GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: The Partnership Center Newsletter

The Partnership Center Newsletter

U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services sent this bulletin at 10/25/2012 02:22 PM EDT

Inside:

October 25, 2012 Edition
Dear Partners:
Suicide claims the lives of 100 Americans each day on average, and even more Americans consider or attempt suicide. A recent study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that more than eight million American adults experienced serious thoughts of suicide within the past 12 months. Suicide is a public health issue that touches the lives of millions of people across the nation, and each of us has a role to play in preventing this tragedy in our own communities.
The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and the U.S. Surgeon General, with support from SAMHSA and other federal agencies, released the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention on September 10, 2012. In this joint effort between the public and private sectors, the revised Strategy presents research, resources, and goals to help guide individuals, communities, federal, state, and local governments in preventing suicide across the United States.
The National Strategy for Suicide Prevention provides a comprehensive, long-term approach to put research into practice. It offers action steps to prevent suicidal behavior, addresses the needs of those receiving care for suicidal behavior, and ensures care after a person is treated for suicidal behavior. It outlines methods for the following groups to implement prevention strategies across this continuum of care:

Federal government
State, territorial, tribal, and local governments
Businesses and employers
Health care organizations
Schools, colleges, and universities
Nonprofit, community, and faith-based organizations
Individuals and families

As members of the faith-based community, you often come into contact with individuals or families in distress, and you can play a distinct role in suicide prevention. Evidence shows that people may feel more comfortable with their cleric than a therapist. Religious counseling does not have the negative connotations and affordability issues that some people have associated with mental health care.
In order to help someone who might be contemplating suicide, you are encouraged to recognize the warning signs of suicide; be prepared to ask difficult questions; know when to ask for help from health care professionals; and know what resources are available to help those in emotional distress. To help you in these conversations, SAMHSA developed “The Role of Clergy in Preventing Suicide,” a suicide prevention toolkit specifically targeted to members of the faith-based community.
We encourage you to read the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and download the SAMHSA toolkit to learn more about the unique role you can play in suicide prevention in your community. Many resources are available to educate people on suicide prevention and how to help a person in crisis, including the SAMHSA website at www.samhsa.gov; the Action Alliance website at ActionAllianceForSuicidePrevention.org; the Suicide Prevention Resource Center at www.sprc.org; and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at www.SuicidePreventionLifeline.org or 1-800-273-TALK/8255.
For information on the warning signs of suicide: SuicidePreventionLifeline.org/GetHelp/SuicideWarningSigns.aspx.
To download “The Role of Clergy in Preventing Suicide”: www.sprc.org/sites/sprc.org/files/library/Clergy.pdf.

Sincerely,
Dr. Regina Benjamin, Surgeon General of the United States
Pamela Hyde, Administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Featured Update

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast cancer touches the lives of Americans from every background and in every community across our Nation. Though we have made great strides in combating this devastating illness, more than 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and tens of thousands are expected to lose their lives to the disease. During National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we honor those we have lost, lend our strength to those who carry on the fight, and pledge to educate ourselves and our loved ones about this tragic disease.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, many health plans are required to cover mammograms and other recommended cancer screenings without co-pays or deductibles. Starting in 2014, it will also ensure that no American can be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition -- including breast cancer.
In addition, as HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius writes, “Under the health care law, other services to help prevent breast cancer are also covered, such as a well-woman visit – at no additional cost– so women have the opportunity to talk to their doctor about their health care needs, their personal risk for breast cancer, and their best options to reduce their risk. The Affordable Care Act gives women, not insurance companies or the government, control over their health care.”
Click here to read HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ full Statement on Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To learn more about breast cancer and cancer screenings without copays or deductibles, go to www.Cancer.gov and www.HealthCare.gov.

Medicare Open Enrollment Begins October 15

Medicare Open Enrollment runs from October 15 through December 7. Now is the time for beneficiaries to compare plans and make sure they have the right health and prescription drug coverage. Stay with your current plan if you are happy with it. Or look for a new one with better coverage, higher quality, and lower cost.
To review and compare plans, get answers to your questions and learn where to get further help near you, visit www.medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048).

Text4Baby E-Newsletter

Text4Baby is a free texting service to help pregnant and parenting moms with health tips and information on free or low-cost health insurance. Text4Baby has a new weekly e-newsletter, Text4Baby Tuesday. The newsletter provides important news and resources for partners. To sign up for the newsletter, please fill out this short form. To learn more about Text4Baby, go to www.Text4Baby.org. To sign up for free Text4Baby texts, text BABY to 511411. Spanish speakers can text BEBE to 511411 for Spanish language texts.

October is National Domestic Violence Prevention Month

One in four women and one in five teen girls in the United States report experiencing physical and/or sexual partner violence. Injuries due to domestic violence increase the risk for asthma, cancer, hypertension, depression, substance abuse and poor reproductive health outcomes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that $4.1 billion is spent each year on direct medical and mental health care services as a result of intimate partner violence (IPV).
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is committed to violence prevention with a variety of grantee activities. For example:

The Bureau of Primary Health Care’s (BPHC) Health Care for the Homeless grantees train medical providers to identify past and current exposure to violence among child and adult patients. Protocols and procedures are in place where they identify abuse, neglect, and violence. They also provide small pocket cards with a free domestic violence hotline, 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s (MCHB) State and Community Intimate Partner Violence and Perinatal Depression Projectoffers a series of pre-recorded webinars based on topics in the Toolkit that will be released soon, A Comprehensive Community-Based Approach to Addressing Intimate Partner Violence and Perinatal Depression.

