The 2011 Health Disparities Profiles

The 2011 Health Disparities Profiles examines key health indicators at the state level for different racial and ethnic populations in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Twenty-two health indicators are presented, which highlight some of the key areas related to health disparities among different populations. It can be used as a reference for policymakers and program managers to identify areas where major health disparities exist in each state.

Click here to view your states report:  http://www.healthstatus2020.com/disparities/ChartBookData_search.asp



The Mary Marshall Nursing Scholarship Program

The Mary Marshall Nursing Scholarship Program for RN’s and LPN’s 2012 Advisory Committee Meeting will be held on Friday, September 21, 2012. The meeting will start at 9:30am and will last until 2pm.

The location will be at:The Virginia Board of Nursing 9960 Mayland Drive Suite 200Henrico, VA 23233
Click here to learn more about the Mary Marshall Nursing Scholarship Program. 

Cancer......New Challenge

• HHS: New challenge announced. Reducing Cancer Among Women of Color App Challenge, calling on developers to create a mobile application that would help educate underserved and minority women about cancer and screenings, and allow secure access to medical records. The submission deadline is February 5, 2013. Learn More

Webinar on Health Disparities in American Indian & Alaska Natives: A Historical Snapshot and Current Opportunities for AI/AN populations

Upcoming Webinar Announcement:
This Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) webinar session will highlight health disparities among American Indian and Alaska Native populations, with a focus on strategies and challenges to achieve health equity for Tribal and Urban AI/ANs.

Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM EST
Date: September 6, 2012
Opening Remarks: Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, MD, MSCE, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health (Acting)
Speakers: Patricia Parker, President/CEO, Native American Management Services; Ralph Forquera, MPH, Region X Health Equity Council, Seattle Health Board, Urban Indian Health Institute
Register Here

The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health Disparity & Health Equity Conference

Register now: The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health Disparity & Health Equity Conference

From September 25 - 26, Los Angeles will host this year's Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health Disparity & Health Equity Conference, an opportunity for community leaders, health care professionals, researchers, educators, advocates and policymakers to come together to focus on innovative concepts, methods and research findings on health disparities that impact the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community. Attendees will have the chance to discuss the significance and impact of robust health and health care data for evaluating the status of understudied and underserved populations. A summary of key findings from the Pacific Islander Health Study, a representative survey on the health and health care utilization of Pacific Islander adults and adolescents, will also be available.

Key speakers will include Dr. Howard K. Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health (Acting), and Dr. David R. Williams, the Florence Sprague Norman & Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies of Sociology at Harvard University.

Registration is available online . Book by Friday, August 31 to receive the discounted rate at the conference hotel . Deadline to submit poster abstracts is August 20.

Help set the rural public health agenda for the next decade

Rural health policy makers and researchers are looking for your input on the most important health issues facing rural residents. Rural Healthy People 2020, is designed to identify what rural stakeholders see as the most significant preventable threats to the health of rural people, identify existing rural models for practice that address these threats, and to establish goals for reducing these threats. The starting point for this conversation is an online survey. http://edu.surveygizmo.com/s3/807374/Rural-Health-People-2020 You're invited to take the survey and to forward this link to people in your own networks so they can participate, too. The more broadly we distribute the survey, the more likely we are to get results that match the health concerns of all rural Americans. The survey link will be open through August 31, 2012.  Please take a few minutes today to go on-line, complete the survey AND share it with your networks. The survey should take 5-10 minutes to complete and does not require professional background in health issues.   If you have any questions please contact  Dr. Jane N. Bolin, at jbolin@srph.tamhsc.edu or Dr. Gail Bellamy at gail.bellamy@med.fsu.edu

2010 U.S. CENSUS MAP

Remember about a year & a half ago you filled out a census form? Well here are the result of this process. What you will see is a Map of the US - not just the 48 states but all of the 50 states. Territories are not in the census - but they did provide information during this process. So let us say you are in Virginia, you can go by county & as you zoom in by city to see the increase or decrease & then you can see the changes of the various races within these cities. Look at places you know & also look at the map at the darker brown location.

You can zoom in & out to get the information on the places you know. Use your cursor can move map around & you can zoom in on specific counties to get current stats. It is very interesting!

Fascinating!!! Just glide your cursor over the map & it displays every county. Can't imagine how long it took to create this map!!
Amazing!!!
Click the "2010 US Census" Map Below.
2010 U.S. CENSUS MAP
http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/map?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1

Mid-Atlantic Integrated Care Conference

33rd Annual UNC Minority Health Conference Keynote Presentation

Please Save the Date to join the Office of Minority Health and Health Equity in viewing the 33rd Annual UNC Minority Health Conference Keynote Presentation by Ana V. Diez-Roux, MD, PhD, MPH, professor and director of the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan. The webcast will be broadcast on February 24, 2012 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. in the Madison Building, 109 Governor Street, Room 1218. Don’t forget to get supervisory approval, as necessary. You will receive TRAIN course number notification at a later date.

