Eastern Pennsylvania Special Needs Association

Eastern Pennsylvania Special Needs Association

Health Promotion Council (HPC) will convene the Eastern Pennsylvania Special Needs Association (EPSNA), a formal network of home health professionals, medical providers, medical assistance insurance providers, social service providers, school nurses, legal advocates, policy planners and representatives from various local and state government service agencies, and parents of technology assisted (TA) children. This network will be modeled after Philadelphia Special Needs Consortium convened by Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Division of Maternal, Child & Family Health. Meetings of the EPSNA will take place quarterly in communities with high concentrations of referrals; the meetings will likely occur in the Scranton/Wilkes Barre, Harrisburg, Lancaster/York, and Philadelphia areas, and may rotate to a new location on a quarterly basis. The meetings will provide a forum for education and discussion about issues related to care of TA children; each meeting will provide education and presentations that meet the needs of the represented professions and parents. 

The EPSNA will include a component that encourages communication, support, and partnership among network members outside of the quarterly meetings. A directory of all represented members will be developed and updated and members will be allowed to share information about upcoming events, new research, policy changes, etc., related to care of TA children via an email list.