News

The National Alliance for Caregiving, in partnership with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation and ImproveCareNow, is launching a first-of-its-kind survey of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) caregivers. The survey, which is being conducted by researchers from Crimson Research at New Mexico State University, is seeking feedback from family caregivers of children and adults living with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, the two major types of IBD. "Through this survey, we hope to capture the power behind these unpaid friend and family caregivers and to articulate what they are doing so that they can serve as a model for caregivers in other communities," explains C. Grace Whiting, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving. 

Take the Caregiver Survey >>

We believe that many of the most innovative and potentially high-impact ideas for improving pediatric IBD care are likely to come from those living with the condition daily. Because of this, ImproveCareNow has continued to support innovative project ideas through the ImproveCareNow Patient and Parent Innovation Fund. The awardee for the second year of this program has now been announced!

ImproveCareNow Engagement Campaign Director, Chris Keck, has announced that four Community Engagement Learning Series (CELS) trainings will be offered in summer 2018. CELS trainings - designed collaboratively by patients, parents, clinicians and ImproveCareNow staff members - are intended for interested ICN community members and teams as a way to share best practices and introduce new skills in an active learning environment. Summer 2018 sessions will focus on volunteer recruitment, team and relationship building, leadership development and using personal storytelling to explain and make change in health care.

We know that many of the most innovative and potentially high-impact ideas for improving IBD care are likely to come from those living with the condition daily. In 2017 we launched the ImproveCareNow Patient and Parent Innovation Fund and funded two exciting patient-and-parent-led projects.

One of the highlights of the Spring 2018 ImproveCareNow Community Conference was getting to hear updates on the activities carried out to date by both of these project teams. The parent-led teams from both MassGeneral Hospital for Children and Stanford Children's Health have hit the ground running and already have lessons and ideas for the rest of the community to steal shamelessly.

When you give passionate people the opportunity to contribute you will be always be astounded by what can be achieved. #communityled #communityproud #icncc18s pic.twitter.com/oZg4q2s9ZP

— George Dellal (@georgedellal) April 27, 2018

ImproveCareNow has announced that it is seeking the support of its incredibly committed community, to raise funds that will support the continued inclusion of patients and parents at Community Conferences. Donations to this fund will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000 and will cover travel and registration costs for parents and patients to attend the Fall 2018 Community Conference in Chicago.

The PRODUCE Study is now officially enrolling eligible participants. Four ImproveCareNow centers, including Seattle Children’s Hospital, Stanford Children's Health, Nemours Children's Health System - Wilmington, and Children’s Mercy are actively recruiting participants. The remaining seven centers should be recruiting participants by May.

Upon returning from an in-person meeting of the Board of Directors of ImproveCareNow, Dr. John A. Barnard submitted his reflections about ImproveCareNow and the role the network plays in pediatric IBD research and health care improvement to a Columbus, Ohio newspaper – The Columbus Dispatch. The resulting article, entitled “Pediatric research: Data-driven care improving lives of kids with bowel disease,” was published in the scientific news section of dispatch.com on February 18, 2018.

ImproveCareNow is a collaborative community where clinicians, researchers, parents, patients, and improvers are empowered to learn and continuously improve to bring about more reliable, proactive IBD care, and healthier children and youth. We are pleased to share our Annual Update, which includes highlights and achievements from 2017 and plans for our continued work to improve care and health for kids with IBD in 2018 and beyond.

In 2017 ImproveCareNow:

ImproveCareNow (ICN) has officially announced the call for proposals from clinician, parent, and patient members of the ICN community to develop presentations for the Spring 2018 Community Conference.

ImproveCareNow has officially endorsed the 2018 Crohn’s & Colitis Congress™: A Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Partnership.