The Sandwich Generation: Working and Caring for Family Members

The Sandwich Generation: Working and Caring for Family Members

Talking to employers about options to maintain employment and caregiving roles. More than 1 in 8 Americans are both raising a child and caring for a parent. They are known as the sandwich generation. Seven to 10 million adults are also caring for an aging parent who lives far away. For the sandwich generation, being proactive about the impact of caregiving on their job may help prevent job loss or performance issues. Working caregivers may find it helpful to talk to a supervisor about their job commitment and options to remain productive. Some caregivers may need to change an employment situation to fit in their caregiving role. Caregivers may consider talking to a supervisor about work options allowing the caregiver to maintain both their employment and caregiving roles.  These options could include the following: Having more flexible hours Reducing working hours Working from home Taking a leave of absence Downgrading to a less demanding job It’s no surprise that caregiving can take a toll on a person’s health. People giving care to both young and older family members report higher levels of depression, anxiety, and lower quality of life. Research has shown that 17% of these caregivers rate their health as “fair” or “poor” compared with 10% of non-caregivers. Among the 44 million unpaid caregivers to older adults in the United States, 75% are employed. The average employed caregiver works about 35 hours a week. For these employed caregivers, working with their supervisor to learn about available work options can help them take better care of themselves. Learn more useful tips for working caregivers. The work of the Healthy Brain Research Network of the Prevention Research Centers, part of CDC’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Aging Program, focuses on promoting cognitive health and addressing the needs of older Americans living with cognitive impairment and their caregivers. Learn more about the Prevention Research Centers, Healthy Brain Research Network and the healthy aging program and CDC’ s caregiving activities.

Centers for Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Adolescent Health Promotion Research

The goal of this FOA is to fund organizations to conduct, synthesize and translate research into practice for the prevention of teen pregnancy and promotion of adolescent health and in support of OAH’s priorities and mission.  Funded organizations will evaluate or assess best practices or evidence-based/evidence-informed approaches and make that information easily accessible to providers working with youth to prevent teen pregnancy.  OAH anticipates funding up to three cooperative agreements each with an annual budget of up to $500,000 for a three-year project period. To learn more, please visit the Open Grants page of the OAH website, orview the announcement on Grants.gov.

·        Letters of Intent – Due January 31, 2017

·        Applications – Due March 24, 2017

·        Technical Assistance Webinar for Potential Applicants – Tuesday, January 24 from 1:00-2:30pm ET

o   Call-in number: 1-888-566-7605, passcode 2340964

o   Net conference log-in:  https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join.php?i=PW2430151&p=2340964&t=c

Support for Expectant and Parenting Teens, Women, Fathers, and Their Families

The goal of this FOA is to fund States and Tribes for the development and implementation of programs for expectant and parenting teens, women, fathers, and their families to improve health and related educational, social, and economic outcomes. Funded grants will provide an integrated and seamless network of supportive services in multiple primary settings: high schools, community service centers, and Institutions of Higher Education (IHE). OAH anticipates funding up to 20 grants with an annual budget of $500,000 - $1,500,000 for a three-year project period. To learn more, please visit the Open Grants page of the OAH website, or view the announcement on Grants.gov.

·        Letters of Intent – Due January 31, 2017

·        Applications – Due March 24, 2017

·        Technical Assistance Webinar for Potential Applicants – Thursday, January 19, 2017 from 3:00-5:00pm ET

o   Call-in number: 1-800-857-4868, passcode 7877854

o   Net conference log-in:  https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join.php?i=PWXW1795167&p=7877854&t=c

Utah Leads States in ACA Signups

KUER.org

So far, Utah is at the top of the list for enrollees. 

Ninety thousand forty-two. That’s the number of people in Utah who signed up for insurance under the ACA so far this year. In fact, it represents the biggest increase of people enrolling of any state in the country, according to the Utah Health Policy Project. 

"We’re trying to figure out why so many Utahns are signing up this year when there’s so much turmoil and uncertainty this year," says Jason Stevenson. 

Stevenson works with the Salt Lake City group that helps sign residents up for insurance.

The most likely reason, of course, is that some Utahns are trying to make sure they have insurance before the incoming Trump Administration and a Republican controlled Congress consider a possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Stevenson also has another theory about the increase. With Utah having the highest percentage of kids signed up for the ACA of any state in the country, he believes parents are trying to make sure their families are covered before open enrollment ends.

