Child Study Center 350 George Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Transcript

• 00:08So, thanks everybody. I’m really, really grateful for everyone coming. I'm Linda Mayes, the director of the Child Study Center and I just want to say on behalf of the Child Study Center that all of us are so honored that you’ve come out this morning to help us celebrate this new space. This new building gives us the opportunity to unite our programs that serve children and families whether they be in the clinical setting, in the schools, in the community into one integrated collaborative space that sets the bridge, then seamlessly with our research space at South Frontage.
• 00:43This space offers us so much possibility for innovation and discovery, for learning from others, and also the possibility to integrate seamless care to families wherever we touch their lives.
• 00:57Now you join us after we've been in our space, now, for about 2 weeks. We've been working; we've been seeing patients; and we've been going into the community from our new home base.
• 01:06We chose very intentionally to have this event in the morning.
• 01:10Because now, this is a working, clinical as well as research space and we wanted to respect the needs of the families coming to us and everyone doing their work by not closing our practice during the busiest times, but rather actually to welcome you in the early morning that we hope will be filled with the energy of a new day. So, we're very pleased as we settle into this new working space to offer our whole Child Study Center community’s thanks to you and also greetings to you because it is now their space,
• 01:41all of our community’s space and we are welcoming you into our new home. But before we cut the official ribbon, we actually have many, many people to thank and we're going to first turn to our colleagues representing the many different ways that the Child Study Center touches Yale, the School of Medicine, the Yale New Haven health system, the community, our state, and beyond.
• 02:03So first we'll hear from Dean Robert Alpern of the Yale School of Medicine, speaking both for the school and for Yale Medicine.
• 02:09Then from Marna Borgstrom, the Chief Executive Officer for the Yale New Haven health system, speaking for the center's role in child and adolescent behavioral health across the health system.
• 02:21Mayor Toni Harp joins us to speak to the center’s place in the community and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, a long time close and honored friend of the center’s, joins us to speak to the center’s broad impact.
• 02:34Then we'll hear from Erin Warnick, our lead of clinical operations, who will speak to all of us who came together in the Child Study Center community around the space design and the move process and then I will return at the end to thank the many, many people who have made this new venture a reality. So, let me first turn to Bob.
• 02:57Thank you, Linda. So, I just want to comment on two things: The Child Study Center and then this building. So, when I came here about 15 and a half years ago,
• 03:11one of my first meetings was with Alan Kazdin, who was then the Director of the Child Study Center. And he said to me, he said, “you probably don't know about us, but you should know that as Dean you will have this incredible jewel of New Haven and Connecticut in the country: The Child Study Center. And it's interesting, the Child Study Center is probably unique among all of our
• 03:43centers and departments at the medical school, in that it does so much more than just our typical missions of research, education and clinical care. They really provide social services; they’re there for needy kids; they're very active politically in trying to express the voice of the children. And they have so many different services and they’re there whenever any catastrophe has occurred anywhere
• 04:15in the state or further, that affects children. And so, it's really been a pleasure. I have to say I've spent most of my time as Dean trying to truly understand the scope of the Child Study Center, but someday. I just also wanted to comment on this building for those of you who may know or don't know, this was a building that the telephone company used for telephone lines and it had almost no windows.
• 04:46And it looked like a bunker. If there was ever a nuclear war, this was the building you wanted to be in. And when it was up for sale, we had to decide whether to buy it.
• 05:01The location was just incredible. So, we just said how could we not buy this. But it was hard to imagine that it could be turned into something that would look really nice. But the architects of the school and people said, “Yeah, we can do this; it will be really nice”. And so, I have to say coming here today, it did turn out really nice and, as a matter of fact, came out much nicer than I ever thought it could come out. So, I guess I won't take credit for knowing how nice it was going to look.
• 05:32But I think this is incredible. This will really be the home that the Child Study Center has always deserved. Thank you.
