New grant opportunity for opioid treatment

SAMHSA Announces Availability of $196 million for Opioid Treatment Grants to Hardest-Hit States and Tribes

SAMHSA is accepting applications for $196 million to treat opioid use disorder through its Targeted Capacity Expansion: Medication Assisted Treatment—Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction grant program. This funding will expand access to medication-assisted treatment and recovery support services for people with opioid use disorder. This grant program aims to increase the number of people receiving medication-assisted treatment for their opioid use disorder, leading to a decrease in heroin use and prescription opioid misuse. By funding treatment in states with the greatest need for additional treatment resources, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and SAMHSA aim to reduce the number of deaths related to opioid use.  Application Due Date: Monday, July 9, 2018 Learn More About the Funding

Utah Department of Public Safety Fair June 7th!

ASTHO/OMH Webinar: Multi-Sector Collaborations to Advance Health Equity

Webinar: Multi-Sector Collaborations to Advance Health Equity

Friday, June 15, 2018

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) developed the Introduction to Multi-Sector Intersections and Collaborations to Advance Health Equity report. The report highlights ways in which public health intersects with other governmental sectors (i.e. agriculture, economy, education, environment, housing, justice, and transportation) can address the social determinants of health and promote optimal health for all. State and local public health officials can utilize this document to inform effective approaches to developing partnerships, both within and outside of government, and across health and non-health sectors, to improve health outcomes of racial and ethnic minority populations and address health disparities.

ASTHO will host this webinar with support from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH). Any sector interested in partnering with governmental public health to advance health equity is invited to register here.

Objectives for this conversation:

• Describe federal leadership on state/regional health equity initiatives
• Provide specific examples from Massachusetts and Virginia of how state health agencies have engaged in multisector partnership to advance health equity
• Describe the new tool for health equity developed by ASTHO and HHS OMH

Speakers:

• Mary Ann Cooney, MPH, MSN, Chief, Center for Population Health Strategies, ASTHO
• Shavon Arline-Bradley, MPH, MDiv, Senior Technical Advisor, National Partnership to End Health Disparities, Office of Minority Health, US Department of Health and Human Services
• Karen Reed, MA, Director, Division of Multicultural Health & Community Engagement, Virginia Department of Health, Office of Health Equity
• Ben Wood, MPH, Director, Office of Community Health Planning and Engagement, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

We hope you will join this discussion! Please contact mlewis@astho.org with questions or comments, and we hope to speak with you soon.

We Need Your Input!

Every year the Utah Department of Health, Division of Family Health and Preparedness submits an application for federal Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant funds. Public input is a valued part of the annual MCH Block Grant application process. The proposed program activities related to the annual health goals for FY 2019 are now available for review and comment. The proposed activities are listed at the following link:

https://www.health.utah.gov/westt/mchblock

RWJF Funding Opportunity

Access to healthy, affordable foods and beverages is essential to help all children grow up at a healthy weight. As advocates, decision-makers, and policymakers create policies and programs to promote the well-being of children, it is important to provide them with a body of evidence that shows the best approaches and strategies to improve children’s nutrition habits, dietary intake, and weight status.     

Healthy Eating Research, an RWJF national research program, is funding $2.6 million toward research on actions and strategies that will help improve children’s physical, social, and emotional development through the consumption of healthy foods and beverages.

Proposals for studies that promote health equity and address disparities, such as high rates of overweight and obesity experienced by children from low-income rural and urban communities and racial and ethnic minority populations, will be prioritized.

Learn more about eligibility and an informational webinar >

New Oral Health Infographic from Healthy People 2020

Utah's Annual Juneteenth Festival

More into at http://projectsuccessinc.org/

Join NLBHA for a webinar on Advancing Health Care for Multicultural Populations

Join NLBHA for a webinar on Advancing Health Care for Multicultural Populations

When: May 30, 2018 @ 1:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Click to Register

Despite decades of disparities research, racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare persist. National data and research findings will inform and bring attention to critical issues that can help advance healthcare for multicultural populations.

Margarita Alegría Professor @Department of Medicine & Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Chief @Disparities Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Since 2004, Alegría has been a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, obtaining a dual appointment in the Department of Medicine in 2016. For 14 years prior, Alegría served as a Professor in the Graduate School of Public Health and as the Director of the Center for Evaluation and Sociomedical Research at the University of Puerto Rico. In the summer of 2015, she became the Chief of the Disparities Research Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital (formerly the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research at Cambridge Health Alliance, 2002-2015). Alegría’s research focuses on the improvement of health care services delivery for diverse racial and ethnic populations, conceptual and methodological issues with multicultural populations, and ways to bring the community’s perspective into the design and implementation of health services. In October 2011, she was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in acknowledgement of her scientific contributions to her field. She has also been a recipient of notable awards, such as the Mental Health Section Award by the American Public Health Association (2003), the Health Disparities Innovation Award by the National Institutes of Minority Health (2008), and the Simone Bolivar Award by the American Psychiatry Association (2009).

