October 14, 2015

Congrats to CLA’s previous board member, Dr. Linda D. Sagor!

 DCF chooses UMass pediatrician as first medical director

 By Telegram & Gazette Staff

BOSTON – A University of Massachusetts Medical School pediatrician noted for her work with children in foster care has been named by the state Department of Children and Families as its first full-time medical director.

The appointment of Dr. Linda D. Sagor, founder and medical director of the Foster Children Evaluation Services (FaCES) clinic at UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center in Worcester, was announced Tuesday by DCF, the state’s child welfare agency, which serves more than 46,000 children.

The DCF on Tuesday also announced the hiring of a new director of strategic planning, Andrea Bartolo, whose duties will include overseeing the re-establishment of a Central Massachusetts regional office in Worcester.

Dr. Sagor leads the FaCES clinic at UMass, which provides health-care evaluations for children in foster care in the Worcester area. Dr. Sagor also is director of general pediatrics for UMass Memorial Health Care and a professor of pediatrics at UMass Medical School in the city.

“The addition of a full-time medical director, and Dr. Sagor, in particular, is critical to DCF fulfilling its mission to protect the health and safety of kids under its care,” Marylou Sudders, secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said in a prepared statement.

“Dr. Sagor is a nationally recognized expert on the medical needs of foster children and will provide the kind of high level of medical scrutiny needed on DCF’s most complex cases,” Ms. Sudders said.

DCF Commissioner Linda Spears said: “Few pediatricians have a better understanding of our foster children’s needs than Dr. Sagor. She will collaborate with physicians across the commonwealth to ensure that medical decisions are being made in the child’s best interest.”

The announcement came as the Baker administration authorized a $35.5-million increase in funding for DCF. The appointment of a medical director was among the recommendations in a report by the Child Welfare League of America last year.

Dr. Sagor is to see to it that the DCF complies with policy requiring every child placed in foster care have a medical screening within seven days, and a comprehensive exam within 30 days.

She also will be responsible for maintaining relationships with hospital-based pediatric child abuse specialists; developing a policy for monitoring psychotropic medications prescribed to foster children; and completing a panel of doctors to advise DCF on medically complex cases.

“I look forward to achieving our shared goal of developing a statewide system to ensure that every child in DCF’s care receives comprehensive and compassionate health care,” Dr. Sagor said in a prepared statement.

“These are some of the most vulnerable children in our commonwealth,” she said. “Our responsibility is to provide them with excellent and coordinated medical, dental, and mental health services.”

Dr. Sagor, a resident of Boxboro, has been a DCF consultant for three years. She chairs the foster-care committee of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, serves on the board of Community Legal Aid, and is a member of the executive board of the Center for the Advancement of Primary Care at UMass Memorial Health Care.

The Massachusetts Medical Society in 2013 presented Dr. Sagor one of its most prestigious awards, the Henry Ingersoll Bowditch Award for Excellence in Public Health.

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