April 25, 2012Duration: 1 hr 31 min
Description: This webinar for the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) features FCIC's Dr. Elizabeth Perkins. Her presentation covers the issues of poor communication and difficulties encountered when health care professionals are unfamiliar with providing care to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities especially in hospital settings. Her presentation describes FCIC’s training collaboration with Dr. Laurie Woodard and USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Dr. Perkins also discusses the development, use, and dissemination of FCIC's My Health Passport. Co-presenting is Dr. Robyn Wallace, a physician from Tasmania (Australia). The webinar is moderated by Dr. Seth Keller, President of AADMD.
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Department of Child & Family Studies • College of Behavioral & Community Sciences • University of South Florida
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