Please see the Upcoming Events section for two webinars HRSA is sponsoring later this month on domestic violence prevention.
In addition, a newly launched National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities interactive website (www.nationallatinonetwork.org) has been created to address domestic violence. It is committed to providing timely and relevant information and resources to people working to prevent and eliminate domestic violence within Latin@ communities.
The English/Spanish bilingual site features a resource library; public policy updates and action alerts; informative videos; training opportunities; and a blog among other culturally-specific information. Advocates, organizers, practitioners, social workers, judges, activists, youth workers, and anyone working to promote safe and healthy Latin@ families and communities will find the site useful.

Let’s Move Faith and Communities Clearinghouse of Best Practices and Resources!

The Let’s Move Faith and Communities Clearinghouse of Best Practices and Resources provides government and community resources that you can use in your efforts to combat obesity within your communities, as well as examples of successful and replicable community efforts created and implemented by people like you! From “No Fry Zones,” created by a Pastor in Mississippi to promote healthy eating in his church, to Fair Food Network’s efforts to increase access to healthy food for low-income families, this clearinghouse highlights the best of the best in our communities− and we are excited to share it with you! Please take some time to explore our site, which organizes the resources into four focus areas:
-Wellness Leadership
-Healthy Eating
-Access to Healthy, Affordable Food
-Physical Activity

Upcoming Events

Let’s Move Faith and Communities Webinar

November 29, 2:00 pm ET – Make Your Community a Source of Health and Wellness
Join this Let’s Move Faith and Communities webinar to learn about the role of faith and community organizations as catalysts for health and wellness, and hear from faith leaders as they share how they have successfully established programs for healthy living in their communities.
Sue Heitmuller, Manager of Health Ministry and Community Benefits for Adventist HealthCare, will offer thoughts on the important role of health in faith settings and provide an overview on how to develop health leadership in your community. The presentation will be followed by a Question & Answer session.
Please register to join us! If you have any questions, please email us at partnerships@hhs.gov or call 202-358-3595. To sign up for Let’s Move Faith and Communities, click here.

Addressing Domestic Violence in Home Visitation Settings – Screening, Assessment, & Safety Planning

Monday, October 29, 2:00-3:30 pm ET
The webinarwill highlight successes/challenges for assessment with clients, limits of confidentiality prior to screening, how to use an evidence-based toolkit to screen clients, and action steps in safety planning. To register, click here. For more information, contact Tarsha Cavanaugh, tcavanaugh@hrsa.gov or Morrisa Rice, mrice@hrsa.gov.
For a list of helpful resources on domestic violence, contact Morrisa Rice (mrice@hrsa.gov) or Tarsha Cavanaugh (tcavanaugh@hrsa.gov).

Grant Opportunities

As always, the final section of our newsletter includes an updated grants listing that faith-based and community nonprofits can pursue. All of these grant programs are competitive. It is important to review the funding announcement thoroughly to ensure that the grant opportunity is one that is appropriate to your organization’s mission, size, and scope.

Grants Listings

Title: Social and Behavioral Interventions to Increase Solid Organ Donation
Description: The overall goal of this grant program is to: (1) reduce the gap between the demand for organ transplants and the supply of organs from deceased donors by identifying successful strategies that can serve as model interventions to increase deceased organ donation and, (2) increase the knowledge of options available through living donation among patients who may need transplants and/or individuals considering serving as a living donor.
Eligibility: Eligible applicants include nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status and faith-based or community-based organizations.
Link to Full Announcement: Link to Full Announcement
Last Day to Apply: November 30, 2012
Grant is administered by the: Health Resources and Services Administration

Title: Advancing Community-level Approaches to Reduce HIV Infection in Highly Impacted Communities
Description: This award seeks research to advance our understanding of community-level HIV-prevention and care interventions within geographic locations and specific populations highly impacted by HIV. These interventions can target communities highly impacted by HIV based on geographic, social, or demographic criteria. Structural interventions and systemic interventions are encouraged. The goal is to lower HIV infections and HIV viral load at a community-level by changing individual behaviors via cost-effective and sustainable means.
Eligibility: Eligible applicants include nonprofits that have or do not have a 501(c)(3) status and faith-based or community-based organizations.
Link to Full Announcement: Link to Full Announcement
Last Day to Apply: January 11, 2013
Grant is administered by the: National Institutes of Health

Title: Obesity Policy Research: Evaluation and Measures
Description: The overarching goal of this FOA is to inform public policy and research relevant to (1) diet and physical activity behavior, and (2) weight and health outcomes of Americans. This grant opportunity encourages applicants to: (1) conduct evaluation research on obesity-related natural experiments (defined here as community and other population-level public policy interventions that may affect diet and physical activity behavior), and/or (2) develop and/or validate relevant community-level measures (instruments and methodologies to assess the food and physical activity environments at the community level).
Eligibility: Non-profit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status are encouraged to apply. The opportunity is also available to various governmental entities, local organizations, for-profit groups and small businesses.
Link to Full Announcement: Link to Full Announcement
Last Day to Apply: February 7, 2013
Grant is administered by the: National Institutes of Health

Title: Academic-Community Partnership Conference Series
Description: The purpose of this grant opportunity is to bring together academic institutions/organizations and community organizations to identify opportunities for addressing health disparities through the use of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). The objectives of meetings conducted as part of this award will be to: (1) establish and/or enhance academic-community partnerships; (2) identify community-driven research priorities, and (3) develop long-term collaborative CBPR research agendas.
Eligibility: Non-profit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status are encouraged to apply. The opportunity is also available to various governmental entities, local organizations, for-profit groups and small businesses.
Link to Full Announcement: Link to Full Announcement
Last Day to Apply: October 17, 2014
Grant is administered by the: National Institutes of Health