Video: RWJF President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey Accepts 2011 APHA Presidential Citation

Video: RWJF President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey

Accepts 2011 APHA Presidential Citation

By: Ryan Duncan

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) joined the ranks of Nelson Mandela, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the National WIC Association and families of public health workers everywhere as she recieved the prestigious APHA Presidential Citation as part of the keynote speech in the Opening Session of the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting. This represents the first time that a philanthropy has received the citation.

Dr. Mourey said in her remarks:

“To improve Americans’ health, we need to look at where people live, learn, work and play to get at the factors that shape health even more profoundly than the health care we get when we’re sick,” said Lavizzo-Mourey in a Q&A with the APHA blog, Public Health Newswire. “Improving America’s health requires leadership and action from every sector, including public health, health care, education, transportation, community planning, private business and other areas.”

Congratulations to Dr. Mourey and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for receiving this well-deserved and prestigious award!



HPV Vaccine: A Diversity Issue?

Gardasil is currently the only FDA-approved HPV vaccine for both males and females.

HPV Vaccine: A Diversity Issue?

By: Tamara Braunstein

This week, a CDC panel endorsed males ages 13 to 21 receive the HPV vaccine, previously recommended for females between the ages of nine to 26.

Backlash against the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ decision is anticipated, mostly due to the fact that the Human Papillomavirus is contracted via sexual transmission. However, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and about 75 percent of sexually active women will contract it during their lifetime:

“Most will overcome the infection with no ill effects. But in some people, infections lead to cellular changes that cause warts or cancer, including cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers in women and anal cancers in men and women. A growing body of evidence suggests that HPV also causes throat cancers in men and women as a result of oral sex.” (The New York Times)

Whether or not people want to acknowledge that children and teens are engaging in sexual behavior (they are, and it’s not always safe), the risks that accompany those decisions persist. And the consequences, it seems, are not equally distributed.

According to the CDC’s own data, Hispanic and Black women have the highest rates of cervical cancer and resulting death rates in the country. Most recent data from 2007 indicates that compared to a national rate of 7.9 percent of females with cervical cancer, 7.5 percent of White women, 10.5 percent of Black women and 11.5 percent of Hispanic women contract the disease.

Not all female-specific cancer is a result of HPV. But from 1998 to 2003, HPV-associated vaginal cancer rates were also significantly disproportionate against Black and Hispanic women as well. The numbers are less skewed for men. During the same time period, HPV-associated anal cancer rates for men reached 1.2 percent for Black men, 0.8 percent for Hispanic men and 1.0 percent for White men.

Even if the new recommendations do prove a “hard sell,” it bears mentioning that in a study among low-income children, boys reported their first sexual experience at a younger age (average 12.48 years old) than girls (average 13.16 years old). And by the way, aren’t low-income youth considered a high-risk population for contracting STDs? So aren’t low-income minorities even more at-risk? I thought so.

Instead of discussing the moral dilemmas in advocating that youth – regardless of gender or sexual orientation – receive a vaccine that can play a significant role in preventing the spread of a serious infection and potential disease, maybe we should be discussing how to make the vaccine more accessible and affordable for the populations already disparately affected?

Confessions of a Foodie: We Are Not What We Eat

Confessions of a Foodie:
We Are Not What We Eat

By: Gwen McKinney

When Team McKinney decided we’d dive into National Food Day by raising our voices in the blogosphere, I immediately proclaimed, “I’m in!”

As an evangelical member of the Weight Watchers (WW) Lifetime circle, I have forged a relationship with food that is a lifeline to good health, a relatively streamlined body and joy. Food, like weight management, is a journey. It requires a commitment first and foremost to self. You must honestly zero in on why you eat, how you eat and what you eat. The journey need not be punctuated with denial “diets” and punitive food plans that ebb and flow as the scales tilt north. You can eat well, eat often and eat deliciously even as you drop pounds.

The multisensory passion of good eating gives me something to look forward to from one meal to the next. The Wednesday Food Section of the Washington Post is among my “must reads.” New recipes are cherished treasures. I collect them like jewels. And as a frequent flyer on Epicurious.com, there are always more ways to prepare my favorite foods than I have time to create or eat. The extravaganza of planning, shopping and preparing for a dinner party is almost as fun as the guests. Food is my friend, my salvation and an adventure with each gastronomic foray!

