Weekly Insider 29.04.2009

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 Resources
 
MindMatters, an Australian mental health initiative for secondary schools, uses a whole school approach to promoting mental health and aims to encourage the prevention and early intervention activities for mental health and wellbeing in secondary schools. Overall, the aim is to improve collaboration between families and schools to create an environment of positive mental health and wellbeing.

Exposure to Substance Use Prevention Messages and Substance Use among Adolescents: 2002 to 2007, , The National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, indicates that between 2002 and 2007 there was a decrease in the proportion of adolescents (12 to 17 years) that were exposed to drug or alcohol prevention messages.

The recently released publication,  Exploring the Links Between Family Strengths and Adolescent Outcomes,  from Child Trends, reports that family strengths are associated with significantly better outcomes from adolescents in low and high-income families.

New from the Center

On Thursday, May 21, 2pm EST the Center is sponsoring a webinar on Understanding the rise in suicide attempts in Latina teens. The webinar will examine the high rate of suicide attempts by adolescent Latinas in the US and what explains it.  The presenter will review research findings, theoretical explanations, and approaches to intervention with the teenagers and their families. To register, click here.

Caring Across Communities, a multi-site initiative addressing the mental health needs of children of immigrants and refugees, is managed by the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 15 sites across the U.S. are developing model mental health programs that engage schools, families, students, mental health agencies and other community organizations to build effective, culturally competent services for children and youth.  To check out the tools and lessons learned from each site, please click here.


Important Topic

Swine Flu

  • Up-to-date information about H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) can be found at the following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released recommendations for when the 2009 H1N1 virus is confirmed in a school, school district, or community (http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/K12_dismissal.htm):
    • Communities with laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 should consider activating school dismissal and childcare closure interventions at t he discretion of the State and local jurisdictions.
    • Sick people (students, faculty, and staff) should stay home unless they need medical care and stay away from schools even if they are operating normally.
    • Dismissal of students in a school and closure of childcare facilities should be considered with one or more laboratory-confirmed cases among students, faculty, or staff. 
    • Neighboring school districts to those that dismiss students should also consider preemptively dismissing students from schools without laboratory-confirmed cases.
  • If your school district does decide to close, please notify the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools by e-mail to osdfs.safeschl@ed.gov, in addition to your own local public health authority.
  • Symptoms include: fever, sore throat, cough, body aches, headaches, some instances of accompanying gastrointestinal – and exposure to a known case or travel in Mexico. If you see these symptoms, exclude or isolate immediately until a test indicates some other cause.  If you must keep someone possibly infected at school until someone can take that person home, use of a face mask would be a good idea.  Test results take about 24 hours.

Upcoming Meetings

  • Washington, DC: What’s Different About Teaching Reading to Students Learning English? May 18-20, 2009. For more information and to register for the event, please visit: http://www.cal.org/services/workshops/
  • Seattle, WA: No Longer a Child, Not Yet an Adult – Ethical Issues in Adolescent Health Care. July 24-25, 2009. For more information and to register for the event, please visit: http://bioethics.seattlechildrens.org/ 

Previously Posted Meetings
  • Webinar: It’s OK to Eat and Run – Integrating Nutrition & Health into Physical Education/Activity. Wednesday, May 6, 2009; 3:00 pm – 3:45 pm PST. For more information and to register for the event, please visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/127489689
  • Denver, CO: 83rd Annual ASHA School Health Conference. October 28 - 31, 2009. For more information and to register for the event, please visit www.ashaweb.org
  • Eugene, OR: Regional trainings on the topic of Strengthening Relationships Across Differences. May 13, 2009. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.osbhcn.org/


Job opportunities

  • Care & Share Food Bank of Southern Colorado – Chief Executive Officer (Colorado Springs/Pueblo, CO)
  • American Diabetes Association – Director of Development (San Francisco, CA)
  • Hamilton Family Center – Director of Development (San Francisco, CA)
  • Public Health Management Corporation – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (Philadelphia, PA)
  • National Association of County and City Health Officials – Program Associate: Health Equity (Washington, DC)
  • City of Milwaukee Health Department – Environmental Health Specialist (Milwaukee, WI)


    Grant Alerts

    National Youth Leadership Council and State Farm – Project Ignition  (Deadline: 06/30/09)
    State Farm and the National Youth Leadership Council are accepting applications for the Project Ignition grant program. In response to car crashes being the number one killer of teens, Project Ignition uses service learning to promote safe driving among teens.

    Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – The Local Funding Partnerships Annual Grantmaking Program      (Deadline: 07/07/09)
    With the Local Funding Partnerships (LFP) Annual Grantmaking Program, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partners with local funders to support new, ambitious projects that will address the specific health issues affecting their communities.

    The McKnight Foundation – Children and Families Program (Minnesota) (Deadline: 08/15/09)
    The McKnight Foundation’s goal is for all of Minnesota’s children and families to have the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary for children to thrive as they develop into adults. The Foundation aims to achieve this by supporting projects that improve access to high-quality childcare programs for low-income children, improve quality education for low-income children, increase quality out-of-school time programs, and provide training to adults who work with youth.

    Pay It Forward Foundation – Pay It Forward Mini-Grants     (Deadline: 09/15/09)
    Pay It Forward Mini-Grants are designed to fund one-time-only service-oriented projects identified by youth as activities they would like to perform to benefit their school, neighborhood, or community. These projects must be based on the “pay it forward” concept – where one person does a favor for others, who in turn do favors for others.

