Health access: 
The KU Medical Center has received a grant to establish the Mid-America
Pediatric Health Specialty Unit, which will work to improve the recognition
and treatment of children’s health problems caused by environmental
factors in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. The unit has created a
Web site to provide information about the program, known as MAPEHSU.
The unit will link parents and health care providers to programs and experts
in pediatric environmental health. It also will develop an educational
campaign for the region to provide the latest information on environmental
factors and children’s health. MAPEHSU is accessible 24 hours a
day, seven days a week by phone or through the unit’s Web site.
“We know that exposure to lead, air pollution and chemicals can
lead to serious health
problems in children,” said William Barkman, director of KUMC’s
Center for Environmental and Occupational Health and co-principal investigator
in the program. “The increase in childhood asthma has been almost
exclusively linked to environmental factors. With this new organization,
we can get facts and experts directly to people who can impact a child’s
health.
www2.kumc.edu/mapehsu/
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