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IDD Health Matters: Daily Summaries Delivered
by IntellectAbility
IDD Health Matters hosted by Craig Escudé, MD, FAAFP, FAADM features guests from across the globe who are leading the efforts to improve health, wellness and health equity for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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- 1 weeks ago18 min
Ep 165: The Importance of Appropriate Hospice Referrals
Dr. Galina Rader describes her journey from practicing pediatric ENT medicine in Russia to becoming a board-certified family physician and hospice specialist in the United States. The conversation focuses on the challenges of providing palliative and hospice care to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), including difficulties in predicting end-of-life needs, managing complex medication regimens, and avoiding inappropriate hospice referrals based solely on disabilities such as cerebral palsy or intellectual disability. Dr. Rader emphasizes the importance of early palliative care involvement, careful medication management, individualized clinical assessment, and better education for healthcare professionals. She highlights that hospice care can provide significant benefits through comprehensive support for patients, families, caregivers, and care staff when appropriately applied, and concludes by stressing three key priorities: advance planning, thoughtful medication adjustments, and ongoing education to improve healthcare outcomes for people with IDD.
- 2 weeks ago18 min
Ep 164: Training and Tools That Transform IDD Healthcare
Daleigh Talent, Clinical Director at IntellectAbility, describes her journey from business to nursing, her experience working in long-term care and group homes, and how tools such as the Health Risk Screening Tool help identify health risks early, support better care planning, and improve outcomes for people with IDD. The discussion highlights the importance of ongoing training for healthcare providers, direct support professionals, and community members, as well as the value of recognizing early signs of health issues to prevent emergency room visits and hospitalizations. They also discuss research showing that education initiatives, including Fatal Five training, can significantly reduce urgent care utilization, improve staff awareness, and lower healthcare costs. The episode concludes with Daleigh's key recommendations: provide specialized IDD healthcare training, increase community awareness and advocacy, and equip support staff with tools and resources to identify health changes early and take appropriate action.
- 3 weeks ago16 min
Ep 163: Supporting Choice, Independence, and Dignity in IDD
This episode features Tammy Armstrong, a longtime professional in the intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) field with nearly 50 years of experience. She discusses her career journey from direct support work and special education to case management, adult day services leadership, and her current role as Deputy Director of Client Experience at IntellectAbility. Tammy reflects on the evolution from a "care" model to a person-centered "support" model that emphasizes choice, independence, and self-determination for people with disabilities. She highlights the importance of communication access, staff training, technology, and health equity, sharing examples of how assistive communication tools can transform lives. Looking ahead, she hopes to volunteer in hospice care for people with IDD. Her key messages are to presume competence in people who do not communicate verbally, recognize that people with disabilities have the same interests, goals, and preferences as everyone else, and provide compassionate, trauma-informed support, especially during grief and end-of-life experiences.
- 4 weeks ago49 min
Ep 162: Trauma-Informed Care and Better Outcomes for IDD
Dr. Angeline Stanislaus, Chief Medical Officer of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, discusses the challenges and solutions for supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who also have mental health conditions. Dr. Stanislaus explains that nearly half of individuals with IDD and autism have co-occurring mental illnesses, yet healthcare systems often operate in silos, leaving providers unprepared to recognize and treat these conditions. She describes Missouri's efforts to bridge gaps through provider education, trauma-informed care training, Project ECHO programs, health home models, and home-based psychiatric stabilization services, which have significantly reduced emergency room boarding, hospitalizations, and placement disruptions. The discussion emphasizes the importance of integrated healthcare, early intervention, proactive prevention, recognition of trauma, and better training for clinicians and support staff. Dr. Stanislaus concludes by highlighting three key messages: mental health conditions in people with IDD are common and treatable, trauma is widespread and often overlooked, and all people with IDD deserve the same opportunities for meaningful relationships, personal choice, and fulfilling lives as anyone else.
