Children's Health Fund (CHF) is a nonprofit 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 pediatrician/advocate Irwin Redlener. The organization began with a single mobile medical unit funded by Simon and designed by Redlener's wife, Karen.[1] More than 20 years later, the organization has 23 programs with more than 50 mobile medical units[2] and is the nation's leading provider of mobile-based health care for homeless and low-income children and their families.[1] Karen Redlener remains with CHF, currently serving as the organization's executive director.[3]
CHF programs are committed to the full range of children's health care from health education and preventative care[4] to the diagnosis and management of acute and chronic diseases.[5] CHF programs provide or coordinate care that fosters oral and mental health, as well as specialty or hospital care.[6]
Paul Simon
In 1985, Irwin Redlener joined the board of USA for Africa as the organization's medical director and director of grants, where he met Paul Simon.[7] In 1987, Redlener and Simon founded Children's Health Fund to provide health care to homeless and medically underserved children in New York City.[8]
Throughout the years, Simon has held charity concerts and benefit events supporting CHF[9] and has traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak to elected officials on behalf of CHF.[10]
National network
CHF's National Network serve children and families in Arkansas;[11] Austin, Texas;[12]Baton Rouge, Louisiana;[13] Chicago, Illinois;[14] Dallas, Texas;[15] Detroit, Michigan;[16] Harlem, New York;[17] Idaho;[18] Los Angeles, California;[19] Memphis, Tennessee;[20] Mississippi;[21] Mississippi Gulf Coast;[22] New Orleans;[23] New York City;[1] New Jersey;[24] Orlando, Florida;[25]Phoenix, Arizona;[26] San Francisco, California;[27] South Florida;[28] Southern Arizona;[29] Washington, D.C.;[30] and West Virginia.[31]
CHF has two affiliate programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Montrose, Colorado.[32]
CHF works with the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University[35] to help document and assess the impact of major disasters on children and the communities they live in.[36]
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;[37] after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005;[10] and most recently after the BP Oil Spill.[38]
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