• 05:44Well, thank you, Linda. And I am honored to have been asked to join you, Bob. And I didn't rehearse but I also just was thinking about two thoughts I had about this. One is the relationship between the Yale New Haven Hospital in the health system and Yale University School of Medicine. I’m practically a fossil. I've been here over 40 years and I remember doing the first certificate of need for the inpatient, the first inpatient child psychiatry unit. And it was inpatient as the hospital’s purview outpatient
• 06:17is the medical school. So, you do your thing and we move on. And how we've come together as two organizations over the last particularly 15 or 16 years that Bob Alpern has been here and then how we integrated the Yale Child Study Center, not only clinically into this, but how Linda has become such a leader on the integration. And you know, our patients see us as one organization.
• 06:48And Linda has been key to helping to lead this transformation for the entire medical center and so we owe her incredible gratitude, because I don't think we would be here without her. The second thing that I just want to say is, I think if you talk to most of us who have spent careers, part of them or all of them in health care, and said what are the one or two big things that we have to deal with in health care to try and reduce costs and make health care
• 07:20less about sickness and more about supporting people through a continuum of life, one of the two things everybody would say is behavioral health, mental health. It is at the root of so many of the health care and public health issues that we have. And what has really evolved in this center will allow us to do is to support more children and families early on and intervene at times in their lives when we can
• 07:51avoid some of the problems that we have been seeing as adults. And we are putting mental health people from the Child Study Center together with our ambulatory pediatric practices throughout the state so that there isn't a “make an appointment with”, but the care team operates seamlessly. And I think this kind of investment is also a key investment in a positive trajectory in clinical care and in public health. So,
• 08:22I salute the Child Study Center. Thank you all for all that you do and we're honored to be part of it.
• 08:35Thank you very much. And good morning to everybody. It's really an honor and a privilege to be here and what a great space. I, too, was wondering where the windows would be so I'm really, very thankful that Svigals figured out a way to bring some light into this building, because the work that you do actually brings light into our community. And it really makes a huge difference on behalf of so many children in New Haven, who often come to school, live their lives
• 09:07because they've been impacted by trauma and other kinds of things that most of us cannot imagine. But the work that you do here, through the work of Dr. Comer, who was over there, who's actually helped to move our school system forward, we are so proud of our relationship with that program and we know that it's the reason that as you look at urban areas and urban schools, ours is always ahead of the curve. And it's because
• 09:38of the great work that Dr. Comer and his staff have done here, but they've taken it all over the United States. When I think about our police force and what it is to be a police person if you think about it, they see us at our worst and they also see that there are children who see things at their worst. It’s because of Steve Marans and the work that's done here that our children and our police officers have the tools to go out and to deal with the kinds of problems that young people have to face
• 10:11in our community. I worked for many years when I was in the legislature with Paula Armbruster, who has worked here for many years, and we were able together to make sure that there were programs across our city for our young people who are in need. So, I don't know what we would do without Yale Child Study Center. I am so grateful that you are here, that you are members of our community, and that you care about our kids, and that you've moved us forward
• 10:41as a city. And I think that you deserve space that reflects the great work that you do and that the children that come here deserve space that lets them know that you respect them, that you have high expectations, and that they're going to be better because they came here. Thank you for the fantastic work that you do every single day.
• 11:13Good morning and thank you all. We are crowding into this beautiful, wonderful space here this morning and what an honor for me to be here. Just a little anecdote. I really feel very proprietary about Yale Child Study. This goes back a lot of years. You know, I'm a townie, born and raised in this city and at age two, now I don't remember this, but it's been passed down to me that my folks decided that it was important for me to be evaluated
• 11:44by the Gesell Institute. And, I just want you to know that they said I performed like age 4. So, I'm very pleased to be associated with an institution that thought that I had some promise. So, I thank you all very, very, very much. True story. So, to you Dr. Mayes, and it is wonderful to be here with all of you, but Dr. Mayes, I want to just say thank you to you.
• 12:14Under your leadership, you continue to improve the mental health of our children, our families. This is an extraordinary, extraordinary institute. And you know the integration of clinical practice and professional training, you transform the lives of children and our families in this space. And Dean Alpern, honored to be with you, and Marna, Mayor, Erin and others.
• 12:45I see in the corner there, Jean Adnopoz, who I've known for years, who has been a fixture at this institution. And I, too, want to just, you know, tip my hat to several people. Dr. (Steve) Marans has been mentioned, Director of the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV), childhood violent trauma center. Steve and I have worked so closely together over the years on tragic trauma incidents whether it was 9/11, Columbine, Newtown (school shootings), most recently,
• 13:16the administration's family separation policy on our southern border. And Linda, we were together with Dr. Marans just last June and I had just returned from the border.
