Transition of Care - Adolescents and Young Adults

Transition Services for Emerging Adults

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles offers support for adolescent and young adult patients with chronic illnesses and disabilities to prepare them for adulthood and their transition to adult-focused care. A successful transition occurs when providers, families and patients work in partnership to ensure as smooth a passage into adult life as possible and access to quality adult care.

Our transition programs focus on empowering patients approaching adulthood with:

• Knowledge about their conditions and how to manage them
• Skills to advocate for themselves
• Resources to help them realize social, educational and vocational goals.

Our specialists have expertise in offering age-appropriate transition support to emerging adults who will responsible for navigating adult healthcare systems themselves and independent living. 

Core components of these programs include:

• Coaching patients to understand their diagnosis, condition and treatment
• Provide patients with skills and support to manage their condition, adhere to treatment requirements, communicate effectively with their providers
• Understanding each patient’s unique needs and abilities, and putting strategies in place to promote self-care early on
• Empowering and preparing young people to manage their own care, live independently and seek the resources they need for successful transition
• Teaching patients to advocate for themselves, navigate adult care systems and to help them become confident pursuing their adult life goals
• Supporting parents in the transition process
• Provide support and guidance to families of selected patients with complex care needs 

Services

Our transition services include programs representing multispecialty partnerships, as well as programs offered to patients in specific subspecialty clinics.

Transition programs currently available at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles include:

• Adolescent Transition Clinic (My VOICE) – A partnership between Adolescent Medicine and the following subspecialty clinics. Currently, My VOICE offers transition support for patients with the following conditions:
  • Congenital Heart Disease
  • Cystic Fibrosis
  • Kidney Transplant
  • Liver Transplant
  • Heart Transplant
  • Rheumatological disorders
• Cancer
  Our LIFE Program offers support to our cancer survivors.
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Endocrinology
  Our LEAP Program supports patients with type1 diabetes.
• General Pediatrics
  Provides support for patients with complex illnesses and disabilities.
• Rheumatology
  Provides support for families learning to live with rheumatological diseases.
• Sickle Cell Disease
• Solid Organ Transplant Center (Heart, Liver, Kidney)
• Spina Bifida Clinic

Resources 

• Helpful websites
• Chronically Ill Students Entering College

Transition resources and educational materials also are available to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles patients and families at the Family Resource Center.

Roberta Williams, MD  

Ellen Iverson, MPH

Adolescent Medicine  

• Marvin Belzer, MD
• Ellen Iverson, MPH
• Elizabeth Morasso, MSW
• Arlene Schneir, MPH
• Diane Tanaka, MD

Endocrinology and Metabolism  

• Nancy Chang, MSN, FNP 

General Pediatrics  

• Mona Patel, MD

Rheumatology  

• Sandra Mintz, RN
• Bracha Shaham, MD

Cancer  

• Lizel Schweers, LCSW
• David Freyer, DO, MS

Pulmonology/Cystic Fibrosis  

• Elizabeth Fillmore, LCSW
• Thomas Keens, MD
• Kimberly  Morse, MSW
• Sally Ward, MD

Sickle Cell  

• Dawn Canada, LCSW
• Jackie Baskin, MD

Solid Organ 

• Lauren Schmidt, MSW

Spina Bifida 

• Cecily Betz, PhD, RN