Outdoor Beats Indoor for Exercise
Long walks can improve moods and reduce anxiety, but the benefits may be greatest if the walks take place outdoors rather than in a gym, according to a new study, so try to find the time to embrace the great outdoors!
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Kids and Rural Folks: Healthcare Threatened
As the debate moves along, a growing number of must-read articles detail the impact of health care cuts on low-income kids, kids with special health care needs, safety-net hospitals, and rural communities. Under the proposed Senate bill called the Better Care Reconciliation Act, about half of California kids - 5 million - are on Medi-Cal and would risk losing health care coverage. The state budget would be severely cut and heart-wrenching decisions would be made about which kids were provided health care. It gets worse for kids with special needs, as what is considered eligible for coverage would be very limited. Hospitals, especially safety-net hospitals that serve rural and low-income families, would be drastically cut under the House proposal, called the American Health Care Act. Not sure what a safety-net hospital or public hospital is or think changes wouldn't impact you? Think again.
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Health Care Amendments and Vote?
Opinions are split if a vote on healthcare will happen before the August
recess
, which Mitch McConnell has proposed be pushed back to Aug 14.
New amendments
that would make it harder for folks with pre-existing conditions (most of us) to access care are under discussion, and a new CBO score will be needed as soon as possible. A new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that the
individual market
for insurance, for early 2017, has more stability than previous years, despite reports of market decline. Sounds to us that calls for Dems and Reps to
work together
to repair what is needed on Obamacare would help the most people, on both sides of the aisle.
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Lactation 101 - Report on AB 302 Compliance
A
California law passed in 2015
requires schools to provide a space on campus for mothers to breastfeed or express milk, but a
new report from the California Women's Law Center and Breastfeed LA
finds that most higher education institutions in Los Angeles County aren't making information about those spaces readily available.
Lactation 101,
grades 107 college and universities on the accessibility of information on student and employee lactation accommodation policies and general policies for pregnant and parenting students on school websites. The vast majority of schools scored a D. Only one school, Mount Saint Mary's University, got an A. The California Institute of the Arts is one of two schools that scored a B. The goal of the report is to shed light on these discrepancies and bring 100 percent of institutions in compliance with all five criteria. After the groups released a similar
report examining lactation accommodations at K-12 schools
in 2015, things changed. A year later, the average grade went from a D to a C.
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Back by Popular Demand: Summer Webinars
Why leave the office for valuable seminars when you can participate and learn right from your computer? Join us Thursdays at noon (Pacific Time) for relevant continuing education for public health professionals. To help you celebrate
World Breastfeeding Week/Month
, CWA will host
Breastfeeding-Friendly Health Centers: Success in California
August 17 especially for CHC and WIC staff wanting to improve client care as well as staffing and finances related to breastfeeding support. With CA Breastfeeding Coalition, we'll cohost
California Infant Feeding Guide - What is New?
August 24. Join us to learn about resources and best practices that help improve mother and infant care. Dietetics and lactation professionals participating live can earn CE units. ACTION: Get more information and register online for each webinar on our
WIC Works Webinars page
. Stay tuned for more webinars in September.
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Hospital Breastfeeding Fact Sheets: 10 Years This Fall!
Breastfeeding promotion is critical to the health of California's mothers and babies, and policy-makers and advocates have used publicly-reported data successfully to guide and evaluate policy improvements. Through local and statewide collaboration and implementation of supportive policies, in-hospital exclusive breastfeeding rates have increased consistently, to the benefit of nearly 300,000 California families. Each year, CWA and UC Davis jointly produce
reports and fact sheets
to track and support these efforts. ACTION:Look for the 2017 fact sheets (with 2016 data) sometime this fall, after CDPH MCAH staff have posted the data and shared it with the hospitals. The 2016 report and fact sheets (with 2015 data) are
available here
.
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Fall Education Events
We hope you're making plans to be in Sacramento October 2-4 for some key education events to support California WIC managers and directors. On Monday afternoon you can team up to make educational visits to legislators and their staff at the State Capitol. After Tuesday's State WIC meeting, CWA will host an Education Day on Wednesday to discuss ways that WIC can - and already does - partner with food banks and health care centers, then dive into exploring leadership within a culture of caring. ACTION: Stay tuned for more info and a registration link, coming in a week or so to our
Events page
!
