Health Education Advocate

ACTION ALERT: IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!

Congress is in August recess and Senators are back campaigning in their states.

Call, Email or Visit YOUR Senators on these two issues that greatly affect the public’s health and the health education profession!

Oppose Senator Johanns’ Amendment and protect the Prevention and Public Health Fund.

As you know, Congress included a historic investment in public health through the creation of the Prevention and Public Health Fund (Fund) in the health reform law. This funding would be a dedicated stream of resources to pay for much-needed preventive services, community level prevention, and public health. This funding is in jeopardy!

As the Senate considers the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act, Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) has proposed an amendment that would use the Fund to offset other costs in the bill. Such an action would virtually eliminate the Prevention and Wellness Fund, and mark a severe blow to this monumental commitment to prevention and public health under the Affordable Care Act. Moreover, it would severely weaken our ability to address health disparities and the needs of underserved populations.

It is vital that you tell your Senator to oppose the Johanns Amendment and protect this investment in public health!

Call or email your Senators NOW urge them to vote NO on the prevention fund offset within the Johanns amendment!
To find your elected officials’ phone numbers: CLICK HERE or visit: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
Please also send a letter to urge your Senator to protect this vital public health program – use this link for a template letter or draft your own: http://capwiz.com/healthyam/issues/alert/?alertid=15606156&PROCESS=Take+Action
For talking points, CLICK HERE or visit: http://www.sophe.org/Sophe/PDF/Fund_TalkingPoints1.pdf
For more background, visit: http://healthyamericans.org/health-reform/

2. Urge Your Senator to cosponsor the PHYSICAL Act (S. 3683), requiring health and physical education as core subjects in the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization (ESEA) Act.

Introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), Promoting Health as Youth Skills in Classrooms & Life Act (S. 3683), would amend ESEA to include health education and physical education as core subjects. As such, states/local school districts would be required to meet the characteristics of other academic subjects, including academic content standards, instructional resources, teacher certification, grading and student assessment.

Additionally, the bill would: 1) elevate the Dept of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools to a higher level w/ more authority – and would be renamed “Office of Safe and Healthy Students.”; and 2) provide a grant program to support the delivery of health education in schools.

Having this bill introduced is a MAJOR step forward in achieving one of the goals of this year’s Health Education Advocacy Summit and we must maintain its momentum! We will continue working to get other Senators to sign on and gain more support when ESEA comes up for reauthorization. We are also working on getting a companion bill introduced in the House.

Contact your Senators NOW and urge them to co-sponsor this bill!

To find your elected officials’ phone numbers: CLICK HERE or visit http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
To track this bill and to read the full text, visit: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-3683
For talking points, CLICK HERE or visit: http://www.sophe.org/Sophe/PDF/PHYSICAL_TalkingPoints.pdf

Flex your political muscle and stand up for the public’s health during this critical August Congressional recess.

Briefing Webcast Available - Reporting on Health Reform Between Now and 2014

Please take a look at the webcast for the Alliance briefing below, and download the podcast if you like, all brought to you courtesy of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Resource materials and a transcript from the briefing are also available.

What's Next? Reporting on Health Reform Between Now and 2014 - Thursday, June 10, 2010

For reporters covering health reform, the subject can now appear more complicated than ever. Seems like a good time to plot out how to report on reform for the rest of this year, and the time leading up to 2014. This briefing presented advice and story ideas from veteran reporters long familiar with the subject.

Click here for the webcast, transcript and various resource materials, which will also be of use to anyone interested in health reform implementation. http://www.allhealth.org/briefing_detail.asp?bi=187

What Does Health Care Reform do for Prevention and Wellness

On March 23, President Obama signed health reform legislation to provide insurance coverage to the uninsured and reform the healthcare delivery system. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also contains numerous provisions which create or strengthen national, state, and local wellness and prevention programs. For more details on these critically important provisions please click here for the 2 page summary (http://sophe.org/Sophe/PDF/Health Care Reform.pdf). Also please note that the document references bill sections; to see sections in their entirety please, click here for the 900 page bill (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3590enr.txt.pdf).

For a detailed analysis of other provisions in the bill, please visit the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Side-by-Side comparison tool and read Trust for America’s Health’s summary. To see how your member of Congress voted on the bill, please see the Washington Post’s interactive graphic.

