Utah Department of Health Office of Health Disparities
The Connection: News about overcoming health disparities in Utah

Monday, January 29, 2018

PCN Opens Enrollment in February


New Medicare Card

In April 2018 we’ll begin mailing new Medicare cards with new Medicare Numbers.
 
Wondering what’s different? Your new card will have a new Medicare Number that’s unique to you, instead of your Social Security Number. That’s just one way we’re working to protect your identity.

3 things you need to know about your new Medicare card

  • Your new card will automatically come to you. You don’t need to do anything.
  • Your Medicare coverage and benefits will stay the same.
  • Your new card is free—there’s no charge for it.

Visit 
Medicare.gov to find out more about your new Medicare card.



2018-2019 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding

News Release
January 17, 2018
Contact:  Karen Wiley
385-468-4870
TTY - 711

NOTICE OF 2018-2019 GRANT APPLICATIONS
FOR CDBG HARD COSTS – ROUND TWO

WHAT:          Salt Lake Urban County is opening a second round of applications for the 2018-2019 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding.

WHEN:          Applications will be available beginning Thursday, January 18, 2018

WHERE:       The Applications will be accepted through ZoomGrantsTM an online grant management system. 

                        A Federal Grant Application Handbook will be available on the County website at www.slco.org/hcd to assist applicants through the process as well as the link for ZoomGrantsTM for the applications

The Salt Lake County Division of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is releasing a second round of applications for the Community Development Block Grant Program Hard Cost Activities on Thursday, January 18, 2018.  These funds are through the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.

PRIORITY FOR THESE FUNDS INCLUDE:
  • Land Acquisition for Affordable Housing Development Projects
  • Housing Programs (Housing Rehabilitation, Substantial Rehabilitation and Homeownership)
  • Acquisition of Homeless Facilities
  • Public Infrastructure to support Homeless Facility Placement

Applications will be accepted via ZoomGrantsTM the County’s online grant management system.

A Federal Grant Application Handbook is available on the County website at www.slco.org/hcd to assist applicants through the process as well as the link for ZoomGrantsTM for the applications.


The County will be providing technical assistance to agencies needing assistance with the applications for this program.  You can contact Karen Wiley at kwiley@slco.org or Amanda Cordova at alcordove@slco.org.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodations (including auxiliary communicative aids and services or alternate formats) for individuals with disabilities may be provided upon receipt of a request with five working days’ notice. To expedite accommodation requests and coordination, call 385-468-4900 or 385-468-4893.  TTY user’s: 711

Completed applications must be submitted via ZoomGrantsTM by 5:00 pm MST on
Friday, February 9th, 2018

Hard copy applications will not be accepted

Late applications will not be accepted

-slco-
Header ImageASTHO, with support from the HHS Office of Minority Health, will host a webinar for public health professionals involved in programming to advance health equity or in the grant-making process.
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) developed a guide for integrating health equity language into funding announcements. The guide is meant to serve as a resource for state health agencies considering incorporating health equity requirements into their funding announcements. The document includes a brief glossary of common health equity terms, several examples of state and federal agencies that have incorporated health equity requirements in their strategic plans and RFPs, and a template of suggested language that states can include in their FOAs. These tools will be useful for any organization or agency seeking to advance health equity through grant programs.
Objectives for this webinar are to:
*Describe federal leadership on state/regional health equity initiatives;
*Provide specific examples of how a state health agency has incorporated health equity language into its funding announcements; and
*Describe the new tool for health equity developed by ASTHO and the HHS Office of Minority Health. 
February 20, 2018
Tuesday2:00 pm to 3:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

For more information and to register:

RWJF – National Civic League Health Equity Award

The National Civic League will be accepting applications until April 1 for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – National Civic League Health Equity Award.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – National Civic League Health Equity Award
The Award recognizes and honors individuals that have successfully implemented a systems change approach that leverages engagement to improve health outcomes for those most impacted by health disparities. It often takes a community or multiple groups to bring about systemic change. This Award celebrates those individuals who are leading the charge in helping to create a culture of health in their communities.

