March 20, 2025
 
What is H-CARDD
 
H-CARDD (Health Care Access Research and Developmental Disabilities) is a program through The Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). H-CARDD was developed to address disparities in health status and health care access faced by individuals with developmental disabilities. The goal of H-CARDD is to improve the overall health and health care access of people with Developmental Disabilities by engaging people with developmental disabilities, researchers, policy makers, clinicians, and caregivers.
 

Opportunities for Continuing Education

H-CARDD partners with ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) to help mobilize knowledge from researchers to those who can use it. Programs run throughout the year and a full list of them can be found here, consider the Adult Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities program.

In addition to programs, H-CARDD offers a variety of “pop-up” discussions on a variety of health topics. On March 28th there will be a discussion on “Addiction Medicine and Psychosocial Interventions with Adult Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.” If you are interested in this learning opportunity, you can register for the talk here.

Opportunities for Self-Advocacy

March is Brain Health Awareness Month. H-CARDD is launching a Brain Health study for people with IDD that are 40 years of age and older from March 25th – May 6th. During the 7-week study participants will be asked to attend as many of the 90-minute weekly sessions as possible and provide feedback on the courses. The weekly sessions will provide practical strategies to promote healthy aging and reduce dementia risks. If you or someone you know would be interested in participating the form for registration can be found here.

Closing Thoughts

Participating in continuing education and engaging in research helps to ensure the best practices and best outcomes for people with IDD. H-CARDD continues to be an excellent resource for people we support, their families and our employees when they are looking to increase their own knowledge or engage in health focused advocacy beyond our organization.

When looking for resources within our organization, the Healthcare Strategies Manager Gregory Crunican can be contacted at gcrunican@karis.org to help navigate health-related challenges.