• 13:34It was my first visit; I've been back several times, but both Dr. Mayes and Dr. Marans spoke about the trauma of the separation of a child from their family. The more you dig into what has happened there, the more, in terms of your profession, you are speaking out of what we have done,
• 13:58what we have done on our watch for these children, which I have labeled actually government sponsored child abuse. And we should not be involved in government sponsored child abuse.
• 14:11To acknowledge another trusted, trusted friend, the major mentioned Dr. James Comer. My God, a friend, a leader, a pioneer in education, child and adolescent development, not just in Connecticut but really all over the world. The Comer Model, world renowned, you educate the whole child.
• 14:32That's what you do, you don't warehouse our children. I learned so much from Dr. Comer and for me, today is very special to be a part of this ceremony and an opening. This is a wonderful, beautiful facility. Wow, stunned. I don't know what I was expecting, but this is you know pretty much out of sight. To quote our kids, it's awesome guys, it really is. But what it is, it's not the bricks and mortar and you know, and the space but it really is
• 15:04the different areas of expertise gathered here with a unified goal of caring for the whole child and now you'll be able to bring that together in one facility. Child Study Center cares for 3000 families annually, 60,000 clinical visits per year. While the visits are scattered across three different sites across New Haven, this will improve, this facility, will improve access, enhancing patient experience and promoting clinical
• 15:35collaboration. And while the address changes,
• 15:39Yale Child Study Center remains as committed as ever to ensuring every child has a chance to succeed regardless of their family’s financial circumstances. And you bring that level of expertise and dedication to a range of issues that so often don't receive that level of attention you have stood up for.
• 16:05You stood up for the principle long before it became fashionable that given the chance, every child in America can learn,
• 16:15and can succeed. So, that's what you will do and continue to do at this facility. You know, study after study has shown that the earliest childhood experiences are essential
• 16:29and supportive environments are critical for long-term outcomes for our kids. For children to thrive and our nation to stay competitive, we have to support their development, their families and their health with public policies that make a difference.
• 16:47Let me be personal for a moment.
• 16:50I grew up
• 16:54within
• 16:56the Yale Child Study Center. You are so much a part of who I am in my professional life and experience. You have really intertwined for me my job, my work, with working with children and families.
• 17:15I have had the opportunity,
• 17:17and have been honored to work with the giants of science of the whole child. Your science has always been behind what I can do and it has always informed what I do. And I think about it, I know I won't
• 17:37mention everyone, but Dr. Albert Solnit,
• 17:41Donald Cohen, who I first worked with when he was,
• 17:44you know, it was the Seven Day War and I saw Israeli children with gas masks and I picked up the phone and called Donald and said, “these children must experience unbelievable trauma” and he was engaged and involved in what was happening in Israel, (how are you sweetheart, nice to see you) and he was just a pioneer in what was happening to children who witness a violence. I’ve have talked about Jim Comer. Ed Zigler
• 18:14was associated, the father of Head Start, a family resource center. I’ve talked about Steve Marans. The mayor spoke about community policing. When you saw those crusty, burley law enforcement folks sitting with clinicians and figuring out what was going on.
• 18:35And David Hartman can attest to that, too, who works with me. This was a reality for the city of New Haven and Dr. Mayes, thank you. Thank you for what you are doing to carry on this tradition. And let me just say, I have today the honor of chairing, I know I'm going on, but you’ve got to understand what you do and what difference it makes. I am blessed with the opportunity to chair the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor Health,
• 19:06Education and Human Services. And this year, the House passed, and understand I am not talking about this of being self-serving --please, but what we did, we passed a bill out that includes $260 million for social emotional learning initiatives to support the whole child approach to education, that we learned, that initiative was inspired by James Comer.