    Great American Bake Sale – Great American Bake Sale Grants (Deadline: 09/30/09)
    The Great American Bake Sale Grants Program helps to ensure that low-income children receive nutritious food when they are not attending school. In particular, the Great American Bake Sale is seeking programs that increase participation from low-income children in summer and after-school meal programs.

    Dairy MAX – School Wellness through Expanding Breakfast Grant Program   (Deadline: 12/01/09)    
    The 2009 Dairy MAX School Wellness through Expanding Breakfast Grant Program helps schools begin new expanded breakfast programs to improve student access to nutritious meals.  The goal of the expanded breakfast program is to increase the average daily participation by 50 percent or more by establishing one of the following alternative breakfast service options: Breakfast in the Classroom, Grab ‘n Go Breakfast (served outside the cafeteria), or Breakfast after 1st Period.

    New Resources

    MindMatters, an Australian mental health initiative for secondary schools, uses a whole school approach to promoting mental health and aims to encourage the prevention and early intervention activities for mental health and wellbeing in secondary schools. Overall, the aim is to improve collaboration between families and schools to create an environment of positive mental health and wellbeing. In order to carry out this mission, the MindMatters website provides fact sheets for key stakeholder, fact sheets on mental health strategies, and evaluation, among others. Also, the website provides resources for professional development and MindMatters programming. This web-based resource is useful for policy makers, school staff, and public health professionals working to promote mental health in schools. 

    Exposure to Substance Use Prevention Messages and Substance Use among Adolescents: 2002 to 2007, The National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, indicates that between 2002 and 2007 there was a decrease in the proportion of adolescents (12 to 17 years) that were exposed to drug or alcohol prevention messages. Conversely, there was an increase in the proportion of parents that had discussed the risks associated with drug and alcohol use with adolescents. This report will be of interest to parents, community members, educators, and policy makers that seek to prevent substance use in adolescents. 

    The recently released publication, Exploring the Links Between Family Strengths and Adolescent Outcomes,  from Child Trends, reports that family strengths are associated with significantly better outcomes from adolescents in low and high-income families. Family strengths include supportive and protecting relationships, involvement from parents, and modeling of positive behavior. For instance, adolescents with close and caring parents had better performance in schools and high parent monitoring of behavior was found to be associated with reduced engagement in risky behavior. This report will be of interest to families and communities, and also policy-makers and service providers seeking to improve family strengths to affect youth outcomes.
     

    Job opportunities

    Care & Share Food Bank of Southern Colorado – Chief Executive Officer (Colorado Springs/Pueblo, CO)
    Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado seeks a Chief Executive Officer with significant executive-level experience to advance its mission. Scope of responsibilities are broad, including ensuring that hungry people in 31 Colorado countries have access to sufficient amounts of quality food, encouraging collaboration between governmental, non-profit, and private sectors to eliminate hunger and food insecurity. For more information and to apply to this position, please visit http://philanthropy.com/jobs/id.php?id=0000598627-01

    American Diabetes Association – Director of Development (San Francisco, CA)
    The American Diabetes Association is seeking a highly innovative and energetic Director of Development to expand and strengthen ADA’s base of support in San Francisco. Responsibilities include developing a strong presence in the community, networking, planning, and executing fundraising strategies, as well as engaging volunteer leadership in stewardship and solicitation. For more information and to apply to this position, please visit http://www.opportunityknocks.org/JobseekerX/ViewJob.asp?JobID=DtLmJWh%2BPEIoxl0cHgcm8IPC79%2FB 

    Hamilton Family Center – Director of Development (San Francisco, CA)
    Hamilton Family Center, a nonprofit working to end homelessness, is seeking a Director of Development. Responsibilities include developing and implementing multifaceted fundraising plans, researching and writing grant proposals for government funding, cultivating relationships with donors, and supervise the full-time Development Associate. For more information and to apply to this position, please visit http://www.opportunityknocks.org/JobseekerX/ViewJob.asp?JobID=6HQYh8XTnuD2ZL%2Bzv6GFVrYoNCE0

    Public Health Management Corporation – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (Philadelphia, PA)
    Public Health Management Corporation is seeking a full-time Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Responsibilities include providing bio-psychosocial evaluations for adults at Mary Howard Health Center and outreach sites, providing medication management, organizing group education programs, referring clients to other services when necessary, training shelter staff, and training community and academic health professionals. For more information and to apply to this position, please visit http://cfusion.sph.emory.edu/PHEC/phec.cfm [Posted on 04/28/09 under the title Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Full-time, by Public Health Management Corporation]

    National Association of County and City Health Officials – Program Associate—Health Equity (Washington, DC)
    The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is seeking a Program Associate. Responsibilities include providing research assistance, participating in project planning and coordination, project promotion, providing logistical support, and other duties as assigned. For more information and to apply to this position, please visit http://cfusion.sph.emory.edu/PHEC/phec.cfm [Posted on 04/27/09 under the title Program Associate – Health Equity, Full-time, by National Association of County and City Health Officials]

    City of Milwaukee Health Department – Environmental Health Specialist (Milwaukee, WI)
    The City of Milwaukee Health Department is seeking an Environmental Health Specialist. Responsibilities include conducting inspections, investigations, assessments, consultations and taking enforcement action related to health and safety of consumers. For more information and to apply to this position, please visit http://cfusion.sph.emory.edu/PHEC/phec.cfm [Posted on 04/27/09 under the title Environmental Health Specialist I, Full-time, by the City of Milwaukee – Health Department (MHD)]














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