But back to Weight Watchers. It works with unparallel success. This is not an ad for WW. National Poster Child Jennifer Hudson is doing that just fine without me. In fact, she recently opened a weight loss center in Chicago that is primarily targeted to African American women. That makes the point about our community’s need to reassess its relationship with food.

Since Weight Watchers rolled out its phenomenally successful ad campaign featuring the sleek, sexy and seventy-pounds-lighter Hudson, new legions of wannabe smaller Black women have been stepping up to WW scales. My weekly WW meetings have been transformed from sparsely attended motivational lectures into standing room only Amen sessions. Sadly, if the stats prove true, the vast majority of those new recruits will fall off the wagon, trading sustainability for the old and easy way out. Weight management is not just about the scales. The centerpiece is behavioral change. And that is a bitch.

Role model or marketing scheme?

Hudson’s phenomenal reach to African American women surfaces a swelling epidemic. African American women of all ages and economic groups suffer the highest rate of obesity compared to any other demographic. Four out of five of us are considered overweight or obese. With that distinction comes all the evil ills: heart disease, diabetes, cancer and premature death.

Overweight women raise overweight children. The challenge of childhood obesity has become a national state of emergency. Our client, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, embracing the issue as a health equity initiative, has targeted 2015 to reverse the epidemic.

The notion of being “big boned” or voluptuously healthy in line with our African roots have long served as a rationalization for the status quo. Culture, genetics and glandular conditions are not the culprits. Admittedly, as a forthright foodie who shed four dress sizes over a 14-month period, I will always struggle with weight management. Food and caloric intake are almost incidental to the challenge. At the core of a slender body is affirmation of me. I am not what I eat. I am what I am determined to be.

I end here with the verb to be. We are our own best solution if we affirm we can BE. Counsel for good health care? More appropriately, it is a clarion call for Self-Care. Drawing from a campaign that McKinney & Associates launched for the California Department of Public Health, I ask every African American woman to embrace food as a key to life. But command your body as your temple to BE Well.

BEcause we’re worth it.

Millions of Americans Fear Hunger

Millions of Americans Fear Hunger

By: Pam Taylor

Food insecurity is on the rise. More than 17 million Americans, 14.6 percent of US households, are fearful of going hungry. Alright, so maybe US hunger doesn’t present like the gruesome pictures we see of starvation in the Sudan, for example, but it is nonetheless both scandalously and dangerously high for a nation with our resources. And it is also completely unnecessary. Other developed countries don’t tolerate such widespread hunger, and especially among children.

Although a family might get SNAP, the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits or a wage check, many still have to skimp on groceries, and they run out of food around the 20th or the 25th of every month. Food-insecure families also buy cheap and non-nutritious food. Poor nutrition damages heath, especially in little kids. When people don’t get enough food, the available nutrition goes to vital organs like the lungs; it doesn’t go to the brain.

Not surprisingly, food insecurity affects both African American and Hispanic families disproportionately — 25 and 26 percent, respectively, compared to 11 percent of white families. And among female-headed households, it’s a staggering 35 percent. See Infographic: The State of Food Insecurity for more startling facts.

More than 13 million children and another 3.5 million seniors are living in poverty in the United States, the leading cause of this nation’s hunger. Yet, we toss about 263 million pounds of food every day — edible food! Hunger in America. Of course, not everybody is buying my concern. Tom Sowell says we are victims of “media hysteria,” when it comes to hunger. Of course, he doesn’t buy America’s dismal poverty stats either. The 'Hunger' Hoax.

New Women’s Health Benefit Boon for Breastfeeding

New Women’s Health Benefit Boon for Breastfeeding

In time for World Breastfeeding Week, HHS Secretary Sebelius announced this morning that insurance companies must cover at no additional cost preventive health services.  These services will include birth control, annual well-woman visits, gestational diabetes screening, HPV testing, HIV screening and counseling, breastfeeding support and supplies, and domestic violence screening and counseling. These new guidelines will not only help ensure that women receive the timely care they need to maintain good health but also help to reduce health disparities among women. This is a historic day for women’s health!