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Conference 2018: Save the Dates!
Plans are already underway for our 26th Annual Conference & Trade Show, Sunday, April 29 through Wednesday, May 2, 2018, in San Diego. Enjoy up to four days of stimulating plenaries, informative workshops (four concurrent subject tracks), and fun wellness and networking opportunities. Learn about the latest nutrition and breastfeeding products and services for quality health and early education programs like WIC, MCAH, and Head Start. Earn up to 16 continuing education units for dietetics, lactation, and nursing professionals. ACTION:Spread the word with your MCAH & public health colleagues. Trade Show applications are available now - contact
Teresa Morris
. Attendee Registration opens this fall. More information will be available soon at
www.calwic.org/events
.
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High-Risk Pregnancies Linked to Heart Disease
Emerging
research
shows heart disease is a long-term threat for women who develop diabetes or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as mothers whose babies were born too small or too soon, yet doctors typically do not advise these mothers about their risk or counsel them to watch for heart disease symptoms. About one-fourth of women who give birth in the U.S. have complications during pregnancy or labor, and researchers are still trying to figure out why these complications would be linked to later heart problems. Pregnancy might contribute to vascular complications or it might simply reveal existing problems. Cedars-Sinai recently started following a
small group of women
who had pregnancy or labor complications. A separate study funded by the National Institutes of Health
is tracking
the health of 5,000 new moms at eight sites across the nation, to fill gaps in knowledge and develop recommendations for physicians. Women who have had complications in pregnancy or labor should alert their primary care doctors and have annual screenings for high blood pressure, and the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association also recommend that women who have had preeclampsia be
evaluated for heart disease risk
within a year of giving birth.
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CDC Says Opioid Prescriptions Declining - But Still Too High
According to a CDC analysis
the amount of opioid painkillers prescribed in the U.S. peaked in 2010, with prescriptions for higher, more dangerous doses dropping most sharply - by 41 percent - since then. Despite the drop, the prescribing rate in 2015 remained three times as high as in 1999, and there is still tremendous regional variation. Recent attempts to curb opioid prescriptions - including
CDC guidelines
issued last year and
new state
and insurer limits on how many pills doctors can prescribe - are not reflected in the analysis, which did not look beyond 2015. However, earlier actions, like state crackdowns on pain clinics and prescribing guidelines released by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2010, may have contributed to the declines.
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What to Make of the US Birth Rate?
Preliminary
birth rate data from the CDC
for 2016 indicates there was a
historic low birth rate
, 62 births per 1000 women aged 15-44 year,
and demographers are divided on how to interpret the numbers and consider the impact. Looking a little more closely, birthrates for teens to 20 year olds are down, while the rates are up for women in their 30s to 40s. And there were more total births than deaths, which is important to replace an aging workforce. Is this an indication that women want to be more mature before giving birth, an effect of more use of contraceptives and fewer unplanned births especially for teens, more access to fertility aids for older women, or a result of slow economic times?
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World Breastfeeding Week 2017
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Black Breastfeeding Week 2017
The community theme for Black Breastfeeding Week, August 25-31, is
Bet on Black: Nourishing Our Families, Communities & Futures
. This 5th annual celebration is a chance to express the confidence we have in black women and all community members to support breastfeeding for a strong future. ACTION:Check out the
materials
for this year. The BBW signature "Lift Up" events will take place nationwide on Wednesday, August 26. Visit the BBW
Facebook
,
Twitter
and
Instagram
accounts and follow the hashtag #BetOnBlack; more details coming soon.
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Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: Status 2017
The World Health Organization's
Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI)
was launched in 1991 as a global program to incentivize maternity facilities throughout the world to adhere to the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and comply with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. This
report provides an analysis
of the current status of the BFHI in countries around the world. Based on the 2nd Global Nutrition Policy Review implemented by WHO in 2016-2017, the report describes program coverage, the current designation process, reasons for termination in some places, integration of the Ten Steps into other standards and policies, qualitative information on some of the challenges countries have faced in implementing the BFHI, and overall lessons learned.
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Healthy Food Access Portal
Looking for information for increasing access to healthy food in your community?
This resource
, developed jointly by Policy Link, The Food Trust and partners, provides resources for local use for starting or improving access to health foods, including farmer's markets, corner stores, grocers, CSAs, mobile markets and food hubs.
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