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Training Needs Assessment

September 1, 2010 by Bill Holden

The Regional Center provides a wide variety of trainings throughout the year. Trainings topics in the past have ranged from social marketing to creative ways to present data to the social determinants of health. What trainings would you like the Regional Center for Healthy Communities provide this year? Please take a few minutes to fill out our 2010 Metrowest Regional Center Training Needs Assessment. Your feedback will assist us in planning our calendar for the coming year.

 
To fill out the brief survey go to:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/339081/Training-Needs-Assessment-2010
 
Thank you for your input!
 
RCHC Staff

The Regional Center for Healthy Communities Metrowest is Hiring a Community Health Specialist

The Regional Center for Healthy Communities (a program of Mount Auburn Hospital) provides training and technical assistance to help communities realize their vision for a healthier place to live. We promote partnerships among regional and local public health leaders; collaborate with community coalitions to reduce substance abuse; strengthen coalition capacity for health promotion; and mobilize youth and young adults for leadership and civic action. This program is looking to create a team of professionals with high levels of expertise in health promotion; community participatory data collection, analysis, and presentation;coalition development; youth development; social determinants of health; and systems-level approaches for prevention and health promotion. We are committed to building a culturally diverse staff that enables us to effectively serve our communities. 

Click Here  to view the full job posting:

To apply, send a cover letter and resume by September 3rd to bholden@healthier-communities.org  Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.                  

                                                             

A healthy and tasty start to life...

August 27, 2010 by Stacy Carruth

 

News on obesity seems to be everywhere, and the statistics are really alarming. For example, 26% of Massachusetts high school students are overweight or obese, and obesity rates have more than doubled in the past two decades. At the RCHC, we were all really excited to see that the Massachusetts statehouse recently passed a school nutrition bill, and we know this will go a long way towards starting young people off on the right foot towards a healthy life. Here are some of the main points of the bill:

 

 

* Healthy standards for snacks and beverages sold in vending machines at schools (standards will encourage greater consumption of water, low- and non-fat milk, juice, reduced fat and sugar in snacks, and increased consumption of fruits and vegetables).

* Easier purchase of produce from local farmers

* Establishes a Commission on Childhood Obesity to create a state-wide plan * Requires DPH and Dept. of Early and Secondary Education to set guidelines for training school nurses to help children with diabetes and eating disorders (and to collect data and evaluation these conditions).

A link to the bill: www.mass.gov/legis/laws/seslaw10/sl100197.htm

 *From: Protect Our Children’s Health, a fact sheet created by the Massachusetts Public Health Association 2010

Not Just Where Health Ends, but Where it Starts

August 26, 2010 by Laura Cody

In an earlier blog (May 28, 2010), we mentioned that we were looking for new ways to talk about social determinants of health in ways that made sense to general audiences.  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently released a report that addresses this issue.  When they tested responses to the phrase “social determinants of health” it consistently tested poorly.  They were hoping to indentify a proxy phrase for “social determinants” which was not successful, but they did uncover some of the important metaphors for Republicans and Democrats and tested several scripts for effectiveness in explaining the desired concept to general audiences.  The complete report including a recording and slides from a recent webinar can be accessed at http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=66428.  Below are some of the key highlights from the webinar and report. 

Democrats tend to talk about a “system” that has broken down leading to inequities in outcomes and poverty.  And because it is a system, you can’t address just one part and hope for an adequate solution.  They also talk about a “right” to equality and health and feel angry when this doesn’t exist (see slides 12-18 in the PowerPoint). 

 Republicans talked about life as a “journey” in which “choosing” bad paths leads to unhealthy outcomes.  They talk about the ability to change this situation with a lot more optimism than Democrats do.  In their view, access to resources makes a successful journey more likely, but resources are finite and can’t be guaranteed for everyone.  This means that the word “balance” to them means bringing some down so that others can have more.  Instead, establishing a suitable minimum is more acceptable (see slides 19-25). 

 These are deeply held views about the world and we, as public health practitioners, have to be careful to know who our audience is and what networks (mental images, frames) we are activating when we talk. 

