Protecting Yourself From Poor Air Quality
California is experiencing several wildfires right now, and in many parts of the state, the air quality is suffering. Before you do any outside activities,
check here
for some tips to protect yourself from poor air quality, and links to check the safety of the air in your area.
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Immigration Resources
The proposed changes to the public charge rule on immigration has not yet been announced, remaining under review in the White House Office of Management and Budget. Meanwhile, NWA is launching an
Immigration Resources page
on its website as a central location for all materials related to public charge, increased ICE enforcement, and other issues related to the intersection of WIC and immigration. ACTION: Complete the
Ongoing NWA Survey
- to measure the impact of how immigration-related policies affect clinics, and direct any questions or concerns to
Brian Dittmeier
. Also see the new
Protecting Immigrant Families
website for extensive resources.
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State Breastfeeding Resolution
The California Legislature has again declared August Breastfeeding Awareness Month with Resolution ACR 234. The resolution calls on our two state health departments, CDPH and DHCS, the Department of Industrial Relations, California Breastfeeding Coalition and other organizations to reduce barriers in order that California families and communities can benefit from breastfeeding. ACTION: Share the resolution in your community with city and county leaders, health care providers, employers, child care providers and others, to ignite and strengthen collective efforts to improve breastfeeding support.
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PHFE WIC team with a member of Congressman Lou Correa's staff!
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What do Your Representatives Know About WIC?
Members of Congress are spending August at home in their districts, making this an ideal time for you to reach out and invite them for a visit at their friendly neighborhood WIC site! Contact the offices for your
representative
and
senators
to learn about district visits and events in your area. This is a prime opportunity to establish a connection with your member of Congress and his/her staff, demonstrating the role that WIC plays in serving moms and children in your town or county. Find tools for hosting a legislator and/or their staff for a visit
here
! Contact
Sarah
for help or questions.
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Public Nursing Protected in All States!
Utah and Idaho recently joined the rest of the U.S. by signing bills into law to protect parents who nurse in public, although language specifying that
the breast did not need to be covered
was removed from Utah's bill in order to pass it. In Idaho, a similar bill passed with a unanimous vote of 66-0. The legislation will protect breastfeeding mothers from
indecent exposure
and obscenity laws. The U.S. now joins countries like the United Kingdom and Australia, where public breastfeeding has been legal since 2010 and 1984, respectively.
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Standardized Feeding Practices, More Lactation Support Helps Micro Preemies
A quality-improvement project to standardize feeding practices for micro preemies helped to boost their weight and nearly quadrupled the frequency of lactation consultations ordered in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), a multidisciplinary team from Children's National Health System finds. Noting dramatic variations in nutritional practices among clinicians in the NICU, the team - which included dietitians, nurses, neonatologists, a lactation consultant and a quality-improvement leader - evaluated nutrition practices and determined key drivers for improving nutrition status. Infants who were admitted within the first seven days of life and weighed less than 1,500 grams were included in the study. Study results included improved infant weights, as compared to reference weights, and an increase from 1.1 to 4 weekly lactation consultant visits.
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Public Data Meets Health Plans
Personal information such as the value of your home, what you order online, how much TV you watch and numerous other pieces of information may impact your health plan benefits. Health insurance plans have held our individual medical information to strict standards of confidentiality to protect privacy. New sources of publicly available data, are now of great interest to health plans. Working with data brokers, health plans are using algorithms to identify and profile health risks and potential health costs. Working with data brokers, health plans are using algorithms to identify and profile health risks and potential health
emerging practice
and other
health plan industry cost analyses
.
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USDA Launches New Breastfeeding Campaign
This year the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is launching a new breastfeeding campaign entitled "
WIC Breastfeeding Support - Learn Together. Grow Together
.
" The research-based social marketing campaign encourages moms who participate in WIC to breastfeed their babies and provides them with support and expertise to help them succeed. The campaign is designed for implementation at the state and local levels of WIC, and includes a revamped website with resources for expectant and current mothers. State and local WIC agencies will have access to downloadable resources and materials to share with participants, families, and the diverse network of infant caregivers.
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Kids Eat Right Month
In addition to Breastfeeding Month, join the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) this month in celebrating the fifth annual Kids Eat Right Month. AND uses the month to mobilize registered dietitian nutritionists in a grassroots movement to share healthful eating messages to help families adopt nutritious eating habits. Just released is the Kids Eat Right Month media kit that includes infographics, articles, and social media information.
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Report on Trends of Early Initiation of Breastfeeding
A joint report from UNICEF and WHO, entitled "
Capture the Moment: Early initiation of breastfeeding - the best start for every newborn
," analyzes early initiation of breastfeeding and describes trends over the past 10 years for more than 70 low- and middle-income countries, as well as several high-income countries. Drawing on analysis of early initiation rates among babies delivered by skilled birth attendants, the report describes key findings and examines the factors that support and hinder an early start to breastfeeding. The report outlines key learnings from countries where rates of early initiation have improved or deteriorated and offers recommendations for policy and programmatic action.
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Easy Access to ERS USDA Research
The Economic Research Service (ERS), a component of USDA, provides reports and analyses on agriculture, natural resources, rural issues and nutrition, including status of child nutrition. An interactive
research database
was just updated and that makes it easy to locate ERS reports on nutrition, food safety, food choices and health.
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Health Care and Public Health Transformation
Despite disagreement over the ACA, efforts to transform how patients are cared for are moving forward. It is a herculean task, but holds great potential for improving the health of communities. Establishing new ways for health care and public health systems to integrate will be necessary. Health indicators will be different and include provision of social determinants of health. Communities will establish new partnerships among health care, safety net providers and community organizations. This represents important opportunities for WIC, with the nation's largest and most diverse nutrition and lactation workforce! Check out this
report
from the
Health Care Transformation Task Force
and note the organizations leading this effort. CWA provides these briefs on
WIC's nutrition and lactation capacity
and
new ways for WIC to work
, that support this transformation!
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