News: A Great CATCH! Community Access to Child Health (Catch) Grant to Benefit Loudoun Adolescents, Offer Free Sports Physicals

(April 17, 2012) - We live in one of the wealthiest counties in the United States according to constant news reports but for some there is an economic catch, driven home by the point that about 16 percent of Loudoun County students are approved for free or reduced meal prices.

Fortunately a new CATCH has arrived -- the Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) implementation fund grant awarded by the American Academy of Pediatrics to Dr. C. Damon Moore of Pediatric Healthcare in Loudoun.

The grant will fund an education event on April 21 at Inova Loudoun Hospital aimed at Loudoun County athletic directors, student athletes and parents, and then the grant will fund 200 free sports physical to be offered in May.

The CATCH grant is comprised of three parts: education, action, and information. First, the grant will fund an education event in which four Loudoun County physicians will discuss issues pertinent to student-athletes – concussion identification and management, orthopedic and cardiac issues, as well as a discussion about the importance of having a medical home.

The education event – to be held April 21 at the Inova Loudoun Hospital – was created for Loudoun County athletic directors, student-athletes, and their parents. Second, the grant will fund 200 free sports physicals to be offered in May. Sports physicals are required for sports participation.

Local medical providers will give the sports physicals with both a cardiologist and an orthopedist available for in-house referrals. Third, medical needs assessments will be conducted. These needs assessments will provide critical information on the medically underserved – a population we know little about. The needs assessments will constitute the base of future programming and medical offerings for Loudoun County adolescents.

In 2010 Loudoun County was ranked the highest median annual household income of any county in the nation and was ranked 1st or 2nd for the past five years. In stark contrast, 16% of Loudoun County students are approved for free and reduced price meals and 3% of families live at or below poverty level.

In our troubled economic times, with long-term unemployment and corporate belt-tightening, families find themselves either without medical insurance or medical insurance with high co-payments (co-pays).

Lack of medical insurance and high co-pays make visits to the doctor expensive. This was one reason that prompted Dr. Moore, a community pediatrician, to pursue the Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Implementation Fund grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Of the 73 applications submitted in the 2011 funding cycle, the proposal entitled “Adolescent sports physicals for the underserved” was only one of 20 proposals awarded funds. The vision of CATCH is to “ensure every child in every community has a medical home and other needed services to reach optimal health and well-being.”

Dr. Moore, a community pediatrician, is strongly committed to adolescent medicine and has seen first hand that sports participation is positively related to the development and well-being adolescents – including increased self-esteem, healthier body weights and body images, as well as decreased substance use and other risky behaviors.

Dr. Moore’s collaborator, Susan Swayze, Ph.D. – assistant professor of educational research in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University’s Ashburn, Virginia campus – is conducting the needs assessment and will collaborate on grant writing efforts to fund future endeavors.

The collaborative team hopes to provide annual education and medical events that benefit Loudoun County’s teens.