In addition to the $3,000 prize (to be spent in whatever way the winner wishes), winners will receive national recognition at the National Civic League’s annual All-America City Award and an invitation to participate in Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s yearly Health Equity Award annual learning and recognition event.

Please share information about the award (and how one can apply) with those you think might be interested, so that as many people as possible have a chance to apply for and win it. 

For more information, interested applicants can visit our site: http://www.nationalcivicleague.org/rwjf-ncl-health-equity-award/

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Select 25 Grant Call for Submissions


SelectHealth is pleased to announce they are taking submissions for the 2018 Select 25 grant. Each year, SelectHealth recognizes 25 organizations or individuals who are making Utah healthier or serving those with special needs with a $2,500 grant.

Select 25 has become a signature event for SelectHealth and allows them to give back to those who are working to improve the health of our communities. In addition to receiving $2,500, each grant recipient receives materials that can assist them in their fundraising efforts.

Submissions will be accepted through March 1, 2018. You can learn more by visiting select25.org.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Job opportunities at the Utah Department of Health

Medical Assistant/Medical Clerk - Breast and Cervical Cancer Program
$13.55 - $23.95

This is a full-time, career service position with benefits.
Requisition #   14637
Closes:   01/29/2018 at 11:59 pm MST 

In order to be considered for an interview for these positions, you will need to apply on-line at https://statejobs.utah.gov.  If you have not done so already, you will need to create a job seeker account.    

______________________________________________

NURSE PRACTITIONER 
$40.00 - 49.02

This is a full-time, career service position with benefits.
Requisition #   14731
Closes:   02/08/2018 at 11:59 pm MST 

In order to be considered for an interview for these positions, you will need to apply on-line at https://statejobs.utah.gov.  If you have not done so already, you will need to create a job seeker account. 

Monday, January 22, 2018

Give Kids a Smile Free Dental Screening and Cleanings


March of Dimes 2018 Community Grant RFP Announcement- Deadline: February 2, 2018


Help Me Grow Networking Breakfast


Help Me Grow Utah Presents
January 2018 Networking Breakfast

Don't forget to RSVP...


will be hosting our upcoming Salt Lake County Networking Breakfast.
 
WhenTuesday, January 30th
Time8:30 am - 10:00 am
LocationShriners Hospital for Children
Boardroom

Help Me Grow Utah presents:
The mission of the Integrated Services Program is to assist families of children and youth who have special health care needs with coordinated care planning, education and resources in order for them to make informed decisions.

Program Manager, Eric Christensen, will share with us successes the program has had, typical situations they can provide support for, and how you can connect families throughout the state in with their specialized care coordination.


A light breakfast will be served. Click here to view the agenda.
Please bring any outreach materials to share at our community table to help spread the word about your programs.
Share this invitation!
Our Networking Breakfasts are open to all helping professionals, if you know someone who should be on our email list, please send their information to: 

HHS Announces New Conscience and Religious Freedom Division


On Thursday, January 18, 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the formation of a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division in the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR).  Speakers included Acting Secretary Eric D. Hargan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Representative Vicky Hartzler, Senator James Lankford, OCR Director Roger Severino, and special guests.
The Conscience and Religious Freedom Division has been established to restore federal enforcement of our nation’s laws that protect the fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious freedom.  OCR is the law enforcement agency within HHS that enforces federal laws protecting civil rights and conscience in health and human services, and the security and privacy of people’s health information.  The creation of the new division will provide HHS with the focus it needs to more vigorously and effectively enforce existing laws protecting the rights of conscience and religious freedom, the first freedom protected in the Bill of Rights.
OCR already has enforcement authority over federal conscience protection statutes, such as the Church, Coats-Snowe, and Weldon Amendments; Section 1553 of the Affordable Care Act (on assisted suicide); and certain federal nondiscrimination laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion in a variety of HHS programs. 
OCR Director Severino said, “Laws protecting religious freedom and conscience rights are just empty words on paper if they aren’t enforced. No one should be forced to choose between helping sick people and living by one’s deepest moral or religious convictions, and the new division will help guarantee that victims of unlawful discrimination find justice. For too long, governments big and small have treated conscience claims with hostility instead of protection, but change is coming and it begins here and now.”
Acting HHS Secretary Hargan said, “President Trump promised the American people that his administration would vigorously uphold the rights of conscience and religious freedom.  That promise is being kept today. The Founding Fathers knew that a nation that respects conscience rights is more diverse and more free, and OCR’s new division will help make that vision a reality.”
To learn more about the new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, visit us at www.hhs.gov/conscience.