To join the video conference via polycom, contact Rich Watson at richard.watson@vdh.virginia.gov or 804-864-7179.

If you prefer to join us at the Madison Building site, please contact Susan Triggs at susan.triggs@vdh.virginia.gov or 804-864-7429.Thank you. We look forward to sharing this event with you.

Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program

The Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program is a selective program of the U.S. Government that helps alleviate the critical shortage of nurses by offering loan repayment assistance to registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses, such as nurse practitioners, in return for working in a Critical Shortage Facility and nurse faculty in return for working full time at an accredited school of nursing.

Accepting Applications through 5 pm ET, Wednesday February 15

* Application Assistance Webinar Friday, January 20, 1 to 3 pm ET. Call 888-790-2037, passcode 5564361.
* Before you apply, read the Application and Program Guidance (PDF - 875 KB)
* Late or incomplete applications will not be considered for funding.
* Sign up to receive e-mail notification when the 2013 Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program application opens. To learn more click here.

Awareness and Prevention Scholarship

• Scholarship Mission
  

  The Nursing Home Abuse.net - Awareness and Prevention Scholarship was created by Education Aid, Inc. and funded by Nursing Home Abuse.net. Its purpose is to give the selected applicant the financial resources to pursue a career that will aid in raising awareness and/or preventing nursing home abuse.

  Many students currently enrolled in a degree program do not have the finances to complete their education. In fact, a lack of financial support is one of the top reasons that students drop out of college. This scholarship not only enables the selected student to finish their degree, but it also helps him or her to achieve their goal of aiding in the implementation of better care for the elderly in their community. The scholarship will therefore be awarded to someone who has either been personally affected by nursing home abuse and is determined to make a difference or who feels strongly enough about the issue to strongly consider working with seniors for their career.

  About the Scholarship

  We’re proud to introduce the “Nursing Home Abuse.net - Awareness and Prevention Scholarship”: the first scholarship of its kind!

  Who created this scholarship?
  Created by NursingHomeAbuse.net, this scholarship is awarded exclusively to an applicant who is pursuing a career that will help combat nursing home abuse.

  How much is the scholarship worth?

  A $5,000 scholarship will be awarded to a student currently enrolled in a post-secondary institution. This scholarship will help pay for non-tuition related expenses for the 2012-2013 academic year. Such expenses can include but are not limited to:

• Rent
• Childcare
• Travel/Gas
• Books/Supplies
• Utilities
• Groceries

• Click here to learn more
  
  
  

Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunity: The ACHIEVE Research Partnership: Action for Health Equity Interventions

Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunity: The ACHIEVE Research Partnership: Action for Health Equity Interventions
Centre for Research on Inner City Health
St. Michael's Hospital - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Website: http://bit.ly/ztcglB

“…..We are motivated by the CIHR’s goal to produce the next generation of “creative agents for change,” and by the Institute of Population and Public Health’s call for interventions research, defined as “the use of scientific methods to produce knowledge about policy and program interventions that operate within or outside of the health sector and have the potential to impact health at the population level.”

ACHIEVE will be explicit in promoting a community of practice and a philosophy of engaged scholarship, which the Big Ten universities has recently endorsed as the partnership of university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching, and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good.

ACHIEVE will offer an intensive 24 month, collaborative curriculum for new researchers to develop the following competencies that are typically unavailable through traditional graduate training, yet necessary for closing the gap between *measuring *urban health disparities and *reducing*them….“ From Carles Muntaner

Program Information:
- Two-year term: September 2012 – August 2014
- Stipend: Based on CIHR guidelines for qualified candidates
- Fellows are required to complete all training program components within the two years.
- 3-5 Fellows may be accepted for the 2012-2014 term
- Fellows are required to work onsite in Toronto, Canada
- Deadline to apply: February 13, 2012
- Decision announcements: May 2012

Call for Abstracts: Transcending Borders Towards Global Health

Call for Abstracts: Transcending Borders Towards Global Health
Deadline: January 15, 2012


Discovering Sustainable Pathways from Local to Global
The Office of Global Health and the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario are proud to announce their first Global Health Conference.

This conference aims to highlight links between health and education, equity, poverty, the environment and development , identify significant links between these concepts through discussions actively engage participants in discussion to create links and partnerships which will lead to cooperative action to solve global health problems locally and globally.

For more information: globalhealth@schulich.uwo.ca
To register: http://www.transcendingborders.ca/registration.html

The National Health Service Corps - Students to Service Program

The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Students to Service Loan Repayment Program (S2S LRP) pilot application cycle is now open. The S2S LRP provides loan repayment assistance to medical students (MD and DO) in their last year of school, in return for a commitment to provide primary health care services in eligible Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) of greatest need.

The program is seeking applicants who have an interest in serving communities with limited access to health care and in providing care through their initial service commitment and beyond.
Financial Benefits

The S2S LRP will provide funds to participants to repay their outstanding qualifying student loans while still completing health professions training.

Program Options Include:
Full-Time Clinical Practice. The NHSC will pay up to $120,000 for an initial three years of full-time clinical service defined as no less than 40 hours per week, for a minimum of 45 weeks a year.