Former HHS Secretary Says Diversity Is Key to Better Health

Former HHS Secretary Says Diversity

Is Key to Better Health

 

 

Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, the former US Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1989-1993 blames the lack of racial and ethnic diversity among the nation's health professionals for the growing gap in health disparities between whites and minorities.

"Having a more racially and ethnically diverse health professions workforce will enhance communication between health professionals and our nation's population," Dr. Sullivan said. "Improved communication between health professionals and the individuals they serve will foster trust and understanding that will influence health outcomes. If we are successful in increasing diversity, this will result in improved health status in the long run among our nation's minorities."

Speaking at the recent National Medical Association Convention held in Washington, DC, July 23-27, the president emeritus of the Morehouse School of Medicine, offered several strategies for promoting diversity in the health care professions from strengthening K-12 education in math and science to increasing financial aid to minority students interested in health care.

For his complete text, read Increase in minority health professionals to reduce disparities.

IOM: Protecting Women and Wallets?

IOM: Protecting Women and Wallets?

NPR reported that the Institute of Medicine delivered a potentially game-changing announcement today: “it recommends that the federal government consider putting "the full range of Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods" on the list of services for women that would be covered by insurers without a copay.”

According to the article, free contraceptives could serve for positive change surrounding the number of unwanted pregnancies in our country (currently about 50 percent), including financial strains on families and infant and mother health between pregnancies.

Detractors argue that government-mandated birth control would violate the religious rights of those whose beliefs forbid contraceptives, and those who hold that some forms of contraceptives act as precursors to abortion.

Click here to read and listen to the full story.

“Companies propose curbing junk food ads for kids?”

“Companies propose curbing junk food ads for kids?”

The nation’s largest food companies say they will cut back on advertising unhealthy foods to children. The move by General Mills, Kellogg and other industry giants comes as the federal government released stricter standards for marketing junk food to children.

An online search did not produce a copy of the coalition’s new marketing standards. That’s not good. Without access to the standards, there’s no way to measure change and hold the food marketers accountable.

Childhood obesity in America has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Junk food consumption is linked to the alarming increase. Let’s do more than hope that the companies are on the up and up. Let’s demand to see their new marketing standards.

Bridging Health Equity Gaps Through Mentorship

Bridging Health Equity Gaps Through Mentorship

In the community of Lakeland, Fla., professionals in minority communities are seeing opportunities to close gaps for underserved students. One such professional is Dr. Alexander Mbakwem who wants to see more people who look like him in the medical profession.

To help make that happen, he is learning how to be a mentor to Polk County students. "The kids need to be exposed to people who are not athletes and singers," Mbakwem said. "There are not enough role models to say, ‘Go to school and don't commit crimes.' They need to see people who are doing well so they can say if he can do it, then I can do it."

With health care inequities hitting underrepresented and troubled communities across the country, this initiative develops healthy people and communities in myriad ways.

Read more in The Ledger’s “Black Professionals Seek to Mentor Minority Students”

Hot Weather Health Tips

Hot Weather Health Tips

Staying cool in hot weather can be tough. When the temperature rises and the heat index soars, take these precautions for the sake of your health:

• Drink more fluids (nonalcoholic), regardless of your activity level. Don't wait until you're thirsty to drink.
• Don't drink liquids that contain alcohol or large amounts of sugar, which cause you to lose more body fluid. Also, avoid very cold drinks, which can cause stomach cramps.
• If your home does not have air conditioning, go to the shopping mall or public library; even a few hours spent in air conditioning can help your body stay cooler.
• Electric fans may provide comfort, but when the temperature is in the high 90s, fans will not prevent heat-related illness. Taking a cool shower or bath, or moving to an air-conditioned place is a better way to cool off.
• Wear lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing.
• Never leave anyone in a closed, parked vehicle.
• Check regularly on infants and young children; people aged 65 or older; people who have a mental illness; and those who are physically ill, especially with heart disease or high blood pressure. Visit adults at risk at least twice a day and closely watch them for signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
• Limit your outdoor activity to morning and evening hours. If you must exercise outdoors, drink two to four glasses of cool, nonalcoholic fluids each hour.
• Protect yourself from the sun by wearing a wide-brimmed hat (also keeps you cooler) and sunglasses.

