November  2007

In this Issue:

• New Resources
  • NEW MEDIA
  • FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
  • PUBLICATIONS
    
    
• Activities in the Field
  
  
• Policy Updates
  
   
• Upcoming Events

New Resources

NEW MEDIA:

• The Black Women’s Agenda hosted a workshop titled, “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?” The workshop featured a panel discussion of this soon-to-be-released PBS documentary produced by California Newsreel.
• The Society for Public Health Education summit, “Partnerships to Achieve Health Equity,” featured a series of plenary sessions dealing with the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities by focusing on health behavior dissemination, research, and implementation.
• The Alliance for Health Reform has developed an online toolkit on child health coverage. The toolkit provides links to resources that will improve the user’s understanding of how children get coverage in the U.S. and the importance of public programs and employer-sponsored health insurance to children.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES:

• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s New Connection’s Initiative is designed to diversify perspectives that inform RWJF program planning and introduce new researchers and scholars to the foundation. New Connection is inviting senior and junior investigators form historically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities to address specific questions posed by an area of the foundation’s programming. For more information and to apply, visit the New Connections website at www.rwjf-newconnections.org .

PUBLICATIONS:

• The United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association, and the Partnership for Prevention released a report, “America’s Health Rankings: A Call to Action for People and Their Communities,” that ranks states’ overall health status based on 20 factors, including violent crimes, children poverty levels,  obesity, and racial and ethnic health disparities.
• The journal, Medical Care, published a study, “Association Between Language Proficiency and the Quality of Primary Care Among a National Sample of Insured Latinos,” that cites Limited Language Proficiency as being a key barrier to accessing primary health care services in the U.S.  
• The Center for Studying Health Systems Change has released a study that demonstrates the ability to speak English is a major indicator of whether Hispanics have employer-sponsored health coverage. The study also showed that poor education, lack of citizenship, and lack of English proficiency resulted in lower wages and fewer jobs that offer health insurance. To read the journal article abstract, click here.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report showing that the death rate for black children with diabetes was twice that of white children. Though diabetes is more prevalent in white children, black children are more likely to die from the disease. Researchers suggest that better identification and management of the disease in youths, especially in black youths, might prevent this racial discrepancy and decrease the number of deaths due to diabetes.
• The University of California- Berkeley’s School of Public Health released a report  “Immigration, Health & Work: The Facts Behind the Myth,” dispelling misperceptions held by the public regarding health status, use of public health services, and exposure to hazardous occupations by immigrants in the U.S. The report also offers policy considerations to address these issues.

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Activities in the Field

New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition

The New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition (Coalition) is a community-based non-profit organization committed to closing the gaps in health disparities among New Hampshire’s racial, ethnic and non-English speaking populations.  Sandra Hicks, a community activist, founded the Coalition in 1993 to identify underserved populations in the state who lacked access to appropriate health care, to advocate for adequate medical services, and to educate and empower these populations in becoming active participants in their own health care. 

The Coalition’s staff and board of directors are representative of the culturally diverse minority populations addressed by the agency. This diversity enables the organization to provide health information and services in several languages including Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Dinka, Russian and Arabic.  The Coalition’s main areas of work include:

• Prevention Programs: home-based educational services delivered by bi-lingual, bi-cultural providers to underserved groups in ways that are culturally meaningful and easily applied to real life.
• Cultural Competency: education and technical assistance provided to health and social service providers so that they can  effectively bridge cultural and linguistic differences that sometimes exist between providers and their patients or clients.
• Research and Evaluation: community-based participatory research and evaluation that allows the Coalition to gather New Hampshire-specific information about minority health so that the state policy-makers, funders, and providers can develop effective legislation and practices.
• Community Health Worker Project: a program to train community health workers and encourage the expansion of these services into organizations, agencies, and communities across the state.

In the past, the Coalition has lobbied for health care organizations to use only trained medical interpreter services and provided training for women in various immigrant and refugee communities to enable them to better advocate for themselves in health care situations. The Coalition plans to expand their public policy and advocacy work at the community and inter-agency levels.

If you have any questions or would like more information about the New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition, visit their bilingual website at http://www.nhhealthequity.org or contact Jennifer Morley at jenniferm@nhhealthequity.org. (Se habla Español.)

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Policy Updates

Children’s Health Coverage
Negotiations continue between lawmakers on how to reach agreement on a compromise bill that will be veto proof. Following a failed veto override of the initial CHIP bill, the House and Senate both passed a revised version of the bill, with bipartisan support. Concerned that too many concessions are being made to Republicans on revisions to the CHIP bill, members of the Progressive Caucus and Tri-Caucus, consisting of the Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, and Congressional Hispanic Caucus, sent a letter to the Democratic House leaders requesting no further compromises be made to the bill. To read the letter, clickhere.

House Subcommittee Approved Extension of the American Indian Health Care Improvement Act
The Subcommittee on Health voted to approve H.R. 1328, the “American Indian Health Care Improvement Act,” which will reinforce national health policy and improve the general health status of all Native Americans and Alaskan Natives. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), provides for expanded coverage to qualified Native Americans under CHIP, Medicaid, and Medicare; establishes a commission to make recommendations to Congress about health care delivery to Native Americans; and reauthorizes the Act through 2017.

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Upcoming Events

• Heartland Presidential Forum, December 1, 2007, 1:30 p.m., HyVee Hall, 730 3rd Street, Des Moines, IA 20309
  Sponsors: Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Center for Community Change
  For more information and to register: http://www.communitychange.org/iowa-heartland-forum/
• “Partnering with Latino Patients: Bridging HIV-Related Information Gaps”
  December 4th, 2007, Washington Inn Hotel Conference Room, 495 10th Street, Oakland, CA, 94607
  Contact: Christine Parkins, Training Manager at 510-835-3700 x120.
  URL: http://www.centerforhealthtraining.org/searchable/e09_12-04aetc.html
• “Annual ITCA Indian Child & Family Conference,” December 4-6, 2007, Radisson Fort McDowell Resort & Casino, 10438 North Fort McDowell Road, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Fountain Hills, AZ, 85264
  Sponsor: Inter Tribal Council of Arizona
  For more information and to register: http://www.itcaonline.com/event019/eventreg.html
• “Bridging Communities: Renewed Strength and Promise,” December 6-8, 2007, Doubletree Hotel Crystal City- National Airport, 300 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, VA 22202
  Sponsor: National Immigration Law Center
  For more information and to register: http://www.nilc.org/dc-conference2007.htm#hotel
• “National Congress on the Un and Under Insured: From Practical Local and Regional Solutions to State and National Health Reform,” December 9-12, 2007,
  Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001
  Hosts: Health Affairs, California HealthCare Foundation and Harvard Health Policy Review
  For more information: Paul Tunnecliff, 760-365-0837 or registration@hcconferences.com

Families USA is pleased to announce that for the second year we will offer a minority health track at Health Action 2008, our annual grassroots conference for advocates. The track will feature sessions on ensuring equity in state health reform efforts, strategizing on immigrant health care, developing state minority health coalitions, engaging ethnic media, and addressing health policy issues affecting special populations. The conference will take place January 24-26, 2008, in Washington, DC. For more information, please contact Rea Pañares at 202-628-3030 or via email at minorityhealth@familiesusa.org.

 

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