Reports Now Available by Chapter

Moving Forward in 2010 and Health Status by Race and Ethnicity 2010 are now available by chapter for the benefit of people with slower Internet connections or those who only wish to download certain sections of the reports.

Herriman Fire Demonstrates Need to Register Cell Phones with 911

When officials needed to evacuate thousands of Herriman residents endangered by wildfires on September 19, the Valley Emergency Communications Center (VECC), which administers 911, called the residents.  VECC has all the landline phone numbers of residents in its jurisdiction, but only has cell phone or voice over internet numbers of people who have registered them.  People without landlines or registered alternate numbers did not receive the call.

Photo courtesy of Cornelia Cannon and Connor Shutt

It is important to register your cell phone with 911 if you live or work in an area where a cell phone registry is offered by the local 911 service provider. 911 may be able to use this information to contact you during a large-scale emergency such as the Herriman fire. It may also help identify your location when you call 911 during a more isolated emergency, such as a heart attack or a crime at your residence or workplace.

Utah has a the second-highest proportion of people who use only cell phones instead of land lines.  Preliminary data from the Utah BRFSS suggest that cell phone-only households are even more prevalent among Utah minorities than statewide.

Here are the links to cell phone registries in some Utah areas.  Outside of these areas, contact your local fire department or local police station to learn how to register your cell phone.

Location	How to Register Your Cell Phone
Salt Lake City	www.slcalert.com.
Other parts of Salt Lake County	http://166.70.83.157:8080/voip/login.php
Beaver County	http://www.beaverutahsheriff.com/Forms/r911.html
Iron County	http://www.ironcounty.net/departments/EmergencyManagement/r911/registration_form.cfm
Washington County	https://washingtoncounty.onthealert.com/

New Asian Language Resources in the Multilingual Library

Chinese resources about kidney disease at http://health.utah.gov/cmh/multilinguallibrary/language/Chinese.htm#kidney
Korean website about accessing healthcare at  http://health.utah.gov/cmh/multilinguallibrary/language/Korean.htm#medical

Community Organizations Added to CMH Website

New community organizations have been added to our online Community Organization list, including Harambee African American Network, the Indian Walk-In Center, and the Pacific Islander Ethnic Network.

CDC Features now available on CMH Blog.

Check them out here.

Health Reforms Go into Effect TODAY affecting young adults, sick children and preventive care

Today, September 23 2010, is exactly six months since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became law. (This law is commonly referred to as the federal health reform law.) On this important day, several provisions of the law go into effect for the first time.  These reforms will make it easier for young adults and sick children to get health insurance. The law will forbid insurance companies from dropping coverage of enrollees because they became sick and encourage preventive care by requiring health insurance companies to offer many preventive services for free, without co-pays or deductibles.

Provisions Going Into Effect TODAY:

• Health plans that cover families must allow enrollees' children to stay on their parents' health insurance policies until they turn 26 years old, regardless of whether they are married, in school or financially dependent on their parents. See http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/youngadult/index.html for more information.
• Insurance companies may not deny coverage to children under the age of 19 due to a pre-existing condition.
• Most health plans are required to offer preventive services such as immunizations, screenings and well-child appointments without charging a copayment, co-insurance, or deductible. See  http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/preventive/index.html for more information.
• It is now illegal for insurance companies to search for an error, or other technical mistake, on a customer’s application after they become sick in order to deny payment for services. 
• The law sets up a way to appeal coverage determinations or claims to insurance companies and establishes an external review process.
• Insurance companies are prohibited from imposing lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits like hospital stays.
• Insurance companies’ use of annual dollar limits on the amount of insurance coverage a patient may receive are restricted for new plans in the individual market and all group plans. 

New York Times: Hospitals Focus on Diversity

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/nyregion/07hospital.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1

The CONNECTION converts to blog

The Center for Multicultural Health minority health newsletter, the CONNECTION, is now the Center for Multicultural Health blog.
The new format offers several new features for our readers:

• You can be notified of new CONNECTION articles and funding opportunities the moment they post by becoming a blog follower.
• You can interact with CMH and the rest of the Utah minority health community by adding your comments to CONNECTION posts.
• You can share posts with your networks by clicking the email, blog, twitter or facebook icons at the end of each post.
• You can find posts easily by date or by topic using the indices in the right-hand column.
• Do you prefer to get your news through facebook, twitter, or RSS feed?  Follow the CONNECTION through any of these venues.  Go to the right-hand column to "like" CMH or "join the conversation" with CMH.