Sources: Center for Diseas Control and Prevention

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/51387/



For Better Health Care, Gold Card Only (If You Have One)

For Better Health Care, Gold Card Only (If You Have One)

Most European countries view the United States' health care system as crazy. Where most Europeans have access to health care, Americans (supposedly we're living in the land of plenty), are either paying high health care rates or forgoing treatment and medications due to their inability to afford proper care. To widen the gap between "have" and have nots," those who can afford health care are receiving extra attention from their doctors by paying for "concierge" health care. By paying a higher membership fee, affluent patients can get more of their doctors' time during the week or weekends, with more attention to their needs. Some doctors have expressed concerns that this practice could lead to "higher paying clients receiving better care." When did having your health care needs met by your physician become a VIP service? Don't we all deserve this without paying for VIP treatment, or whipping out the gold card?

To learn more, view "Patients Pay Doctors More for VIP Treatment" on KMBC.com (Kansas City, Mo.)



New Report Shows America Getting Fatter

New Report Shows America Getting Fatter

Continuing from yesterday's blog post on the efforts to combat childhood obesity, looks like the adults are not leading by example. According to a new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation obesity rates among adults now exceed 25 percent in more than two-thirds of the states. Not a single state had a decline in weight and rates actually climbed in 16 states. It was the Southern states who seem to be dragging down the rest of the country, with Mississippi taking the record again for being the fattest state in the nation. Colorado came out on top as the fittest, and as the only state with an obesity rate under 20 percent.

With all the attention being paid these days to fighting obesity, getting fit, working out, eating healthy, to see the country continue to slide in the wrong direction is extremely disheartening. One has to wonder what it will take to snap the country from it's addiction to fatty foods.

To read more on this report visit: http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/f-is-for-americans-getting-fatter/

Community Groups Tackle Childhood Obesity

Community Groups Tackle Childhood Obesity

Saving the nation’s children from the ravages associated with childhood obesity is the mission of the Pioneering Healthier Communities (PHC) coalitions, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the YMCA. One hundred ninety PHCs are operating throughout the United States and have the potential to impact up to 34 million Americans. These grassroots leaders are working on behalf of children and families by increasing access to physical activity, healthy food and food choices.  Additionally, these community activists are working to change policies and laws that hinder their progress toward achieving those goals.  In Marion County, Ohio, where over 30 percent of the youth are overweight, the PHC is also adding a “multi-platform network that provides continuing and consistent education on healthy eating and physical activity” and working collaboratively with other community-based organizations to ensure Marion is a healthy community for all its residents.

For more on the Marion, Ohio PHC, read: http://www.marionstar.com/article/20110703/OPINION/107030328

New RWJF Directory Compares Hospitals and Doctors

New RWJF Directory Compares Hospitals and Doctors

Building on the growing trend to look for health care information online, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s just released a map-based directory designed to help users compare health care provided by local hospitals and physicians.  Foundation staff believe the directory will be especially helpful to people who “receive care in different areas of the country.”  To view the national directory, go here.  And to read the full article, see: New directory helps patients compare hospitals

Troubling Trend: More Young Adults Living With Diabetes

Troubling Trend: More Young Adults Living With Diabetes

When we are young we think we can avoid health-related issues that happen to “to the other older person.” By that, meaning we can consume all the chips, fries, burgers, pastries, pizza and sodas we want, believing that time and youth can reverse any possible damage? Wrong. According to leading diabetes experts, more people in their 20s and 30s are coping with Type 2 diabetes, which used to be rare in those under 40. Younger type 2 diabetes patients are not just worried about college, dating and entertainment choices but now trying to participate in such activities with high blood pressure, poor eyesight, obesity, kidney problems and possibly congestive heart failure. It just doesn’t happen to the “older guy.” Healthy food choices are important at every age. We shouldn’t let an early death win.

For more on this troubling trend, read USA Today article.

America’s Oral Health is in Crisis

America’s Oral Health is in Crisis

More than a decade since the U.S. Surgeon General called America’s poor oral health a “silent epidemic,” oral health diseases remain prevalent among the nation’s underserved populations. Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans bear the burden of poor oral health more than any other racial or ethnic groups, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the largely majority-minority town of Windsor, North Carolina, the unabated crisis is playing out. A new study by the local government says a shortage of dentists and lack of access to dental care is to blame. In 2010, there were only 15 dentists for 109,000 low-income residents in the county. And almost no private dentist in the area will accept Medicaid because the reimbursement rates are below market rate.