Older Veteran Behavioral Health Resource Inventory

The Office of Minority Health is part of the Interagency Partnership on Aging Veterans and Mental Health, and is pleased the share the release of a new resource guide on behavioral health for older veterans. Please feel free to share this guide with your networks.

The resource inventory is attached and also posted at VA Community Provider Toolkit website: https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/communityproviders/itf.asp

National Women's Health Week May 13-19

National Women’s Health Weekbegins on Mother’s Day each year. It is a reminder to women to take care of themselves and to make their health a priority.

Learn steps you can take for better health

To improve your physical and mental health, you can:

• Visit a doctor or nurse for a well-woman visit (checkup) and preventive screenings.
• Get active.
• Eat healthy.
• Pay attention to mental health, including getting enough sleep and managing stress. Learn about depression among women.
• Avoid unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, texting while driving, and not wearing a a seatbelt or bicycle helmet.

March of Dimes March for Babies event: Saturday, May 19 at Sugarhouse Park in SLC

Health Choice Utah hosting a community networking session: Connect the Dots in Tooele County

Get Healthy Utah job opportunity

Reason to Hope Alzheimer's Research Symposium Series

Communications Solutions for Populations Living with Disabilities

Mountain States RHEC Health Equity Webinar: Accessible Communications

  DATE: May 16, 2018

TIME: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time

MODERATOR:
Karl Cooper, JD, Director of Public Health Programs, American Association on Health and Disability

SPEAKERS:
Ian Shipps, Esq., Supervisory Equal Opportunity Specialist, Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Health and Human Services
Rachel Tanenhaus, ADA Coordinator/Executive Director, Cambridge Commission for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD)
Meg Ann Traci, PhD, and Helen Russette, University of Montana Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
Allison Hoit Tubbs, Project Coordinator, National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability

This webinar will outline cross-cutting strategies that can support more inclusive and accessible approaches to implementing Healthy Communications and Health Information Technology (HCHIT). Presenters will share ways to engage the disability community to meet the needs and preferences of people living with disabilities, and they will provide an overview of progress on related objectives among people with disabilities. They also will provide an overview of tools supporting civil rights of persons with disabilities that can be used to further HCHIT goals and objectives. Attendees will be able to:

Access Information on HP2020 HCHIT Goal and Objectives;

1. Describe health disparities experienced by people with disabilities;
2. List different types of disabilities a person may have and how the experience of different disabilities has led to the development of different health communication solutions;
3. Explain how health communications and HIT can address these disparities;
4. List federal laws that protect the civil rights of persons with disabilities;
5. Recall how to find websites on federal laws and how they apply to health communications work;
6. Employ several strategies to include persons with disabilities in the planning and implementation of health communications and HIT activities; and
7. Describe examples of how inclusion of persons with disabilities in health communications improves outcomes for a broader population.

Register here: https://explorepsa.adobeconnect.com/mountainstates_may2018/event/event_info.html

Upcoming Webinars: BRFSS and Caregiving

May 8: Data Sources for Older Adults’ Health  Join the Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Aging Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday, May 8 from 12:00 to 1:30 pm ET for an interactive webinar on available data sources for older adults’ health. An overview of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), focusing on descriptions of both the Cognitive and Caregiver Modules, and examples of previous analyses will be provided. This webinar will also highlight the CDC Healthy Aging Data Portal, a free online data query system, which allows access to statistics related to the health of older adults produced from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Please register in advance. May 17: “Family” Caregiving: The Frontline of Dementia Care  Nearly half of all caregivers who provide help to older adults do so for someone living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. Who are these caregivers? What challenges do they face as Alzheimer’s progressively undermines cognitive and physical function?  And, what can state public health agencies do to support both the caregiver and the person living with dementia? Join the Alzheimer’s Association on Thursday, May 17 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm ET for an interactive webinar on caregiving for people living with dementia and ways that state public health can support both populations. Please register in advance. The care provided by Alzheimer’s caregivers — whether family, friends, or neighbors — is often long, involved, and intimate. Erin Bouldin, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Appalachian State University will offer insights from analyses of 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Caregiver Module data from 19 states (including New York) and the District of Columbia. Representing a substantial investment in dementia caregiving, the Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiver Support Initiative (ADCSI) is a five-year, evidence-informed initiative by the New York State Department of Health. David Hoffman, DPS, CCE, Bureau Director, will explain the department’s rationale for the initiative and its primary components. Webinar participants will then learn what the ADCSI system accomplished during its first year based on the evaluation led by Mary Gallant, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor, University at Albany School of Public Health. Be sure to register online, mark your calendars for this national event for Older Americans Month, and forward this message to any interested colleagues.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Month 2018

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month - a celebration for Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. This month, the Office of Minority Health (OMH) will take a closer look at the health disparities that affect Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, and share tools and resources to build awareness about improving health outcomes. Visit the Office of Minority of Health AAPI Heritage Month web page to learn more.