Gunn, Hurlburt to keynote WCHQ learning event

Health care professionals will share best practices aimed at improving maternal, child health

MADISON (July 27, 2018) —- Well-known Pediatrician Veronica Gunn, MD, Genesis Health Consulting, and The Joint Commission perinatal expert Jennifer Hurlburt, RN, will keynote the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) Assembly August 14 at Monona Terrace in Madison. The focus of this learning event is “Healthy Beginnings: Birth to Adolescence.” See the agenda and speaker biographies.

The title of Dr. Gunn’s presentation is, “The Value of Child Health.” Decades of research demonstrate that having a healthy, thriving child population is fundamental to a successful society, yet, according to Dr. Gunn, societal and organizational policies and practices rarely prioritize children. In her presentation Dr. Gunn will explore the economic, policy and social contexts that drive the current state of child health and offer insights to the value of investing in child health for health systems, policy makers, clinicians, payers and employers.

Hurlburt, now with The Joint Commission (TJC), has extensive experience in maternal and perinatal care as both a clinician and in her work with TJC. Her presentation will start with a review of the issues related to maternal health and move to TJC’s work that encompasses waiting until at least 39 weeks competed gestation to deliver, the importance of breastmilk in the NICU and care of the mother after the birth of the child.

Five WCHQ members will present initiatives that are improving the health of children in their communities. They include: Penny Funk, RN, Marshfield Clinic Health System; Mala Mathur, MD, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health; Bob Rohloff, MD, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and Medical College of Wisconsin; Pam Fraser, MSM, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin; and Jessica McGee, MD, Associated Physicians, Madison.

This quarterly WCHQ event attracts more than 125 health care professionals who are committed to improving the quality of care patients receive in clinics, hospitals, home health and dental offices in Wisconsin and neighboring states. Register today. More information is available at WCHQ.org or contact Mary Kay Grasmick, WCHQ, mkgrasmick@wchq.org.