Children die from many things: Abuse and neglect. Car and bicycle accidents. Drowning. Choking. Swallowing batteries.

No one would suggest that a community can eliminate every child fatality, but a local group from the nonprofit, medical, judicial and government arenas hopes to at least minimize juvenile deaths by learning more about what caused them.

Toward that end, the group is looking into reviving a local child fatality review committee that would track the causes of each child death in El Paso County, detect trends based on the data, and use the findings to raise public awareness and, perhaps, influence policymaking and legislation at the state level.

“It’s a public health initiative,” said Trudy Strewler-Hodges, executive director of CASA of the Pikes Peak Region, who convened the group’s first meeting Friday. “You look at all kinds of issues — children killed in car accidents, or from a lack of medical care, or different kinds of diseases. You’re looking at all child deaths, and what you’re really thinking about is, what can we do in our community to build better prevention efforts?”

With the effort in its infancy, there is a lot to be decided — everything from formal mission and scope, to how the data will be used, to how the program will be staffed and funded for the long haul.

“I think we’re really in an assessment phase, but the dialogue is absolutely valuable” said Jill Law, director of El Paso County Public Health.

Until about 18 months ago, the health department operated a grant-funded child fatality review program, but changes in the grant requirements conflicted with the committee’s work, and the program ended.

Strewler-Hodges said a new program will not be a twin of the old one.

“I think the consensus is, we want it to be different from the past,” she said. “There were some strengths, and we’ll build on those. But there are some new learnings from other folks who have been doing this in Mesa (County) and on a national level that we want to draw on. We want to be open to strengthening the excellent process that was in place before.”

Aside from using the findings on a local level, Strewler-Hodges would like to see the information trickle up to the state, which is revisiting its own child death review practices. She said the state could include the findings from El Paso County with data from other Colorado locales that do similar reviews to pinpoint trends and develop policies and practices around them.

“It’s a real opportunity for us to align work at the county level and the state level, and end up with more information and data to provide better prevention efforts across the state.”

Children die from many things: Abuse and neglect. Car and bicycle accidents. Drowning. Choking. Swallowing batteries.No one would suggest that a community can eliminate every child fatality, but a local group from the nonprofit, medical, judicial and government arenas hopes to at least minimize juvenile deaths by learning more about what caused them.Toward that end, the group is looking into reviving a local child fatality review committee that would track the causes of each child death in El Paso County, detect trends based on the data, and use the findings to raise public awareness and, perhaps, influence policymaking and legislation at the state level.“It’s a public health initiative,” said Trudy Strewler-Hodges, executive director of CASA of the Pikes Peak Region, who convened the group’s first meeting Friday. “You look at all kinds of issues — children killed in car accidents, or from a lack of medical care, or different kinds of diseases. You’re looking at all child deaths, and what you’re really thinking about is, what can we do in our community to build better prevention efforts?”With the effort in its infancy, there is a lot to be decided — everything from formal mission and scope, to how the data will be used, to how the program will be staffed and funded for the long haul.“I think we’re really in an assessment phase, but the dialogue is absolutely valuable” said Jill Law, director of El Paso County Public Health.Until about 18 months ago, the health department operated a grant-funded child fatality review program, but changes in the grant requirements conflicted with the committee’s work, and the program ended.Strewler-Hodges said a new program will not be a twin of the old one.“I think the consensus is, we want it to be different from the past,” she said. “There were some strengths, and we’ll build on those. But there are some new learnings from other folks who have been doing this in Mesa (County) and on a national level that we want to draw on. We want to be open to strengthening the excellent process that was in place before.”Aside from using the findings on a local level, Strewler-Hodges would like to see the information trickle up to the state, which is revisiting its own child death review practices. She said the state could include the findings from El Paso County with data from other Colorado locales that do similar reviews to pinpoint trends and develop policies and practices around them.“It’s a real opportunity for us to align work at the county level and the state level, and end up with more information and data to provide better prevention efforts across the state.”

Photo by Gazette file