Half-Time Clinical Practice. The NHSC will pay up to $120,000 for an initial six years of half-time clinical service defined as no less than 20 hours per week (not to exceed 39 hours per week), for a minimum of 45 weeks per year.

Annual payments of up to $30,000 will be made over the course of four years. With continued service, eligible providers may be able to pay off all qualifying student loans.

Learn more about eligibility and how to apply at http://www.nhsc.hrsa.gov/loanrepayment/studentstoserviceprogram/index.html?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NHSC%20Update&utm_content=S2S+Announcement+to+Potential+Applicants

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program

2011-2012 Call for Applications

Deadline: February 29, 2012, 5:00 PM EST

Program Area: Human Capital

Purpose:
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) collaborate to foster the development of physicians who will lead the transformation of Americans’ health and health care through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars program. These future leaders will conduct innovative research and work with communities, organizations, practitioners and policy-makers to address issues essential to the health and well-being of all Americans.

To apply and learn more click here http://www.rwjf.org/applications/solicited/cfp.jsp?ID=21381

5 free workshops provided by Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth

Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) through the Virginia Department of Health is offering 5 Facilitating Community Change Through Environmental Approaches workshops. This one day workshop designed for various target audiences will introduce participants to the use of environmental approaches as a strategy to create community change and improve public health in the areas of obesity, tobacco, alcohol and other drug prevention.

The following link provides a flyer with additional information:

Environmental Change Training Flyer



You can register for these workshops by clicking on one of the following links:

Regional Training Registration Page



www.vfhy.org/training



If you have already registered to attend a VFHY workshop this year, please select the "already registered" link. You will be prompted to type in your name, email address and confirmation number. If you don't remember your confirmation number a link will be available to click on have it sent to you to complete the registration process.

If you have not registered for any workshops this year, click on the "register now" link on the registration page.

If you have problems registering, contact Charlie McLaughlin at (804) 786-2279 orcmclaughlin@vfhy.org.

PCORI Funding Announcement: Pilot Projects Grants

PCORI Funding Announcement: Pilot Projects Grants

Purpose: The purpose of the PCORI Pilot Projects Grant Program is threefold. First, the applications themselves will assist PCORI with ongoing development and enhancement of national research priorities for patient-centered outcomes research. Applicants will be expected to establish the significance of the proposed research and build a case for why it should be considered a guiding question for PCORI. Second, the PCORI Pilot Projects Grant Program will support the collection of preliminary data that can be used to advance the field of patient-centered outcomes research, providing the platform for a future PCORI research agenda. Third, the PCORI Pilot Projects Grant Program will support the identification of methodologies that can be used to advance patient-centered outcomes research as well as identify gaps where methodological research needs further development. Click here to learn more!

Student Scholarship for Single Parents

We’re proud to introduce The Online Colleges.org Support a Student Scholarship for Single Parents: the first scholarship of its kind!

A $10,000 scholarship will be awarded starting January 1st, 2012 to a single parent who is enrolled in an accredited online post-secondary institution. The scholarship will help pay for non-tuition related living expenses for the 2012 academic year that are not covered by the recipient’s current financial aid such as:

•Rent
•Childcare
•Books and School Supplies
•Utilities – Gas/Electric
•Utilities – Internet Connection
•Groceries

Important Dates:
•Application Deadline: Postmarked/emailed by November 1st, 2011
•Scholarship Recipient Selected: December 1st, 2011
•Scholarship Funds Awarded: January 1st, 2012 Click here to learn more (http://www.onlinecolleges.org/scholarship/#canIApply )

Scleroderma Foundation: African-American Patient Education Day. Learn about the risk factors specific to African-Americans such as rapid disease progression, and severe lung and organ involvement. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24 in Baltimore, MD. Learn More

http://www.scleroderma.org/pdf/2011/Save%20the%20Date%20African%20American%20Education.pdf

Cultural Competence in Dementia Care

Cultural Competence in Dementia Care - Tuesday, June 28th from noon-1pm.

Panelists: Tracey Gendron and Shannon Marling (VCU)
Moderator: E. Ayn Welleford (VCU)

Working with individuals with diverse backgrounds implies an imperative need to become culturally competent, and in particular, to acquire the knowledge of a group’s diversity, history, culture and contemporary reality. The event will described how the cultural background of both the caregivers and elders with dementia disorders impact recognition and treatment of the disease, will identify barriers that exist among African American, Hispanic and Asian family members that impact the decision to seek treatment for symptoms of dementia, and finally, will describe the function of cognitive testing using neuropsychological assessments and the role that ethnicity plays in valid outcome measures.

To register go to:
http://www.alzpossible.org/newsletter/culturalcompetence.htm

Kimberly Williams
Education Coordinator Assistant
Department of Gerontology
Virginia Commonwealth University
Theatre Row, Room 2012
730 East Broad Street
P.O. Box 980228
Richmond, VA 23298-0228
phone 804-828-1565
fax 804-828-5259

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