Monday, August 31, 2009

The new 2009 Community Connections Resource Guide is here and ready for pick up!

The booklets are packed 200 to a box. These boxes are quite heavy so for those of you that have requested a larger amount you may want to consider bringing a dolly with you.Please e-mail me or call our office at 226-8826 to schedule your pick-up. We are located at 122 Granby Street in Norfolk on the 5th floor of the Tradewinds Building.
ACT FAST…..as you know they are a hot commodity throughout all of Hampton Roads.
Together we can bridge important connections for families in our communities so that ALL children are ready to learn in Kindergarten!

Beth Parker
Special Projects Coordinator
Smart Beginnings of South Hampton Roads
112 Granby St. Suite 500
Norfolk, VA 23510
757-226-8826
757-2268829 fax
bparker@smartbeginningsshr.org

Monday, August 24, 2009

CINCH Announcement

We are pleased to announce that CINCH received a grant from the Virginia Department of Health/Office of WIC and Nutrition Services CHAMPION Program to conduct BodyWorks classes throughout Hampton Roads. BodyWorks is a program designed to help parents and caregivers of adolescents and pre-adolescents improve family eating and activity habits. Available in English and Spanish, the program focuses on parents as role models and provides them with hands-on tools to make small, specific behavior changes to prevent obesity and help maintain a healthy weight. The BodyWorks program uses a train-the-trainer model to distribute the Toolkit through community-based organizations, state health agencies, non-profit organizations, health clinics, hospitals and health care systems. The program includes one six-hour training module for trainers and ten 90-minute weekly sessions for parents and caregivers.
The CINCH grant proposes to train two trainers in each city/town/county/health districts across Hampton Roads, for a total of 30 trainers. Each trainer will teach two 10-session classes (one in the fall and one in the spring) of 15 parents each. Funding is for one year. Our 5-year sustainability plan calls for a viral marketing effort. After year one, we will ask each trainer to continue for four more years, recruit two more trainers to teach two classes of 15 parents. We will work to continue this pattern of commitment in years two through four. If each trainer makes a commitment to this level of involvement, we will reach nearly a quarter of a million individuals with BodyWorks, thus creating a critical mass of families and trainers who better understand and practice healthy eating and activity. We expect this will also make a difference in our communities at the policy level as parents begin to expect more from themselves, their communities, and institutions with nutrition and physical activity availability.

Two Additional Infant Deaths Prompt Re-announcement of Simplicity "Close-Sleeper/Bedside Sleeper" Bassinets

CPSC is once again urging all parents and caregivers to immediately stop using convertible "close-sleeper/bedside sleeper" bassinets manufactured by Simplicity Inc., of Reading, Pa. CPSC has learned of two additional infant deaths since the August 2008 safety alert and recall announcements. To date, CPSC is aware of four infants who have died in the close-sleeper bassinets.
We are very concerned that not enough families know about this critically important recall. We want consumers to stop using the bassinet and take it back to the place of purchase for a refund or store credit.
To see pictures of the Simplicity 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 convertible bassinets and for more information please visit our web site at www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/prhtml09/09319.html
Due to the life-threatening hazard these bassinets pose to infants, CPSC urges all consumers to share this safety warning with friends, family, day care centers, and consignment stores to ensure that no child is placed to sleep in a Simplicity convertible bassinet cove

Thursday, August 20, 2009

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR RSV PREVENTION

MedImmune has expanded access for eligible premature infants to receive medication administered to high-risk infants for the prevention of serious lower respiratory tract infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The MedImmune Assistance Program is designed to provide the medicine for free to qualifying patients who lack health insurance and whose family household income is within a certain range of the federal poverty level (FPL) guidelines. The company recently increased the eligibility for the program to 400 percent of the FPL (e.g. a household of four with an income up to $88,200, and without health care coverage or medical insurance could receive medication at no cost). This is an expansion of the program’s previous eligibility ceiling. The MedImmune Assistance Program is administered as part of the Synagis Reimbursement Hotline and can be reached by calling 1-877-778-9010. More information about additional help available for RSV prevention and treatment can be found by visiting https://www.panfoundation.org/. For more information about RSV, go to http://www.synagis.com/what-is-rsv.aspx.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Health Equity Conference

The Virginia Public Health Association and the Health Equity Conference Planning Committee cordially invite you and your members to attend the upcoming two-day Health Equity Conference, Advancing Health Equity: From Theory to Practice on September 10-11, 2009 at the Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center in Richmond, Virginia.

