My name is Barbara Kneeland and I am the Special Care Coordinator here at Children’s Health Care.
Children’s Health Care is a Massachusetts-based pediatric practice serving the Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire regions. Our seven board-certified pediatricians and pediatric nurse practitioners provide care in three convenient office locations in Newburyport, Haverhill, and Amesbury, Massachusetts. Click on this link or the link in the navigation bar to go to the main Children’s Health Care web site and learn more about our practice and the services we offer.
My role at CHC is to aid the families of our children* with special or complex health care needs. Although I have a nursing background, my qualifications for this position come largely from my own life experiences parenting a child with special care needs for the past twenty years.
I have extensive knowledge of the services and benefits available to our families. I am also available for consultations to assist with special education issues and help families understand the often overwhelming 504 and Individualized Education Plan (IEP) processes.
I am available in our Amesbury office Monday through Thursday at (978) 388-7250 or I can be reached by e-mail @ barbarakneeland@chcspecialcare.com
*My services are available exclusively to the patients and families of Children's Health Care of Newburyport,Haverhill and Amesbury, Massachusetts.
CHC is striving to become a Medical Home.
So what is a Medical Home?
For years parents of children with serious, chronic, complex health care problems have been struggling with the problems that parents of healthy children do not face. Because these children often require multiple services, they spend a lot of time in different offices and clinics. The Academy of Pediatrics has developed the concept of the Medical Home: services provided by the pediatricians practice that are responsive to the special needs of these children and their families.
A medical home is NOT a building, house, or hospital. Children and their families who have a medical home receive the care they need from a pediatrician whom they know and trust. Pediatric health care professionals and parents act as partners in a medical home to identify and access all of the medical and non medical services needed to help children and their families achieve their maximum potential.
All care in a medical home is family centered. This means that the medical home recognizes that the family is essential to the child's care. Your pediatrician works to help families and other professionals work together better. It is important for your pediatrician to consider all the needs of the child and family- medical, emotional, educational, and more.
In a medical home a care coordinator will act as a liaison between the primary care doctors and specialists, and find new ways to meet the child and families needs- in the doctors office and in the community.
