September 2018 Newsletter
Partner News: Oklahoma Community Based Training (CBT) Partner Receives Seed Grant to Develop Diabetes Training
for Community Health Workers (CHWs)
The Oklahoma Public Health Training Center at The College of Public Health received a one-year seed grant from the Presbyterian Health Foundation in support of community health worker (CHW) workforce development. Contributing to the long-term goal of reducing chronic disease disparities in Oklahoma through an effective CHW workforce, the research objective of this project is to develop and initiate testing of a diabetes training to improve the health of Oklahomans through a relevant and effective CHW workforce. The project will use community-based participatory research principles in collaboration with the CHW Taskforce, convened through the Health Workforce Subcommittee of the Governor’s Council for Workforce and Economic Development. Qualitative research methods will serve to identify roles, training and expressed needs of CHWs in organizations serving diverse communities across Oklahoma. We will use the knowledge gained about Oklahoma’s CHWs and diabetes, evidence-based diabetes self-management programs, and current national recommendations to develop the CHW diabetes training. We will test the training for its effectiveness in increasing capacity to improve population health during a one-day training workshop, and will evaluate with mixed methods pre- and post-tests. The project will result in a CHW diabetes training that is evidence-based, ties in with current national CHW workforce recommendations, and is sensitive to Oklahoma’s diverse populations. A well-trained CHW workforce can improve the lives of people with diabetes, and reduce avoidable costs and health disparities. Follow-up projects to this grant may include web-based courses relevant to the CHW workforce through the Region 6 South Central Public Health Training Center’s Learning Management System (LMS) .
Partner Spotlight - Jennifer Smith
Jennifer Smith currently serves as the Executive Director of the Texas Association of City & County Health Officials (TACCHO) . Smith has over 34 years of public health experience. Prior to her service in public health, Jennifer worked as a private practice dental hygienist. Through her work as a dental hygienist, Smith recognized the importance of prevention and joined the Texas Department of Health (currently Texas Department of State Health Services) . During her 27 years at the Texas Department of Health, Smith worked as a dental hygienist, served as one of the first Regional HIV Prevention Specialists and managed worksite wellness and chronic disease prevention and control programs. After retiring from the state health department in 2009, Smith served as Chief Public Health Officer for the Texas Association of Local Health Officials (TALHO) until August 2013.

As TACCHO’s Executive Director, Smith provides consulting services for state and national organizations. She has been a 35 year member of the Texas Public Health Association, serving as a President of TPHA. Jennifer has served on the board of the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors and is a member of the Public Health Accreditation Board Evaluation and Research Committee. We are excited to welcome Jennifer to the Region 6 SCPHTC team!
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Course Spotlight:

Transgender Health 102: Transgender Patient–Provider Relationships reviews behavioral health issues pertaining to transgender, gender non-binary, and intersex individuals. The course is designed for health care, behavioral health, and public health practitioners administrators, and leaders who wish to enhance their capacity to serve the transgender community in their practice.

For more information about
this course, please click here .
Featured Course Bundle:
Environmental Health in Disasters

The Environmental Health in Disasters bundle contains five courses that provide the fundamentals to risk assessment and environmental health in disasters. Topics covered in this bundle include environmental health in emergency shelters, environmental sampling and environmental monitoring.  

For more information about the Environmental Health in Disasters course bundle,  
please click here.
Looking for more training on a specific topic in public health? Need additional training on a current public health hot topic? We want to help you address these needs. Please email us and let us know about your current training needs/interests/issues. We will evaluate our current trainings to see if we have something that can address your area of interest. 
Please send us an email at   r6-phtc@tulane.edu   and let us see if we can be of help.