The conference will serve as a forum to discuss practices and policies that strengthen community health and well-being. Root, social, political and economic causes of health inequities in Virginia will be addressed. The goal of the conference is to increase the knowledge and ability of attendees to advance health equity through policies and practices that promote healthy communities.


To register and for more detailed information:

http://www.virginiahealthequityconference.com

Friday, August 14, 2009

Leanworks- Leading employees to activity and nutrition.

Upcoming program: LEANWorks! identifies science-based interventions that work to prevent and control obesity and provides the tools that employers need to take action. The Web site provides a variety of resources to employers including:
An obesity cost-calculator where employers can input employee demographic data to estimate the total costs associated with obesity and determine annual obesity-related medical costs for their companies.
Information and resources to help employers plan, build, promote, and assess interventions to combat obesity.
Information on how employers can estimate return on investment, a measure of the cost of an intervention compared to the expected financial return of the intervention.
For more information go to:

http://www.myvbch.org/2009FallMeeting.php

Obesity by Race/Ethnicity 2006-2008

New Obesity Data Shows Blacks Have the Highest Rates of Obesity
Blacks had 51 percent higher prevalence of obesity, and Hispanics had 21 percent higher obesity prevalence compared with whites.
Greater prevalences of obesity for blacks and whites were found in the South and Midwest than in the West and Northeast. Hispanics in the Northeast had lower obesity prevalence than Hispanics in the Midwest, South or West.
For this study analysis, CDC analyzed the 2006−2008 BRFSS data.
For more, see Differences in Prevalence of Obesity Among Black, White, and Hispanic Adults — United States, 2006–2008.Also available in a PDF version (PDF-1.3Mb).

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Physical Activity

Parents' Endorsement of High-Intensity Team Sports Increases Children's Physical Activity
A study published in Health Psychology found that parents who are enthusiastic about strenuous team sports have children who are more active and spend less time in front of the TV or computer. However, when parents endorse moderate-intensity team sports and vigorous individual sports and household chores, only boys have increased activity levels. Lead author Cheryl Braselton Anderson says this disparity relates to parental attitudes toward the types of activities. "Parents encouraged sons to partake in team and individual sports, and vigorous-intensity home chores, more than they encouraged these activities for their daughters."
"Playing team sports, especially the more strenuous ones, really makes a difference in decreasing both boys' and girls' media use and making them more active," Anderson said. "It is a good idea for parents to adopt a positive attitude toward all types of vigorous physical activities for boys and girls and know that girls can and want to do them."
Read more at:http://www.apa.org/releases/parents-exercise.html

PBS National Rebroadcast in October

PBS will rebroadcast Unnatural Causes nationally on four Fridays at 10 PM beginning October 9, 2009. However, local PBS stations are free to run it when they wish.
You can contact Program or Viewer Services at your local PBS station and ask them if they will schedule the series at the PBS national feed or another time during October.
For a station directory, visit mediaengage.org For a press release you can forward to friends and colleagues publicizing the rebroadcast, go to http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/press_area.php

After hours Vaccination clinic -Portsmouth

Back to School After-hours Vaccination Clinics
Wednesday, August 12 4:30 - 6:30 pm
&
Thursday, August 20 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Portsmouth Health Department
1701 High Street
(Across from IC Norcom High School)
Please call 393-8585 ext. 8513
for more information.