• 19:32We provided $7 million for the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative. It improves behavioral health services, interventions for children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events. That comes directly out of the network that we can fund. What we did was we put in money specifically because of the efforts that you have pointed out, of what is happening to children in Puerto Rico, what is happening to children at the border,
• 20:03what there are experiencing, what is going on with Native American children on tribal lands. You have brought all that to light and when I think of Ed Zigler, it was important to say we need $4 billion to deal with early childhood education and $2.5 billion for Head Start to help to make a difference for our kids. I was able, with the help of folks here, to establish something called
• 20:34a bipartisan congressional baby caucus that focuses in on infants and toddlers. That comes out of what you
• 20:43have worked on and what you have taught us and what is important for us to spend our time, our money, and our resources on. That's where our federal dollars should go: mental health services, community schools, all of these efforts. Now, I'm going to ask you as I said, I'm not doing this to be self-serving, please if you know me, but it is all of what you have shared with me over the years of the direction that this country should go in.
• 21:14We are going to begin to negotiate with the United States Senate in a very short period of time. I'm going to fight for every dollar. But I'm asking every single person in this room to fight with us, so we maintain the funding levels that we have in the House bill. Yale Child Study is a unique entity.
• 21:35You advance the wellbeing of children in so many different ways: basic research, genetic, neurobiological disorders. You train clinicians around the world. I can only say to you very, very personally, thank you
• 21:52for what you are doing. You are transforming the lives of our children. You are working with their families so that they can cope and make their way, and you are teaching those of us who serve in public life, like the mayor and myself, of what direction our public policy initiatives should take. Thank you so so much. God bless you and I'm so honored to be here with all of you.
• 22:27Thank you all so much for joining us to celebrate the opening of this space. For those of you who work with me closely you can probably attest that I spend most of my life completely enmeshed in the details. So it is an absolute privilege today to take it -see people who know me - so it's a privilege today to really step back and think about what this place means to the center. And it's so wonderful to hear from the guests we've had here today about what the Child Study Center truly means to our local, our state,
• 22:58and our national community. There's just three comments that I want to make, to share with the group that are really specific to my experience and how we created this space.
• 23:08The first is a thank you to our Child Study Center community. This space would not be what it is without the energy, the enthusiasm, and the idea generating potential of our teams. We had an amazingly dedicated space committee, all of whom I hope are here today, who met for over three years to help think about how do we create a space that works for us. Thank you to those who made time to participate in the community workshops, where we generated ideas, we planned, we imagined
• 23:42how could we build a space that really supports the work that we're doing for our community. And thank you across the board to all the members of our community who contributed ideas, big ideas, little ideas. As you walk through the space you can see that all of these ideas were incorporated into the plans because each of them made a difference and each of those contributions served to create what this space truly is today.
• 24:06The second thing I want to say, because this has been my experience in the past 2 weeks, is to express my thanks for everyone's tireless work as we've actually moved into this building and we have begun to make it our own. I have been in absolute awe of the teamwork, the flexibility, the positivity that I have observed as we have been in the midst of this really tremendous change for our community. It has been incredibly heartening in the first few days we were in the building. Old friendships were being revived; people who had worked in different locations for years, but knew each other 5, 10 years ago
• 24:41were meeting in the corridors and starting new conversations. And in the midst of that, we also have new friendships that are starting to grow. And all in part because together, we've created a space that really allows us to come together in some very, very exciting ways.
• 24:57And I want to end so we need to say this. I want to say thank you to you, Linda. I think it's very clear that this building is a result of your vision. Without your support, your determination, and the many, many, many hours of hard work we would not be here now.
• 25:15So thank you for all that you've done to make this a place where we can all now flourish. Thank you.
• 25:32So thanks everyone. And we have a number of other people to thank. But I especially want to thank Marna, and Bob and the mayor, and Rosa. Really thank you for helping us kick this off.
• 25:44As each of you highlights, the Child Study Center has just many, many roles in the school, in Yale Medicine, in the health system, the city or state, nationally, internationally. And we are very proud, as a department, of our reach and of our capacity, but we also are very aware that we have a responsibility to always be looking for ways to advance knowledge, to improve our practice, to educate the next generation, and to shape policies that will positively impact the health of children for generations to come.
• 26:16We actually take our new tagline very seriously, where discovery inspires care, because it underscores for us how we are striving in our four missions, to care for families, to care for each other, and for all of those who will follow us.
