Pediatric Advocacy
At Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, one of our goals of residency is to produce caring, compassionate, and knowledgeable pediatricians who understand the importance of addressing the needs of their patients and all children in the context of the community. To that end, residents are involved in several advocacy activities, including:

Homeless Children Health / Assessing Parents' Options
This resident-initiated program under the leadership of residency graduate and current Fellow, Kee Thai Yeo began with work with a program in the Cleveland Public Schools for children in unstable housing and making contacts with homeless shelters in Cleveland. The project will consist of assessing parents opinions on their children's health and barriers to health and integrating healthcare relate questions on an intake form for the school program to assess these issues.

The Children’s Museum of Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Safe Kids/Safe Communities Coalition
For several years, residents have had the opportunity to volunteer at this facility. Residents will provide education to families and answer question on health topics, particularly focusing on child safety and injury prevention.  This program is being developed in conjunction with a regional child safety coalition.

Rainbow Babies and Children's Family Advisory Council
The Family Advisory Council is made up of family members of former and current Rainbow patients  that provides input to the hospital and develops programs to help promote family-centered care.  Residents provide the perspective of physicians-in-training and help communicate valuable insight back to their colleagues.

Environmental Health and Healthcare Organizations Effects
Rainbow Residents were also instrumental in a recent initiative that will soon bring recycling to Rainbow Babies and Children’s. Residents have an ongoing interest in how healthcare organizations, particularly hospitals, have potentially deleterious effects on the environment and communities surrounding them through. Specifically, residents from Rainbow  have been working with hospital administrators regarding the new UH construction and how this could be done in an environmentally responsible way (e.g. "green" buildings, responsible waste disposal).

Lobbying and Health Policy
Each year residents have an opportunity to participate in lobbying on behalf on children in the state capital and occasionally in Washington, D.C. 

The newly founded Center for Child Health Policy, under the direction of Dr. Leona Cuttler, a recent Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, will offer emerging opportunities for resident involvement.

Child Advocacy Elective
This two or four week elective provides opportunities for residents to be exposed to public child health initiatives at the local, state and national levels and to gain more extensive understanding of the roles pediatricians can play in advancing the child health agenda.