"They’re being proactive, they’re signing up early and they’re locking in their insurance for 2017," Stevenson says. 

With a little over a month left before the final sign up date for a 2017 health plan, Stevenson expects the trend to continue. In the meantime, Governor Herbert and Utah Insurance Commissioner Todd Kiser have started working with Congress to lay out what they hope to keep from the health care law and what they plan to cut.

Understanding the Health Status of American Indians/Alaska Natives

New HHS Office of Minority Health and CDC Collaboration to Improve Understanding of the Health Status of American Indians and Alaska Natives

A new Intra-Agency agreement between the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will enhance a behavioral risk factor surveillance survey (BRFSS) to provide an improved understanding of the health status of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. As part of the CDC’s 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the CDC will conduct an oversampling in 11 states that have a higher proportion of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). 

The oversampling of AI/AN communities will increase understanding of health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, access to care and use of preventive services in the AI/AN population. Because of small sample sizes among American Indians and Alaska Natives, this information has typically been omitted from reports citing national health statistics. Data from the BRFSS oversample of American Indians and Alaska Natives will help public health officials tailor health promotion activities in these communities to achieve health equity. The survey is expected to be launched in early 2017.

Youth Risk Behavior Survey – Youth Online Update Released

Today, the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) released an updated version of Youth Online - a user-friendly data access application that allows you to view and analyze Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from1991 – 2015. Youth Online now contains national, state, and local data on two aspects of sexual orientation - sexual identity and sex of sexual contacts. Youth Online can be found at www.cdc.gov/yrbs.

YRBS Background:

The YRBS monitors six categories of priority health behaviors among high school students—behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors related to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection; unhealthy dietary behaviors; and physical inactivity—plus the prevalence of obesity and asthma.

Access Youth Online

 For more information about YRBS:

• Web site: www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs
• Phone: 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636)
• Email: nccddashinfo@cdc.gov

Utah is Nation’s Fastest-Growing State, Census Bureau Reports

Utah’s population crossed the 3.0 million mark as it became the nation’s fastest-growing state over the last year. Its population increased 2.0 percent to 3.1 million from July 1, 2015, to July 1, 2016, according to U.S. Census Bureau national and state population estimates released today.

“States in the South and West continued to lead in population growth,” said Ben Bolender, Chief of the Population Estimates Branch. “In 2016, 37.9 percent of the nation’s population lived in the South and 23.7 percent lived in the West.”

Following Utah, Nevada (2.0 percent), Idaho (1.8 percent), Florida (1.8 percent) and Washington (1.8 percent) saw the largest percentage increases in population.

North Dakota, which had been the fastest-growing state for the previous four years, mostly from people moving into the state, fell out of the top ten in growth due to a net outflow of migrants to other parts of the country. Its growth slowed from 2.3 percent in the previous year to 0.1 percent.

Nationally, the U.S. population grew by 0.7 percent to 323.1 million. Furthermore, the population of voting-age residents, adults age 18 and over, grew to 249.5 million, making up 77.2 percent of the population in 2016, an increase of 0.9 percent from 2015 (247.3 million).

Eight states lost population between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016, including Pennsylvania, New York and Wyoming, all three of which had grown the previous year. Illinois lost more people than any other state (-37,508).

Two states that had been losing population in the previous year, Maine and New Mexico, saw increases in population of 0.15 and 0.03 percent respectively.  

In addition to the population data for the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the new estimates show that Puerto Rico had an estimated population of 3.4 million, a decline from 3.5 million in 2015. Estimates of the components of population change (births, deaths, and migration) were also released today.

Read entire report.

National Minority Health Month 2017 Theme

We are pleased to announce the theme for National Minority Health Month 2017:
Bridging Health Equity Across Communities!

During National Minority Health Month, beginning April 1, 2017, the HHS Office of Minority Health will join with our partners in raising awareness about efforts across health, education, justice, housing, transportation and employment sectors to address the factors known as the social determinants of health – environmental, social and economic conditions that impact health. The HHS Office of Minority Health will continue to bridge efforts across the nation to help eliminate health disparities, accelerate health equity and build a stronger, healthier nation.

Visit the OMH website to learn more about National Minority Health Month, and sign up for theNational Minority Health Month topic on our email list to be notified when we post new tools and resources to support your #NMHM17 events and programs!