- Aug 17, 202625 min
Ep 161: Turning Personal Experience into Disability Health Reform
Kendra Clark, a physician assistant and disability health advocate, shares her deeply personal journey, explaining how her brother Guy survived a severe traumatic brain injury as a child and lived with significant disabilities, inspiring her lifelong commitment to caregiving and later a career in pediatric neurosurgery. After years of witnessing healthcare providers struggle to effectively communicate with and care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and following both her brother's death and her own experience surviving a brain tumor and acquiring a disability, she became dedicated to improving disability-focused healthcare education. She founded the Disability Health Education Initiative, a nonprofit organization that develops training resources for healthcare students and professionals, advocating for disability-specific clinical education, accessible healthcare environments, and greater involvement of people with disabilities in healthcare design and research. Throughout the conversation, she emphasizes that better clinician training and accessibility are essential to achieving equitable healthcare outcomes for people with disabilities.
- Aug 10, 202641 min
Ep 160: Jenna Bainbridge: Breaking Barriers in Broadway and Accessibility Advocacy
This IDD Health Matters podcast features Jenna Bainbridge, a Broadway actor, disability rights advocate, and founder of the nonprofit Consultability. Bainbridge discusses her experience as an ambulatory wheelchair user following a childhood spinal cord injury, explaining how disability shaped her life, career, and advocacy work. She describes overcoming internalized ableism, finding representation and community through theater, and becoming the first wheelchair user to play Nessa Rose in Broadway's Wicked. The conversation explores the importance of authentic disability representation in media, the impact of ableism and inaccessible environments, and the need for inclusive design and cultural change. Bainbridge also highlights the work of Consultability, which helps arts organizations improve accessibility through physical and cultural audits, training, and consultation. She concludes by emphasizing three key principles for improving the lives of people with disabilities: removing physical barriers, encouraging open communication about access needs, and increasing representation, all of which help create a more inclusive society.
- Aug 3, 202630 min
Ep 159: Dr. Craig Escude's Mission to Better Serve People with IDD
Guest host Richard Chapman interviews Dr. Craig Escude about his career and work improving healthcare for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). He explains how he entered the field while working in Mississippi, discovered that most healthcare professionals receive little or no training on caring for people with IDD, and learned critical lessons from experienced nurses, caregivers, and families. Dr. Escude highlights common but often overlooked health risks such as constipation, aspiration pneumonia, and seizure disorders, emphasizing that untreated medical conditions can significantly affect behavior and quality of life. He advocates for person-centered care, recognizing people with IDD as individuals first, and stresses the need for mandatory IDD-related training in medical, nursing, and other healthcare education programs. He also discusses his transition from clinical practice to educating healthcare providers nationwide through IntellectAbility's training programs and health risk screening tools, with the goal of reducing preventable illness, improving health equity, and enhancing the lives of people with IDD.
- Jul 27, 202626 min
Ep 158: The Overlooked Link Between Brain Injury and IDD
Rebeccah Wolfkiel and Jill Ferrington from the National Association of State Head Injury Administrators (NASHIA), discuss the connection between brain injuries and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The guests explain that many individuals receive IDD services because of brain injuries sustained during childhood, while others with IDD may be at increased risk for brain injuries later in life due to factors such as seizures, falls, mobility challenges, and medication side effects. They highlight research showing that adults with IDD experience traumatic brain injuries at significantly higher rates than the general population and emphasize the importance of screening, early identification, and brain injury–informed supports. The discussion focuses on practical strategies for caregivers and case managers, including the use of validated screening tools, memory aids, structured routines, trauma-informed care, and personalized support plans. The speakers also stress the need for stronger collaboration between brain injury and IDD service systems, better documentation of brain injury histories, preventive measures to reduce future injuries, and increased awareness that simple accommodations can greatly improve quality of life and community integration for affected individuals.
About IDD Health Matters
IDD Health Matters hosted by Craig Escudé, MD, FAAFP, FAADM features guests from across the globe who are leading the efforts to improve health, wellness and health equity for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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