The Wayne Children's Healthcare Access Program (WCHAP) was awarded a three-year $1.5 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to expand its services. WCHAP provides quality, coordinated, and preventive healthcare to vulnerable children in Detroit as their medical home. The new funding will allow WCHAP to expand asthma case management, implement an obesity reduction program, strengthen coordination between maternal and child healthcare providers, and increase integration of physical and behavioral healthcare.

1. Wayne CHAP awarded a three-year
$1.5 million grant from the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation
By Teri Banas
Editors note: The Great Start Fierce Heart Award is given annually to an individual, advocacy
group and business in recognition of unwavering dedication to the Great Start vision and
relentless actions to bring that vision to reality. The Great Start vision states that every child in
Michigan is safe, healthy and eager to succeed in school and life.
DETROIT – Established just over a year ago, the Wayne Children’s Healthcare Access Program
(WCHAP) is developing like a toddler finding her feet. First there are a few measured steps, but
turn around and she’s off.
This month, the effort to provide Michigan’s most vulnerable children a “medical home” for
quality, coordinated and preventive care was awarded a three-year $1.5 million grant from the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The grant will allow the organization to expand its core services and
develop specialty services in asthma care and childhood obesity to counter child health
disparities in Detroit.
WCHAP is an independent, physician-led pilot program working with seven pediatric practices,
a federally qualified health clinic and the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. It was launched with
an $80,000 start-up grant from the Early Childhood Investment Corporation and support from the
Kresge Foundation. Earlier this year, WCHAP Director Jametta Lilly and lead pediatrician Dr.
Teresa Holtrop were recognized for their dedication and efforts toward children’s health when
they received the Investment Corporation’s Great Start Fierce Heart Award for individuals. (See
box.)
In all, WCHAP will expand its services to an additional 4,000 Detroit children from birth
through age 21, and will engage additional pediatric practices to impact another 40,000 children,
CEO Jametta Lilly said.
“We’re engaging new partners and new entities from child care providers to business people to
faith-based groups to start looking at children’s health and how we can all become better
advocates,” said Lilly, formerly the director of the Wayne Great Start Collaborative. “We
provide an ongoing avenue for providers and partners to better assess, and come up with
strategies and best practices to help improve health outcomes.”
The prime focus of WCHAP is to help Medicaid-enrolled children, and with nearly 40 percent of
Michigan’s children now eligible for Medicaid, a focus on quality, coordinated and preventive

2. care were significant factors in developing the WCHAP program and the Investment
Corporation’s decision to support it.
“We applaud WCHAP’s efforts to engage more partners in this critical work, enabling them to
extend quality medical care to more children,” said Judy Samelson, CEO of the Early Childhood
Investment Corporation, an independent, publicly-owned nonprofit helping Michigan rebuild its
economy through effective early childhood development. “Without good health, children can’t
learn in school, which ultimately impacts life success.”
Growing nationally, the medical home concept has been proven to improve health outcomes and
lower healthcare costs by reducing emergency room usage. Like its predecessor the Kent
Children’s Healthcare Access Program, also supported by the Investment Corporation, the
Wayne program aims to strengthen partnerships between families, health, mental health,
education and social services.
The new funding will allow WCHAP to:
• Expand its asthma case management team. Asthma, the main cause of school absenteeism, is
managed best when medical staffs and families can work closely together. Toward that end, Lilly
said the pilot’s practices have agreed to implement an asthma action plan and employ a
standardized tool, the Asthma Control Test, for all children diagnosed with the disease.
• Implement an evidence-based obesity reduction model called Fit Kids 360. For children at risk
in their physical and emotional health, the program puts school-age children and a family
member through an eight-week curriculum. It also challenges pediatric offices to identify
preventive strategies to help all patients.
• Strengthen coordination and transitions between maternal and child health providers to improve
birth and infant health outcomes. Particularly for high-risk babies, WCHAP will work with
social service programs, prenatal and infant medical providers and hospitals to provide “gap
services.” This effort will be directed at the 1,500 children born premature each year in Detroit
with low weight and prone to health risks.
• Increase coordination and integration between physical and behavioral/ mental health. Lilly
said WCHAP plans to educate pediatricians and provide families access to professional
counseling for the area’s growing numbers of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder and other conduct disorders.
• Bolster the Innovation and Incentives Program to assist pediatric practices in meeting medical
home standards. New learning opportunities and technical assistance are planned for WCHAP
practices to develop their “medical homeness,” Lilly said.