Child Profile is a state wide program that helps children get preventive health care by creating a centralized registry of health information available to families, physicians and others serving children’s health.  It has been hailed as a national model for using health data to improve the health system and health.  It is an excellent example of how to take action to achieve our vision of the Healthiest State- targeting our Healthiest State Action Area of Protect People against Injury and Disease.

But, did you know that “but for the Washington Health Foundation” this important program might have closed its doors years ago? In ____, the Foundation provided a special $1.5 million grant to support Child Profile, at a time when the state legislature was unwilling to fund it through general operating revenues.  What’s more, the Foundation led a process to set a more sustainable future path for the organization, even employing an interim executive director to lead the process of exploration.  Greg Vigdor, President & CEO of the WHF, was an active leader of the new futures workgroup.

Like most Foundation efforts, WHF and Greg stepped into the background when Child Profile began to find its path into the future. By most accounts, it has become an important tool for promoting children’s health.  And most have forgotten the critical role that WHF played in saving this program.

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