To file a complaint with OCR based on a violation of civil rights, conscience or religious freedom, or health information privacy, visit us at https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/complaints.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Join the Webinar: Chickasaw Nation Tackles the Opioid Epidemic


Chickasaw Nation Tackles Opioid EpidemicDATE: Thursday, January 25, 2018
TIME: 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

MODERATORTom Anderson (Cherokee), Director, Office for Advancement of American Indians in Medicine and Science, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, and Member, American Indian and Alaska Native NPA Caucus
SPEAKER: Miranda WillisStrategic Prevention Data Analyst/Tribal Liaison, Chickasaw Nation


Define Your Direction is a comprehensive prescription opioid abuse prevention movement created by the Chickasaw Nation using Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Southern Plains Tribal Health Board funding. In 2014, Oklahoma ranked 10th in the nation for drug overdose deaths. From 2007 to 2015, more than 5,900 Oklahomans died of unintentional poisonings, with 75% of all of those deaths involving at least one prescription opioid. American Indians in Oklahoma have a higher unintentional poisoning death rate than any other racial or ethnic group in the state.

Define Your Direction utilizes multiple strategies aimed at increasing awareness, reducing access to drugs and alcohol, and preventing overdose deaths. The webinar, presented by the Office of Minority Health National Partnership for Action, will highlight the movement’s various components, challenges experienced during its development and implementation phases, and successes.


Click here for abstract and speaker biography: https://tinyurl.com/aianwebinarabstract-bio
The American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA) Caucus provides a forum for members to increase dialogue across the country and to coordinate and enhance tribal, state, and local efforts to address health disparities and the social determinants of health (SDOH) for AI/ANs.

Visit the AI/AN NPA Caucus website for more information: http://aian.npa-rhec.org/

CDC Immunization Conference

CDC’S in-person PINK BOOK COURSE 
  
Faculty from CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases will present a live, two-day comprehensive review of immunization principles, as well as vaccine-preventable diseases and the recommended vaccines to prevent them.   The course will feature the most up-to-date immunization information from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

 The course will be held on March 8-9, 2018 at the Viridian Event Center, 8030 S 1825 W, West Jordan, Utah.

 REGISTRATION IS ONLY $95
($75 for students)

 (Conference/Registration fee is payable by credit card online at our registration site.) 

Parking is free.  Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Register Now: Seating Is Limited. 


The last in-person Pink Book course offered in Utah was in 2011.  Take advantage of this course being offered by the CDC here locally!

 Any questions? Contact:   Stephanie Hart – stephanie.hart@upha.org or 385-468-4141

Continuing Education (CE) credits are available to a variety of healthcare professionals who attend the entire course and complete the required CE evaluation and post-test online by April 9, 2018. Detailed information and instructions will be provided at the course.

Friday, January 12, 2018

National League of Cities Web Forum

Building a ‘Culture of Health’ Starts With Equity and Race



In the United States, life expectancy can vary by more than 15 years for communities separated by a few miles, subway stops or zip codes. This gap stems from structural inequities that include biases based on race, gender, class and other social factors.

These structural inequities are deeply embedded into the fabric of society, resulting in systemic disadvantages that lead to unequal access to resources that determine the wellbeing of people and communities. These include the opportunity to have affordable housing, to live in safe neighborhoods, to get a good education and to secure jobs with a family-sustaining income.

The problem impacts the health of people of all socioeconomic status; it also affects the strength of our communities, our economy, our national security and our standing in the world.

