Children's Health Fund
Encyclopedia
Children's Health Fund is a non-profit organization
that provides health care to children and families on mobile medical clinics throughout the United States
. CHF was founded in 1987 by singer/songwriter Paul Simon
and and pediatrician/advocate Irwin Redlener, M.D.
. The organization began with a single mobile medical unit funded by Simon and designed by Redlener’s wife, Karen. More than 20 years later, the organization has 23 programs with more than 50 mobile medical units and is the nation's leading provider of mobile-based health care for homeless and low-income children and their families. Karen Redlener remains with CHF, currently serving as the organization’s executive director.
CHF programs are committed to the full range of children’s health care from health education and preventative care to the diagnosis and management of acute and chronic diseases CHF programs provide or coordinate care that fosters oral and mental health, as well as specialty or hospital care.
as the organization’s medical director and director of grants, where he met Paul Simon
. In 1987, Redlener and Simon founded Children's Health Fund to provide health care to homeless and medically underserved children in New York City.
Throughout the years, Simon has held charity concerts and benefit events supporting CHF and has traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak to elected officials on behalf of CHF.
CHF has two affiliate programs in Philadelphia, PA and Montrose, CO
.
, historic health reform legislation signed into law early in 2010.
Since Hurricane Andrew
, Children's Health Fund has activated a crisis response plan to help provide medical assistance to the victims of the disaster. CHF initiated this plan again after the terror attacks of 9/11 providing support at ground zero in New York City; after Hurricane Katrina
ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005; and most recently after the BP Oil Spill.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
that provides health care to children and families on mobile medical clinics throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. CHF was founded in 1987 by singer/songwriter Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
and and pediatrician/advocate Irwin Redlener, M.D.
Irwin Redlener
Irwin Redlener is a pediatrician and public health activist who specializes in health care for underserved children, health care reform, and disaster planning, response, and recovery...
. The organization began with a single mobile medical unit funded by Simon and designed by Redlener’s wife, Karen. More than 20 years later, the organization has 23 programs with more than 50 mobile medical units and is the nation's leading provider of mobile-based health care for homeless and low-income children and their families. Karen Redlener remains with CHF, currently serving as the organization’s executive director.
CHF programs are committed to the full range of children’s health care from health education and preventative care to the diagnosis and management of acute and chronic diseases CHF programs provide or coordinate care that fosters oral and mental health, as well as specialty or hospital care.
Paul Simon and CHF
In 1985, Dr. Redlener joined the board of USA for AfricaUSA for Africa
USA for Africa was the name under which forty-seven predominantly U.S. artists, led by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, recorded the hit single "We Are the World" in 1985. The song was a US and UK Number One for the collective in April of that year...
as the organization’s medical director and director of grants, where he met Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
. In 1987, Redlener and Simon founded Children's Health Fund to provide health care to homeless and medically underserved children in New York City.
Throughout the years, Simon has held charity concerts and benefit events supporting CHF and has traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak to elected officials on behalf of CHF.
National network
CHF’s National Network serve children and families in Arkansas; Austin, Texas; Baton Rouge, LA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Detroit, MI; Harlem, NY; Idaho; Los Angeles, CA; Memphis, TN; Mississippi; Mississippi Gulf Coast; New Orleans; New York, NY; New Jersey; Orlando, FL; Phoenix, AZ; San Francisco, CA; South Florida; Southern Arizona; Washington. D.C.; and West Virginia.CHF has two affiliate programs in Philadelphia, PA and Montrose, CO
.
Advocacy
CHF supported the creation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 1997 and most recently, the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...
, historic health reform legislation signed into law early in 2010.
Crisis response
CHF works with the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University to help document and assess the impact of major disasters on children and the communities they live in.Since Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
, Children's Health Fund has activated a crisis response plan to help provide medical assistance to the victims of the disaster. CHF initiated this plan again after the terror attacks of 9/11 providing support at ground zero in New York City; after Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005; and most recently after the BP Oil Spill.