Colorado

Geographic area included in surveillance project: Denver-Boulder Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area consisting of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties.

Number of births each year in surveillance area: 32,447 live births in 1997, representing 57.4% of all births in Colorado that year.

Children included in surveillance project: Children born in 1995 or later.

Case definition: The standard FASSNet case definition for FAS.

Information sources: Birth certificates, death certificates, hospital discharge data, The Children's Hospital Developmental Clinic, genetics clinics, Denver Health Medical Center neonatalogy clinic, Medicaid, Denver Health Children and Families Program, developmental and evaluation clinics, and the birth defects registry, Colorado Responds to Children with Special Needs

Information collected: The standard FASSNet set of variables.

Prevalence rates: For birth years 1995-1997, the FAS prevalence rate was 0.3 per 1,000 live births (reflects above geographic area only).

Education and training activities for health-care and other providers: FASSNet staff, collaborating with other agencies, have developed resources for health care and other providers. These include: The Source, a directory of resources for human services workers concerned with maternal substance abuse and children with fetal alcohol exposure; and packets of information about FAS targeted at specific audiences, including parents, pediatricians, legal providers and educators. Training, presentations, and materials are available by contacting FASSNet project staff or the FAS Prevention Project listed below.

Other FASSNet activities: Colorado FASSNet is an active member of the Colorado Fetal Alcohol and Substance Abuse Coalition, a statewide group of professionals and families concerned with the medical, educational and social problems associated with prenatal exposure of alcohol and other drugs. The Coalition and its members organized a FAS conference co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that attracted a national audience. They also organized regional conferences, numerous workshops for families and professionals, a newsletter and hold monthly meetings from 4-6 PM on the second Tuesday of each month at The Children's Hospital in Denver.

Other FAS-related programs in Colorado:

Special Connections
Alcohol Assessment and Treatment for Pregnant Substance Involved Women
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division
Colorado Department of Human Services
(303) 866-7480

FAS Prevention Project (Contact: Pamela Gillen, RN, ND, CADIII)
UCHSC at Fitzsimons, Mailstop F433
PO Pox 6508
Aurora, CO 80045
(303) 724-0327
http://www.uchsc.edu/ahec/fas

FAS Rocky Mountain Resource Center
FAS Parent Support Group (Contact person: Maura Klene)
3442 S. Vrain
Denver, CO 80236
(303) 936-2063
E-mail: rockymtnfas@aol.com

FAS-related state legislation or statutes: FASSNet operates under statutory authority (Colorado Revised Statute 25-1-107) and Colorado Board of Health Rules and Regulations (CCR 1009-7) to collect information about conditions such as birth defects and developmental disabilities. Colorado statutes also provide for the confidentiality of information collected (Colorado Revised Statute 25-1-122).

Relation between FASSNet project and state birth defects surveillance system: FASSNet is operated as a project of Colorado Responds to Children with Special Needs (CRCSN), the public health birth defects monitoring and prevention program. CRCSN is located within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Project website: www.cdphe.state.co.us/dc/CRCSN/crcsnhome.asp

Project contacts:

Lisa Miller, MD, MSPH
Medical Director, CRCSN
Phone: (303) 692-2663
E-mail: lisa.miller@state.co.us 

April Montgomery, MHA
Prevention Projects Coordinator, CRCSN
Phone: (303) 692-2620
E-mail: april.montgomery@state.co.us

Cynthia Vogel, MS, RHIA
Medical Records Information, FASSNet
Phone: (303) 692-2779
E-mail: cynthia.vogel@state.co.us

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