• 26:32So this building actually reflects the care, as Erin has said, also of just a tremendous number of people and teams. And if you will just have just a tiny bit more patience before you tour the space, we actually want to be sure to acknowledge them. So first from absolute start to finish
• 26:50until the last box was moved and even thereafter and all the tales that followed, and unpacking and settling in, it would not have been possible without the efforts of Erin, whom you've heard from.
• 27:03And it also would not have been possible without the efforts of Ian Solomon, our Director of Finance. I don't know where Ian is, but he's somewhere. They have both accumulated so many hours; they have walked so many miles; they've actually been counting the steps.
• 27:22And they've touched so many people during this effort. We are all very grateful to both of you and none so grateful as I. Thank you.
• 27:30In the days leading up to the move, actually during the unpacking, it was remarkable. D-Day was not better coordinated. And in the days of settling in, we’re actually very grateful to Bethany Kleine, who is the coordinator of our In Home Services, who volunteered -- is Bethany around? --
• 27:50Bethany volunteered her time and support and, on the move weekend, was here late hours and helping with unpacking and went well beyond the call.
• 27:58This entire project, however, would not have been made possible, was made possible, would not have been possible without the support of the Yale Medicine Board. With all my fellow chairs, we have great stories to tell about how that happened. Paul Taheri, the Deputy Dean and Chief Executive Officer of Yale Medicine, and Gary Desir, the Chair of Internal Medicine and Chair of the Yale Medicine Board,
• 28:21and also Fred Borrelli of Yale Medicine, who tirelessly championed this project.
• 28:26We're extraordinarily grateful to all of you and Yale Medicine, for your commitment to child behavioral health, for recognizing that it is central to having an integrated practice across the school to have child behavioral health, and for helping us create a space that conveys the respect that we hold for the families who come to us.
• 28:44Within Yale Medicine is the Yale facilities team that includes Robin Orr,
• 28:48Kelly Aingworth, Karen Lettieri, and Bruce McCann, who interface patiently with us and the architectural team to bring us to a completed project that let us say
• 29:00fits within Yale standards, but at the same time set a new bar, let us say for clinical aesthetics and presentation. So the bars is now high. Svigals and partners, our architectural colleagues, are around. I know they're passing out beautiful cards that I want you to see. They designed this space with the care, not only for our clinical and work sensibilities, but also a need to have a space that was friendly to children but not child-like.
• 29:32A space that conveyed respect, and calm, and openness to possibilities and one that encourages us to all come together and where we can learn from one another. So Lynn Brotman,
• 29:44Brian Stancavage and Chris Bockstael from Svigals, they generously included and listened, as you've heard from Erin, to our Child Study Center community, incorporated their suggestions as often as they could, and they gave us a space that actually exceeds our imagination, that it came out of their imagination. Standard builders, I hope our standard builder team is around, took Svigals’ design into execution and we're very grateful to the standard team that includes Michael Avicolli, Jeff Libby.
• 30:15Perry Fanelli, Eric Creto, and Bryan Bakas. They welcomed all of us, well not everybody but a substantial number of us, into their construction meetings.
• 30:26They were incredibly patient with all of our questions, they really listened. They made the whole process, actually remarkably fun and truthfully, we're missing the Wednesday morning construction meetings. As with all of our Svigals’ team, the standard team will always be a member of our Child Study Center community and we're very sure,
• 30:45we want to be sure that they will always wear their Child Study Center team cap and be a part of the team.
• 30:51And we hope that we can work on many projects with them hence.
• 30:55Holding our team together, the Yale team and standard builders together as a working group, was Marianne Klewin -- is Marianne here -- you just should know that Marianne is patient, responsive and has a remarkable sense of humor, even when we continue to bring up more complications.
• 31:11Nancy Samotis was the art consultant,
• 31:14and brought the finishing touches to this space design. I hope you will look at the art. I hope you will look at the plaques that also designate the artist.
• 31:22She had the remarkable ability and patience to steer us towards an aesthetic that was a unified one, even with multiple different inputs. And she also -- if you, I hope you will read -- was able to engage a number of young artists just starting out in their work and to bring their work into this building, which is very meaningful to us as a developmental department.