Through the National League of Cities’ (NLC) on-going work with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to build a culture of health – working with mayors and city leaders to address the factors that influence how long we live and how well we live – we have a range of existing and emerging efforts that enable cities to work together to find solutions to tackle these pervasive challenges.

To hear from experts on race, equity and city solutions, join NLC’s web forum on January 17 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm EDT on Race, Equity and Health. You will hear about discrimination in America and its effects on health, as well as local partnerships and strategies to advance race equity and opportunity in cities. The goal of NLC’s work on race, equity and health is to better inform and identify ways we can more effectively engage each other in solutions.

Underscoring NLC’s work, RWJF, National Public Radio and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health released the findings of a poll late last year that examined the discrimination experienced by six major ethnic and racial groups in America today in order to build awareness about how people perceive discrimination amongst their respective ethnicities and races.

Findings indicate that the majority of Americans, including whites, think their own group faces discrimination. This includes life experience with systems – work, police, the courts, housing, healthcare, college, voting – and harassment in many facets of personal interactions. Money may not shield prosperous blacks from bigotry. Asian Americans report individual prejudice is a bigger problem than bias by government or laws and policies.

Roughly one third of Latino respondents experienced discrimination when looking for a home. This is especially important as clean, safe, affordable housing and neighborhoods could act as a vaccine for people’s health. Housing also affects access to high-quality education and the ability to get a good job. The silver lining is that Latinos in urban areas feel positive about what their local officials are doing for them. Sixty percent of Latinos feel their local government represents the views of people like them.

City leaders and agencies can serve as catalysts, conveners and partners to address systemic factors that perpetrate discrimination and unequal opportunity in their communities. The City of San Antonio played a vital role in attracting federal investments via the Promise Neighborhood grant from the U.S. Department of Education and Choice Neighborhood grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. In Indianapolis, the multi-racial organization IndyCAN catalyzes marginalized people and faith communities to collectively act for racial and economic equity. One example is the Ticket to Opportunity program, which organized a regional referendum to triple bus service in the city, addressing inadequate transit as a barrier to job opportunities.

Featured speakers at the Jan. 17 web forum include Dwayne Proctor, senior director to the president and director of the Achieving Health Equity Portfolio at RWJF; Edwin Revell, deputy director, and Chris Hatcher, urban design administrator in the Department of Planning Engineering & Permits for the City of Birmingham; and Brandy Kelly-Pryor, director of the Center for Health Equity at the Louisville Metro/Jefferson County Department of Public Health and Wellness in Kentucky. Click here to join the conversation.

RWJF: New funding opportunities

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Applications are now open for four of RWJF’s leadership development programs. These programs are helping build the leaders of tomorrow—leaders who share a commitment to ensuring everyone has the opportunity to live the healthiest life possible.
RWJF’s leadership development programs are designed to help you advance your leadership skills, and connect you with other innovators to advance big ideas and solutions.
  • Culture of Health Leaders: for people from all sectors—from leaders in technology and business to architects and urban planners.
  • Clinical Scholars: for clinicians from all disciplines, from occupational therapists and pharmacists to dentists and nurses.
  • Health Policy Research Scholars: for second-year doctoral students from all fields of study—from economics and political science to epidemiology and behavioral science.
  • Interdisciplinary Research Leaders: for researchers and community partners (e.g., organizers, advocates, leaders), particularly those working in rural health.
Participants in the programs will:
  • Receive high-caliber curriculum and coaching from national leaders.
  • Collaborate with other cutting-edge thinkers to create greater impact.
  • Accelerate their ability to build healthy communities, inform public opinion and policy, and contribute significantly to building a Culture of Health.
  • Receive funding to support their participation.
Participants work and learn from their home communities and would not need to relocate. Plus,the program is designed for people working or pursuing research full-time.
Are you ready to take a bold step forward and join us in building a Culture of Health? Start your application today!
If you’re not sure which program is right for you, explore the Program Finder and/or register to attend the applicant webinar on January 23, 2018, to learn more about all four programs.