2010 13th Annual Health Education Summit Priority Areas and Final Agenda

Click here to download the Agenda. The priority areas are (click here for fact sheets):

Increasing Funding for CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control
Increasing Funding for CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health - Coordinated Health Program
Increasing Funding for CDC's Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health US Program
The reauthorization of the Eementary and Secondary Education Act to include Health Education

CDC FY 2011 Budget Request Available (click for files: 12 page pdf or 16 slide PPT)

Prevention Letter to Congress Signed by Former CDC Directors, Prominent Health Leaders

A notable letter requesting that strong public health and prevention provisions be included in any final health reform measure was sent to several senior members of Congress involved in health reform on October 28. This critical letter was signed by more than thirty senior leaders in health, including:

Seven former CDC Directors from both Republican and Democratic Administrations;

Former Speaker of the House, The Honorable Newt Gingrich;

Two former Surgeons General;

Two former high ranking members of Congress;

Prominent budget, policy and executive leaders who served at the Department of Health and Human Services; and

Local health leaders from municipalities around the nation.

To read a copy of the letter click here. Link is from Campaign for Public Health.

The Case for Prevention: Tales from the Field

The Alliance for Health Reform, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, held a Capitol Hill briefing on prevention in June 2009. The Alliance has issued a report incorporating material from that briefing. School of Public Health faculty members Christine Ferguson from the George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services and John Clymer from Loma Linda University School of Public Health contributed to the issue brief. The report is available at: http://www.allhealth.org/publications/Public_health/The_Case_for_Prevention_90.pdf

Leading National Foundations and Health-Care Organizations Make Unprecedented Call for Investment in Prevention

In an open letter released August 17, the leaders of The California Endowment, The Kresge Foundation, Nemours, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation and a top official at Kaiser Permanente, wrote that prevention measures like improved access to healthy food and physical activity will save both lives and money. http://www.preventioninstitute.org/documents/PublicConvCEOletter-final.pdf

Shaping a Healthy America: A Decision Making Guide

This interactive website assists policymakers in making informed and sound decisions concerning wellness programs. Recognizing that governors have numerous priorities and challenges, users can weigh the relative strengths of various policy options and find the best fit for the particular circumstances that each state faces. Policies are classified according to outcomes sought and venue of intervention. Types of policies highlighted include: educating the public, altering choices, providing financial incentives and reforming policy. Venues of intervention include: individuals and families; schools and employers; the food industry; the media; and communities.

The various policies are also weighted to allow users to choose between programs according to the degress of financial investment required. The link is http://www.subnet.nga.org/healthyamerica/guide/.

New Report: Investment in Disease Prevention Could Save American More than $16 billion in Five Years

Return on Investment of More than 5 to 1; Focus on Increasing Physical Activity, Improving Nutrition, and Preventing Smoking

A small strategic investment in disease prevention could result in significant savings in U.S. health care costs, according to a new report released July 17, 2008 by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH). In its report, entitled Prevention for a Healthier America: Investments in Disease Prevention Yield Significant Savings, Stronger Communities, TFAH finds that an investment of $10 per person per year in proven community-based programs to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and prevent smoking and other tobacco use could save the country more than $16 billion annually within five years. This is a return of $5.60 for every $1.

Out of the $16 billion, Medicare could save more than $5 billion, Medicaid could save more than $1.9 billion, and private payers could save more than $9 billion.

The economic findings are based on a model developed by researchers at the Urban Institute and a review of evidence-based studies conducted by the New York Academy of Medicine. They found that many effective prevention programs cost less than $10 per person, and that these programs have delivered results in lowering rates of diseases that are related to physical activity, nutrition, and smoking. The evidence shows that implementing these programs in communities reduce rates of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure by 5 percent within 2 years; reduce heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke by 5 percent within 5 years; and reduce some forms of cancer, arthritis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by 2.5 percent within 10 to 20 years.

The report was supported by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The California Endowment. The full report, which also includes national estimates for savings for two years and 10 to 20 years and state-by-state findings, is available on TFAH’s Web site, www.healthyamericans.org.

New Health Education Advocacy Discussion Forum Formed on the HEA!

The Health Education Advocate has a new discussion forum available for use by health educators from around the country. You can use this forum to engage other health educators from around the country in national, state, and local advocacy initiatives!

E-mail advocacy updates to
Jim Grizzell
jvgrizzell@csupomona.edu