 The RWJF researchers created and tested several messages based on these frames such as:

It's time we made it possible for all Americans to afford to see a doctor, but it's also time we made it less likely that they need to. Where people live, work, learn, and play has an enormous impact whether they stay well in the first place. Health starts in strong, loving families and in neighborhoods with sidewalks safe for walking and grocery stores with fresh vegetables. Health starts in jobs we can get to without hours of commuting and in work places free of unnecessary hazards. Health starts in schools that educate our children for the jobs of the 21st century so they can compete in the world economy, that feed them healthy meals rather than junk foods, and that send them home safe at the end of the day. And health starts in having the time and financial resources to play at the end of a hard day's work, because unrelieved stress takes its toll on our hearts and immune systems. As we work on fixing health care in America, we need to start where health starts, not just where it ends.

(See more on slides 41-44 in the PowerPoint)

 

Some of the keys to the success of these messages were to

  • Prime the audience with things they already believe
  • Use colloquial, emotional language
  • Use one compelling fact (not a barrage)
  • Offer solutions
  • Incorporate personal behavior (this is an important frame that many people hold)
  • Mix traditionally conservative and traditionally progressive values (it may help to start with ideas on the political right and move to the left so that audiences we’re trying to reach don’t tune out)
  • Highlight how it affects all Americans
  • Lead with something inspirational, then go to something specific, then back to something inspirational

In fact, these are good lessons for pretty much any health message.  And just like other messages you might be writing, think about your audience, the message that you’re trying to get across, and TEST, refine, and TEST AGAIN. 

Hopefully we can begin to use this research in how we talk about where health starts, not just where it ends.  

More Walking…and Talking: Walking as Community Building

August 23, 2010 by Laura Cody

Waltham and Milton, two of the communities in our region, both use walking to improve community health by simultaneously increasing levels of physical activity and building connections among community members and elected officials.  Healthy Waltham started its Walk and Talk with Elected Officials as a natural continuation of the walk program with the Waltham Land Trust as a way to explore the town.  The walks were held every Monday evening through the summer for three years.  The coordinator of Healthy Waltham, Judy Fallows, shared this model at a meeting at the Regional Center where Vicki McCarthy of Milton heard the idea and took it back to implement there. 

 

When Milton implemented their walks, just a few were organized each with a particular issue to be discussed.  For example, the planning board was considering approval of a zoning change from residential to commercial which would have allowed a chain drugstore in a neighborhood where a synagogue now stood.  The Milton Healthy Community group invited planning board members and others to come and walk in that neighborhood to see what an impact this would have there.  For example, the selectmen saw that the streets were too narrow and bustling with children to accommodate increased traffic that a chain store would bring.  And seeing a group of people walking through the neighborhood brought residents out of their homes where they were also able to share their story of how the store would impact them.  In the end, the town meeting decided not to approve the zoning change. 

 

Vicki McCarthy shared this experience at another meeting at the Regional Center where Judy Fallows was in attendance.  When Judy heard this take on the original model, she realized how this idea would actually help to increase the participation in Waltham’s walks.  So this summer, fewer walks were scheduled in Waltham and several of them had a particular topic assigned.  For example on August 23rd, the topic will be the schools and the school board, superintendent, principals, and teachers have been invited to walk and talk with interested community members. 

 

So while this is a story about walking and building connections within communities, it is also a story of connections between communities facilitated by the Regional Center.  Judy of Healthy Waltham talks about the importance of getting together with Vicki from Milton multiple times in meetings convened by the Regional Center to improve their original model. 

 

The Regional Center will continue to convene groups throughout the region to promote this type of cross-pollination and we encourage communities to connect individually as well.  Two opportunities you might be interested in:

1.) The Regional Center convenes coalitions in the region quarterly.  While this group is targeted toward substance abuse prevention coalitions, there are certainly elements of general coalition development and management that would be applicable to other groups.  The next inter-coalition meeting will be held October 4 from 10-1.  Please contact Stacy Carruth (scarruth@healthier-communities.org) if you would like more information. 

2.) Peter Lee of the Mass Partnership for Healthy Communities convenes graduates and current participants of the MassForum training to discuss their progress with healthy communities work in their towns.  Please contact Peter Lee (plee@hria.org) if you would like more information.