Weekly Insider Jul 03-Jul 09 2007

The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools Weekly Insider is a web-enhanced newsletter that offers news alerts, grant announcements and general web site updates delivered directly to your email box on a weekly basis. The Center is located at the School of Public Health and Health Services at The George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.



New this month at the Center

  • June/July E-journal
    -- Tobacco Still Biggest Health Threat for Kids
    -- School Wellness Policies and the Fight on Childhood Obesity
    --'Connecting with the Younger Demographic' Digital Food Ads Target Children, Teens
    -- It's Effective, But Is It Safe? Debating FDA's Rules on Drugs

  • The Center is pleased to announce the promotion of Olga Acosta Price to Co-Director for the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools. Dr. Price led the successful launch of the Caring Across Communities grant program, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support school-connected mental health programs for underserved young people. She will join Julia Graham Lear, Center director, in researching and writing about new school-based strategies to promote children's well-being.

  • More than 800 members of the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC) convened in Washington June 28 – 30 to lobby Congress for federal support to school-based health centers and hear Marion Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, make the case for strong school and community-based health centers in every school across the country.

    Prior to the annual conference, two important pieces of legislation were introduced in Congress: S600, the School-Based Health Clinic Establishment Act authorizes a federal grant program to support the centers; the Healthy Schools Act of 2007, S 1669, also introduced in the Senate, ensures development of procedures to guarantee payment by Medicaid and SCHIP for services provided to their beneficiaries. Congratulations to the Assembly and the state associations for school-based health centers for their hard work and great success.


    The Center exhibits at NASBHC

 
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New resources

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Important topics

July 10-14 is National Youth Sports Week

Many children are staying home alone over the summer while their parents are at work . Here are some tips for keeping your kids safe during the day.

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Upcoming meetings

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Previously posted meetings

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Job opportunities

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Grant alerts

The Health Trust -- Good Samaritan Grants (Santa Clara and Northern San Benito Counties, CA) (Deadline: 8/01/07; Letter of Inquiry)
The Health Trust is accepting applications for its Good Samaritan Grants program. The purpose of the program is to support short-term, grass roots health, prevention, and wellness services and/or health education for underserved populations in Santa Clara County and Northern San Benito, California, especially evidence-based environmental approaches to obesity prevention and other wellness-oriented activities/services.

The Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation -- Evaluation Grants (Deadline: 8/01/07)
The Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation is accepting applications for its Evaluation Grants program. The purpose of the program is to support the evaluation of innovative youth programs run by nonprofit organizations with operating budgets of less than $5 million that help youth reach their full potential.

Open Meadows Foundation -- Women and Girls Grant Program (Deadline: 8/15/07)
The Open Meadows Foundation is accepting applications for its Women and Girls Grant program. The purpose of this program is to support small and start-up organizations designed and implemented by women and girls that promote building community power and racial, social, economic, and environmental justice.

Union Pacific Foundation -- Community-Based Grant Program (Deadline: 8/15/07)
The Union Pacific Foundation is accepting applications for its Community-Based Grant Program. The purpose of this program is to promote organizational effectiveness among nonprofit organizations by increasing their capacity, impact, and operational effectiveness and efficiency, especially those that focus on community and civic, fine arts, and health and human service activities. 

Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine -- Student Research Grant (Deadline: 8/31/07)
The Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) is accepting application for its Student Research Grant. The purpose of this grant is to provide graduate students a stipend for research in epidemiology, biomechanics, and other areas relevant to automotive medicine and to have the research findings presented by the graduate student at the 2009 AAAM annual scientific conference.

Ronald McDonald House Charities -- Children's Health Grant (Deadline: 8/31/07; Letter of Inquiry)
Ronald McDonald House Charities is accepting applications for its Children’s Health Grant program to support projects that directly improve the health and well-being of children (ages 0-21), address a significant funding gap or critical opportunity, have a potential long-term impact, and produces measurable results.

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News alerts

New Guidelines for Chicken Pox Vaccination 
It was the last of the common childhood diseases to be prevented by vaccination, and since a varicella vaccine was introduced in 1995, there has been a marked reduction from the estimated 4 million cases of chicken pox that occurred annually in the United States. Initially recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for administration to healthy children aged up to 12 months, and to previously unvaccinated adolescents and adults, the vaccine seemed to be highly effective, but increasing reports of outbreaks of chicken pox among highly vaccinated populations have caused the ACIP to upgrade its recommendations. 

Congress Will Consider Extending SCHIP
As the U.S. Congress returns from a Fourth of July break and settles down for the July/August session, major debate is expected on whether to continue and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides health insurance to children in families too poor to buy private insurance but too well off to be on Medicaid.

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New resources

The Oregon Center for Applied Science, with support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, has produced a Teacher's Resource Guide to be used with HealthComm, Inc.’s Bike Smart and Walk Smart CD-ROM programs. The interactive activity guide can be downloaded at http://www.hcimarketplace.com/bike_walk/pdf/activity_guide.pdf

The July 6 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes a Compendium of Measures to Prevent Disease Associated with Animals in Public Settings, 2007. The compendium includes an appendix called Guidelines for Animals in School Settings and can be downloaded at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5605a5.htm

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Job opportunities

The University of Illinois, Healthy Youths Program -- Program Coordinator (Chicago, IL)
The Program Coordinator will manage 2 research projects dedicated to studying HIV, substance abuse and mental health among gay, lesbian and transgender youth. He or she must have experience directing research projects in a university setting and be able to oversee research protocol development, hiring, data collection and analysis and ensuring that the projects align with stated specific aims. For more information and to apply for this position, please visit http://cfusion.sph.emory.edu/PHEC/JobDetails.cfm?JobID=19685.

The New School -- Health Educator (New York, NY)
The Health Educator will work with the Student Health Services program to help maintain a student health program at a satellite office in the department of Student Development and Activities. The Health Educator will develop and implement a marketing campaign addressing mental health, nutrition, weight management and eating disorders and exercise. He or she will also direct the Peer Health Advocacy Program. For more information and to apply for this position, please visit http://www.idealist.org/if/idealist/en/SiteIndex/AssetViewer/view?asset=
Job&asset-id=229506-216&keywords=school&keywords=health&sid=99970015-66-qqC

The Food Trust -- Project Coordinator (Philadelphia, PA)
The Project Coordinator will lead school-based nutrition education and access programs in 4 public schools in Philadelphia. He or she will develop relationships with school staff, teachers and principals, implement school-wide education activities and events, caregiver workshops, train new employees and supervise the activities of 3 Program Associates. For more information and to apply for this position, please visit http://www.thefoodtrust.org/pdf/Project%20Coordinator%20_0407.pdf.