The Health Status and Health Care of Homeless Children: Special Challenges

The speaker will review the health concerns and the barriers to health care for urban and rural homeless and 'under-housed' children. He will talk about the need for a comprehensive medical home and how that can be identified for homeless children.

Irwin Redlener, MD is Associate Dean, Professor of Clinical Public Health and Pediatrics, and Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Redlener speaks and writes extensively on national disaster preparedness policies, pandemic influenza, the threat of terrorism in the U.S. and related issues. Dr. Redlener is also President and Co-founder of the Children's Health Fund and has expertise in health care systems, crisis response and public policy with respect to access to health care for underserved populations. Dr. Redlener, a pediatrician, has worked extensively in the Gulf region following hurricane Katrina where he helped establish ongoing medical and public health programs. He also organized medical response teams in the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11 and has had disaster management leadership experience internationally and nationally. He is the author of Americans At Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared For Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now, published in August 2006 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.