Personal Emergency Response System Technology Fights Child Abuse

Connect America, a provider of connected health solutions, and Watchful Shepherd USA, a national nonprofit family abuse prevention program, announce that tools and resources are available to help protect children living in at-risk environments.

Connect America is helping Watchful Shepherd fulfill its mission by providing the organization with special alert systems comprising electronic monitors and wristbands that can be distributed to at-risk families and child victims. Should a crisis arise, users can quickly and easily send for help and automatically begin recording audio with the touch of a button. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This system was adapted from Connect America’s Personal Emergency Response System developed for older adults.

“We recognized that the technology we designed for elderly people in emergencies easily could be adapted for use by children facing emergencies of their own,” says Janet Dillione, CEO of Connect America.

“Children in abusive environments are especially vulnerable when the adults they are living with are under stress from economic and legal problems, substance abuse, or physical and mental health issues,” says Tracy Walnoha, executive director of Watchful Shepherd. “The shutdowns and isolation resulting from the pandemic have exacerbated these challenges and led to an uptick in child abuse. We think it’s important that people and organizations know there are ways to protect children.”

The statistics are disturbing, the scope of the problem a national disgrace. Data from the National Children’s Alliance show the following:

Nearly 700,000 children were reported to have been victims of abuse or neglect in 2018 (the most recent year for which national data are available).
An estimated 1,770 children died from abuse and neglect in the United States that year.
Children in the first year of their life had the highest rate of victimization of (2.7%) relative to children of other ages.
61% of victims were neglected, more than 10% were physically abused, and 7% were sexually abused.
More than 15% of kids suffered two or more forms of abuse.

More information about Connect America is available at www.connectamerica.com.

— Source: Connect America and Watchful Shepherd

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Advances Guidance to Address SDoH

The pandemic has exposed a stubborn, harsh truth about life in America, and revealed glaring failures in our public policies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has uprooted the lives of everyone living in the United States and around the world, but the most severe health and economic impacts have been concentrated among people of color, those with low and middle incomes, and people who live in places that were already struggling financially before the economic downturn. The pandemic has exposed a stubborn, harsh truth about life in America: People’s ability to live a long and healthy life depends to a significant degree on the color of their skin, how much money they have, and where they live.

This pandemic has also revealed glaring, long-standing structural failures in our public policies. No one should have to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table and protecting the health of themselves, their families, and their communities. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is working to change policies and systems so no one has to make that choice.

This policy brief series, Federal Policy Recommendations to Advance Health Equity from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, includes evidence-based recommendations to help people through the immediate health and economic crises and longer-term recommendations to ensure all people in the United States have a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.

The first brief in the series, “Improving Housing Affordability and Stability to Advance Health Equity,” focuses on how millions of families in America—particularly families of color—are denied shelter, security, and access to opportunity. The brief lays out a roadmap for how we ensure people do not lose their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, and build toward transformational change that guarantees housing as a human right and a public good that advances racial and economic equity.

The second brief in the series, “Increasing Access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to Advance Health Equity,” focuses on SNAP, the nation’s largest food assistance program, which serves as a critical lifeline for millions of families in America who have trouble affording food. It is proven to reduce poverty, improve the economy, lower food security, and improve children’s health and educational attainment. The brief recommends steps policymakers can take to strengthen SNAP during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

The third brief in the series, “Increasing Access to Affordable and Comprehensive Health Insurance,” focuses on the inability of many people to afford health insurance—particularly people of color or those in low-wage jobs—which has uncovered one of the nation’s clearest vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a large and growing body of research that demonstrates the positive impact of health insurance coverage on health and mortality. The brief recommends steps policymakers can take to strengthen access to high-quality and affordable health care during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

— Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation