Michèle Evans, MD

Up to 1 out of 8 children in the U.S. will have a confirmed case of maltreatment. Michèle Evans, MD, and Dorothy Wilborn, MD, were determined to help their colleagues make decisions that could save a child’s life. In 2013, they launched Child Abuse Services and Prevention (CASP) in the North Valley, a multifaceted program that empowers clinicians to “not only provide high quality care for children, but to also advocate for their safety and total well-being,” says Dr. Wilborn.

Drs. Evans and Wilborn created powerful new resources to help their colleagues fulfill this most critical duty. They built an e-consult site that provides expert workflows for the evaluation of suspected child abuse; a KP HealthConnect smart set that guides clinicians when ordering skeletal surveys for children with suspicious injuries; and a new compliance database for tracking child abuse reports in the North Valley. Multidisciplinary teams of CASP champions have been established in every service area to serve as local experts.

In addition to building the CASP program’s infrastructure, Drs. Wilborn and Evans have forged excellent relationships with community and law enforcement agencies across the North Valley. They piloted a dedicated phone line with Child Protective Services to reduce clinician wait time. As active participants on Sacramento County’s Suspected Child Abuse/Neglect (SCAN) committee, they review cases across systems, helping to ensure the safety of children who might present in various settings.

On top of their extensive regional and community work, Drs. Wilborn and Evans remain readily available to their North Valley colleagues, fielding phone calls and taking consults whenever they can lend their expertise.

Their passion and commitment to Kaiser Permanente’s youngest members is palpable. Drs. Dorothy Wilborn and Michéle Evans have inspired providers across KP Northern California to create more collaborative and consistent responses to child maltreatment.