FAMILIES, CHILD ADVOCATES, HEALTHCARE AND SOCIAL SERVICE WORKERS
TURN TO “CAP 4 KIDS” WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION AND HELP

Philadelphia, January 30, 2006- Most people do not have trouble using the yellow pages, directory assistance or accessing directions from the Internet. However, even for the Web-savvy, it is not nearly as easy to know where to turn for quality, accurate, local information about such resources as after-school programs, emergency food referrals, breastfeeding tips, help for immigrants, smoking cessation programs or low-cost child care – especially if it’s not found in one central place.
Making that task much easier is a new website, “CAP 4 Kids”    (www.cap4kids.org/philadelphia), launched by the Children’s Advocacy Project of Philadelphia. Thanks  to the support of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, St. Christopher’s Foundation for Children and, Drexel University’s College of Media, Arts & Design, the website helps bridge the gap between families in need and the many social service agencies offering valuable programs and services.
“Doctors are starting to recognize how strongly children’s health is affected by the economic, educational and psycho-social environments surrounding them,” says Dr. Daniel Taylor, a St. Christopher’s pediatrician and Drexel University College of Medicine assistant professor who created the site after realizing the Philadelphia region had no comprehensive source of programs and services targeted toward children and their families. “By posting local resources and information on a central website, we can educate and empower parents while giving pediatricians and other healthcare professionals, child advocates and social service workers an effective reference tool to connect parents with the services they need.”

 The site features program descriptions, childhood safety tips, links to regional and national child advocacy organizations and sample letters for parents or child advocates to request evaluations and hearings. It also offers nearly two dozen parent handouts on subjects such as early intervention services, child abuse, nutrition, health insurance, legal services, literacy, pregnancy resources and special needs. The initial information was gathered by Taylor and Dr. Rajesh Raman, a third-year pediatric resident at Drexel University College of Medicine and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, and is frequently updated to add resources and ensure accuracy.
There has been an overwhelming response as physicians identify and help families in need, social service agencies get more referrals to their programs, healthcare professionals and child advocates learn more about available resources, and parents empower themselves to keep their families safer and more secure. Taylor and the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics have called on physicians in other cities to replicate the site to benefit their own residents.
For more information, visit http://www.cap4kids.org/philadelphiaor contact Taylor at drt23@drexel.edu.
                                   

St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children is a 161-bed pediatric hospital located at Erie Avenue at Front Street in Philadelphia, Pa.  The hospital provides a wide range of pediatric medical and surgical specialties through its affiliation with Drexel University College of Medicine. With a medical staff of more than 270 pediatric specialists, St. Christopher's is a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center and provides programs such as kidney and liver transplantation, minimally invasive surgery, and open heart surgery for the children of the greater Philadelphia area and from around the world. The hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency.

St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children is part of Tenet Pennsylvania, which also includes Graduate Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital, Roxborough Memorial Hospital and Warminster Hospital.  To learn more about St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, visit www.stchristophershospital.com.