• 31:42We're grateful to Jenn Stockwell, Director of the Communications Design and Lena Smith Parker, Director of Operations in the Yale School of Medicine Office of Communications for their work on our logo, our new logo, and ensuring that we have a coherent and engaging updated visual presentation that captures the growth of the centre. Now there's so many others that have made this large endeavor possible from Laura Bennett Weinstein from LMB design, our move coordinator, who made it possible to move 220 people
• 32:12in 36 hours, in relative order and predictability and with nothing lost. And the many people from IT, who worked, actually, through the evenings to set up the tons of computers in this space, the telephones across the university and hospital systems working together seamlessly across.
• 32:30And so many others who joined in, it's not just the move
• 32:35that reflects the team working together, but it's a shared mission on the whole project.
• 32:40The Child Study Center space committee engaged with every detail as you've heard and we also want to bring very much thanks to Michael Hoepp, wherever Michael is, who brought this, this reception together and helped us arrange this event, in his customary but still very understated, admirably confident in thorough way and to Mary Hughes’ team as well, in the communications office. And Michael and Mary, you are also a part of our team, you get the team cap.
• 33:09So finally, there are two very, very special gifts that we need to acknowledge and want to acknowledge, two very special donors.
• 33:17The first is Scholastic Publishers,
• 33:20with whom we established the Yale Child Study Center Scholastic collaborative in January of 2019. Scholastic has generously donated books for our two book nooks, which I hope you will see at the end of Main Street.
• 33:34They've given a book vending machine, which most of us actually didn't even know existed, but a book vending machine, and also a beautiful display, in our waiting room, of art and writing from adolescence that are a part of the annual Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards.
• 33:50There are many, many good colleagues from Scholastic who are here this morning, including Dick Robinson, the President of Scholastic.
• 33:57And we're so grateful for this partnership and Scholastic’s overall generosity toward children and families, not only those that we serve, but children and families across the world.
• 34:08And so we look forward to all that we're going to do and have already done together with Scholastic to make the world a better place for children.
• 34:16Our second gift brings this event in the Child Study Center’s history full circle.
• 34:21The first director of the Child Study Center was Dr. Arnold Gesell, a pediatrician and psychologist, hence the Gesell Institute.
• 34:31He led the way in the early discoveries about child development, is our founding director, and he devoted his career to Yale. He shaped much of the basic understanding about children and children's development. The Gesell family has remained friends of the center since the earliest days of its founding in 1911.
• 34:50And Rex Walden,
• 34:52Dr. Gesell’s grandson, a painter and a teacher has created two original works for our building,
• 34:58that in the creation and donation, capture not only the devotion of the Gesell family to Yale, but also in the spirit of where discovery inspires care.
• 35:11So I'm personally extremely grateful to Rex and to his family, including his mother, Tassie and his father, Joe with whom I was very close friends and we're very sure that Tassie and Joe are in this room right now. And they would be, Tassie would be so proud, Rex, especially of your creativity and that it is present here. So, we're very proud to let you see and show you Rex’s work and to honor the enduring links of his family with the Child Study Center.
• 35:42So, in closing, let me express, again, my thanks to all of you for coming, to all of my colleagues at the Child Study Center for all you do for children and families, and to everyone who has made this new space possible.
• 35:57The poet, Wendell Berry, reminds us of the important place grounded in caring when he writes,
• 36:04“Belong to your place by the knowledge of the others who’re your neighbors in it,
• 36:10in the old man, in the sick and the poor,
• 36:13and by your caring for it as you care for no other place”.
• 36:18This place, this space has already profoundly impacted all of us who are working in it,
• 36:24and how we see ourselves in this community, and with the families who seek our care.
• 36:30We hope that you will enjoy seeing this space as much as we are now enjoying living in it,
• 36:35and you will also join us in imagining how we can use this new opportunity and this new place to provide the best care informed by the best science for the children and families that seek our help.
• 36:48So now let's get to the ribbon cutting. And after that, we will invite you to walk through the space. We have Erin, who has thoughtfully provided highlighted maps so you have a guided tour. And you will have members of our Child Study Center community that are standing at those stations who are really, really eager now to tell you about their home, our home. So may I ask the speakers, as well as Ian Solomon, Paul Taheri and Gary Desir, if he's here, to come forward to cut the ribbon with us.