Oral health is critical to overall health.


Reform efforts should focus on integrating oral health into health care and increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates for dentists.


Read More: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110616/ARTICLES/110619585?template=printpicart

Health reform is education reform

Health reform is education reform

Only one in 10 high school kids meeting the minimum goals for physical activity

America's teens are drinking too many sugary drinks and not getting enough exercise, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only one in 10 high school boys and girls are meeting the minimum goals for physical activity outlined by in the CDC's recently released "Healthy People 2020" report. The findings appear in the June 17 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6023a1.htm?s_cid=mm6023a1_w.

There’s a critical need to improve the quality of school meals and to create more opportunities for students to be physically active.

Short-sighted GOP Steadily Dismantling Health Reform

J. Howard DeHoff, MD, of South Whitehall Township, is a primary care internist.

Short-sighted GOP Steadily Dismantling Health Reform

The House GOP is gloating about the recent passage of HR 1216, which rescinds the funds obligated by the Affordable Care Act for training much-needed primary care physicians, but millions of Americans will suffer if the Senate follows suit. The shortage of primary care physicians has already reached crisis levels in many areas -- nearly every county in Pennsylvania is experiencing a shortage of primary care providers. And according to primary care physician Dr. Howard DeHoff, "by 2025, there will be a shortage of 35,000 to 44,000 primary care physicians leaving more than 66 million Americans without access to quality care." The result, he worries, will be millions of people at risk for heart attacks, diabetes, obesity, depression, domestic violence, tobacco addiction, drug and alcohol abuse, arthritis, influenza -- and without quality care. What's the old saying -- "an ounce of prevention..."

To view full article: http://www.mcall.com/opinion/yourview/mc-primary-care-physicians-dehoff-yv-20110608,0,6645569.story

Calling Males to the Counseling Profession

Calling Males to the Counseling Profession

Men are all but missing in the mental health profession reports the New York Times. Need Therapy? A Good Man Is Hard to Find (New York Times, 05/21/2011) reports that “men earn only one in five of all master’s degrees awarded in psychology, down from half in the 1970s. They account for less than 10 percent of social workers under the age of 34, according to a recent survey. And their numbers have dwindled among professional counselors — to 10 percent of the American Counseling Association’s membership today from 30 percent in 1982 — and appear to be declining among marriage and family therapists.”

The dearth of male therapists is a barrier for some men who’d like to receive counseling but would prefer to go to a man. Here’s another need to diversify the health care workforce.

Highlighted Clip for Wednesday, May 25, 2011:

"Need Therapy? A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
By BENEDICT CAREY
Researchers began tracking the “feminization” of mental health care more than a generation ago, when women started to outnumber men in fields like psychology and counseling. Today the takeover is almost complete.

Doctors’ Advice: Fewer Tests, Cheaper Health Care

Doctors’ Advice: Fewer Tests, Cheaper Health Care

Everyone wants to save money, cut costs wherever possible while maintaining the best life. When it comes to doctors’ visits and tests, a primary care group is working to keep more money in your pocket. Recently, the National Physicians Alliance met with doctors in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics and asked them to list five ways they could save patients money—all while enhancing care. Say what? This idea may call for a magic wand or Superman, but with some thought, more than 250 doctors provided their top “less is more” recommendations. Most of the recommendations focused on eliminating certain expensive tests (unless you’re near death) or forgoing routine antibiotic prescriptions for mild or moderate sinusitis (you’ll just have to deal with the itchy eyes and sneezing).  But what if you believe you need the tests or that antibiotic? Check out their recommendations and see if you agree!

Highlighted Clip for Tuesday, May 24, 2011:

"Advice From Doctors: Top 5 Ways to Lower Costs and Improve Care"

If anyone knows where health-care dollars are being wasted, it's primary-care physicians. So, the National Physicians Alliance recently assembled working groups of doctors within three fields of primary care — family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics — and asked each to come up with five ways to reduce costs in their areas while enhancing patient care.