The American Academy of Developmental Medicine And Dentistry: improving quality of care through teaching and research. (organizational spotlight).

Origins of the Academy

In communities and states across the country, Americans with mental retardation and developmental disability (MR/DD) are experiencing significant difficulty in gaining access to quality medical and dental care. This fact has been documented in publicly funded studies and scholarly publications. It is unfortunate, but true, that many large advocacy (including professional advocacy) organizations have not been forthcoming with solutions to this problem--a problem they themselves acknowledge, is of crisis proportions.

In an almost poetic fashion, and out of a shared sense of disillusionment and impatience, a small cadre of physicians and dentists, whose area of expertise is in the care of patients--with MR/DD, created this organization.

I first met Dr. Philip May at the Surgeon General's Conference on Health Disparities and Mental Retardation, held in Washington DC, in December of 2001. During our work at the conference, it became instantly clear to me that he was both a compassionate physician and a reasoned advocate. And it began to dawn on me that he and I shared a very deep and fundamental point of view relevant to two crucial issues.

First, we both understood that if we, as clinicians, were to effectively advocate on a national level, on behalf of Americans with mental retardation and developmental disability, the first necessary step would be to create a national dialogue between the physicians and dentists who care for these special patients.

Secondly, we knew in our souls that no lasting or meaningful progress would ever be made toward parity in access to healthcare for Americans with MR/DD, until mainstream medical and dental schools began to responsibly educate and train the next generation of caregivers in the rudimentary principles of that care.

Several months later we met again, this time with Dm. Steven Zelenski and Mike Kurtz, in Chicago, at the Special Care Dentistry (SCD) Annual Meeting. (SCD had dedicated a track to the collaboration of medicine and dentistry in caring for patients with MR/DD.)

After several weeks of Internet cyber-debate and lengthy phone conversations, the course seemed clear to all of us. On May 14th of 2002, together with several of our equally impassioned colleagues, we officially founded the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry.

In nine short months the Academy has achieved remarkable momentum. We have recruited talented physicians, dentists, advocates and self-advocates from across the country. The members of our board speak to the quality of our Executive, Advisory and Honorary Board leadership. And we have only just begun.

The Academy has formed alliances with other national advocacy organizations and having recently established an alliance with EP Magazine, we are now proudly standing shoulder to shoulder with an organization that has made an incalculable contribution to the well being of thousands of Americans with MR/DD.

A Focused Vision for the American Academy

Clearly, there is a lack of effective advocacy on behalf of persons with MR/DD in a whole host of areas. However, one organization can not hope to solve all the many problems facing this unique group of Americans.

We know, for example, that proper nutrition, adequate transportation and housing, social stigmatization, developing a national commitment to professionalizing the role of the Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), and promoting political advocacy are all important areas requiring "full-court" commitment and activism. But, we also know that the most valuable contribution our colleagues and we can make is to contribute our expertise in our area of expertise: Developmental Medicine and Dentistry. Furthermore, we need to laser-guide this expertise, precisely and expeditiously, to where it will have the most significant impact: the universities where physicians and dentists are trained.

Dr. May has said many times, "Getting the clinicians from the trenches, who have problem-solving skills and knowledge and getting them into the universities is exactly what we need to be doing."

It is the position of the Academy that these two components: clinical experience and educational commitment, must be adjoined if we are to be successful. Even the most experienced clinicians, without an educational forum, will have little or no audience. Similarly, a university training program--or any other training program, for that matter--developed without the experience and knowledge of the "trench warriors" will be meaningless.

As we move forward with initiatives that are focused on our uncomplicated mission, we do so with a desire to reach out to parents and families of people with developmental disabilities. As we create strategies for the establishment of a national commitment to education and training in the care of patients with MR/DD, we ask for the support and ideas of self-advocates. When we put the finishing touches on curriculum now being developed, it will have been written with patients and parents in mind.

For more information on the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, contact:

MISSION STATEMENT

The American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) is established as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of physicians, dentists, students and associate members, whose collective mission is to work together, as clinicians, educators and advocates, in our spheres of influence, to improve the overall health of children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Declaration of Purpose

The members of AADMD recognize that, for many reasons: Persons with developmental disabilities experience great difficulty in obtaining medical and dental care at the professional standard currently available to the general population.

Clinicians face unique and difficult challenges when caring for persons with developmental disabilities.

In medical and dental schools across the nation, and in virtually all clinical environments, established and accepted standards of care and training are essentially nonexistent, relative to this unique population of Americans.

In medical and dental education programs throughout the country, there is a fundamentally inadequate level of training, in the care of persons with developmental disability, available to medical and dental students, residents and fellows.

In both the medical and dental profession, a need exists for more and better research, which addresses the clinical problems frequently encountered in treating individuals with developmental disabilities. Better research will provide more effective solutions to clinical problems, while at the same time, serving to provide a credible foundation from which to advocate in other, non-scientific arenas.

The physicians and dentists providing clinical care to persons with developmental disabilities possess a certain level of expertise, which is proportional to their specialized training and experience in these areas. However, these clinicians often do not hold faculty appointments and, therefore, may not have an impact on professional education and training.

There is a fundamentally inadequate professional dialogue between the physicians and dentists who care for persons with developmental disability and that establishing a dialogue would go a long way toward resolving problems facing both clinicians and patients. Furthermore, it is precisely this kind of dialogue, which will promote the development of clinical and educational standards of care for Americans who are mentally retarded and/or developmentally disabled.

Numerous professional and non-professional groups exist which advocate for persons with developmental disabilities. However, there is not an organization of physicians and dentists (whose expertise is precisely in the area of providing care to this population) organized for and specifically dedicated to the resolution of the aforementioned problems.

Therefore, we formally declare our common mission and purpose, as well as our commitment to work together as professionals, in our areas of expertise and spheres of influence, to promote, through teaching and research, an improved clinical standard of health care for Americans with mental retardation and developmental disability.

Henry Hood DMD,
Executive Director
9462 Brownsboro Road, #155,
Louisville, KY 40241
Web site: http://www.aadmd.org,
Email: [e-mail]