Pediatrics 2000

Our purpose is to fully integrate art into pediatric practice as a means to more effectively communicate health literacy and encourage healthy living. Beginning in a traditionally underserved Manhattan ethnic and immigrant community, we provide coordinated arts and medical services. By rechanneling the work of graffiti artists onto constructive sur... faces, we develop programs and materials targeted at the real-life challenges confronting at-risk urban youth and families, with a focus on children and adolescent health and social concerns. Tackling established concerns in pediatric care, we seek to combat fundamental health threats with methods beyond the proscriptions of responsive medical procedures. It is widely acknowledged that today's "millennial morbidities" - infant mortality; childhood obesity; academic failure; domestic violence; intentional injuries; high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections - are best addressed through long-term healing and educational efforts. The clinic will draw on art and art processes to acknowledge varieties of individual learning styles while also building upon the shared context of community culture. Key to this effort will be a continuing dialogue to maintain, refine and deploy adaptive strategies. Medical staff, artists, graphic designers, architects, museum educators and others will collaborate in the development of interior spaces, exhibitions, programs and publications that enhance and imprint the "teachable moments" that may occur before, during and after clinic visits. This interactive environment will reiterate and support messages conveyed in the interpersonal interactions of medical staff and patients, allowing more holistic opportunities for cognition and understanding. By acknowledging that good health practices are learned only when fully comprehended, this endeavor will hopefully develop as a national prototype for urban pediatric and family medical practices. Our Mission at Pediatrics 2000 is to provide quality care, fostering the highest ...Read More