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June 2010
In this Issue:
NEW MEDIA:
- DiversityRx has released its eighth webinar, Creating and Sustaining a Culturally Responsive Health Care Organization: Reflections and Recommendations from the Field, as a part of their Your Voice campaign. This webinar features representatives from four health care organizations around the country sharing approaches to creating a culturally responsive environment. The representatives discuss the successes and challenges associated with the strategies they’ve used; give practical advice for replication; and engage with each other and the audience to identify other practices, resources, references, and ideas to create an organization that naturally supports cultural responsiveness.
PUBLICATIONS:
- Families USA’s latest issue brief, Moving toward Health Equity: Health Reform Creates a Foundation for Eliminating Disparities, summarizes provisions around investing in prevention and public health, expanding access to coverage, and addressing disparities in health care.
- National Council of La Raza released Información Critica que Debe Saber Sobre La Reforma de Salud, which provides information on the health reform law and answers frequently asked questions about some of the most significant elements of the health reform law for Latinos in Spanish.
En Español: Para responder a algunas de las preguntas más urgentes, el NCLR creó un documento donde se presentan los puntos más significativos de la reforma. Entérese de cómo la reforma de salud le afectará a usted y a su familia.
- National Health Law Program has updated an issue brief, How Can States Get Medicaid and CHIP for Language Services (Revised 2010), which explains the option that states can use to pay for language services in Medicaid/CHIP.
- Center for Disease Control and Prevention published Hypertension, High Serum Total Cholesterol, and Diabetes: Racial and Ethnic Prevalence Differences in U.S. Adults, 1999-2006, which compares the prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes among non-Hispanic Blacks, non-Hispanic Whites, and Mexican Americans and the prevalence of co-morbidity of these conditions for adults in the United States.
- Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report, Evidence Gap in Obesity Prevention: A Framework to Inform Decision Making, which provides a practical, action-oriented framework about how to use research in decision making about obesity prevention policies and programs and to guide the generation of new and relevant research. IOM has provided recommendations and a brief of the report, online for free.
- The Commonwealth Fund published a new report, Enhancing the Capacity of Community Health Centers to Achieve High Performance: Findings from the 2009 Commonwealth Fund National Survey of Federally Qualified Health Centers, highlights methods for strengthening federally qualified health centers’ ability to provide care. These include formalizing partnerships with hospitals, improving office systems, adopting the medical home model, and increasing use of health information technology. A chartbook and podcast are also available online.
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According to research from the U.S. Department of Education, only 12 percent of English-speaking adults in the United States have proficient health literacy skills. Health literacy refers to the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy, which is aimed at making health information and services easier to understand and use. The plan calls simplifying the complex language that fills patient handouts, medical forms, health websites, and recommendations. For more information on the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy, visit http://www.health.gov/communication/HLActionPlan.
The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Institute of Medicine President Harvey Fineberg recently launched a national initiative to share community health. The Community Health Data Initiative (CHDI) will make federally generated community health data available in easily accessible and useful formats to help raise awareness of health status issues and trigger efforts to improve them. The data will be available to the public, including community leaders, consumers, employers, and providers. To learn more about the Community Health Data Initiative, please visit www.hhs.gov/open.
Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board
The Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board helps Northwest tribes improve the health status and quality of life of Indian people by promoting culturally appropriate and holistic health care. Established in 1972, the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB or the Board) is a non-profit tribal advisory organization serving the 43 federally recognized tribes of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The Board is engaged in many areas of Indian health, including legislation, health advocacy, health promotion, and disease prevention, as well as data surveillance and research.
The Board delegates create and update a strategic plan, which contains four main functional areas: health promotion and disease prevention, legislative and policy analysis, training and technical assistance, and surveillance and research. As part their strategic plan, the Board houses a tribal epidemiology center (the Northwest Tribal EpiCenter), several health promotion disease prevention projects, and is active in Indian health policy. The Northwest Tribal EpiCenter collaborates with Northwest American Indian Tribes to provide health-related research, surveillance, and training to improve the quality of life of American Indians and Alaskan Natives. The EpiCenter hosts various programs about diabetes, obesity, cancer, dental care, tobacco and alcohol prevention, and women’s health.
Through prevention efforts and technical assistance, the Board is able to provide community members with the resources to improve the health of their communities. The Board also helps tribes develop their capacity to address the health problems that exist in their communities, and provides a forum on matters affecting health care in Indian communities. The Summer Research Training Institute for American Indian and Alaska Native Health Professionals, offered by the Board, gives individuals who work in Indian health care the opportunity to take advantage of new skill building tools. The training emphasizes research skills and program design and implementation.
Through an effective partnership with the Indian Health Service (IHS), the Board is able to strengthen and improve the delivery of health services to Indian communities throughout the Northwest. The Board itself conducts health policy and legislative analysis on health care and budget issues affecting American Indian and Alaska Native health care programs. The Board analyzes the Indian Health Service budget and other health care financing programs that impact American Indian and Alaska Native health care programs. The Board also prepares Congressional testimonies for health care financing and other important health policy issues at the federal and state levels. The Board’s relationships with state offices and other agencies dealing with health matters allows it to assure that tribal interests are taken into account as health policy is created.
For more information on the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, please email npaihb@npaihb.org.
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- The 8th Annual Disparities in Health in America: Celebrating Social Entrepreneurs Working Toward Social Justice
June 21 – 26, 2010
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Hickey Auditorium,11th Floor, R. Lee Clark Clinic, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030
Sponsor: University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Center For Research on Minority Health, Department of Health Disparities Research
For more information and to register click here.
- AcademyHealth's Annual Research Meeting (ARM)
June 27 – 29, 2010
Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, 900 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02115
Sponsor: AcademyHealth
For more information and to register click here.
- 5th Annual National Urban Indian Health Conference: Celebrating the Past, and Preparing for the Future
July 21 – July 22, 2010
Seattle University, 901 12th Ave. Seattle, WA 98122
Sponsor: Seattle Indian Health Board
For more information and to register click here.
- 2010 National Behavioral Health Conference
July 27 – 29, 2010
Hyatt Regency Sacramento, 1209 L St., Sacramento, CA 95814
Sponsor: Indian Health Service - Division of Behavioral Health
For more information and to register click here.
- Association of American Indian Physicians 39th Annual Meeting & National Health Conference
August 5 – 9, 2010
Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa, 1300 Tuyuna Trail, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM 87004
Sponsor: Association of American Indian Physicians
For more information and to register click here.
- Blacks in Government 32nd National Training Conference (BIG)
August 16 – 20, 2010
Marriott Downtown Hotel, 200 West 12th St. Kansas City, MO 64105
Sponsor: National Organization of Blacks in Government
For more information and to register click here.
- The Power of Partnerships: 2010 Community Action Partnership Annual Convention
August 31 – September 3, 2010
Boston Marriott Copley Place, 110 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02116
Sponsor: Community Action Partnership
For more information and to register click here.
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We’d like to hear from you!
If you would like to see your organization or event highlighted in a future edition of our newsletter, please send us a brief description of your organization and its activities, as well as your contact information. We also welcome guest authors for the Activities in the Field section of the newsletter. This section provides members of the minority health field with the opportunity to share their experiences and insights with other advocates. Please send all correspondence to: minorityhealth@familiesusa.org.
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