Volume 2020-11-04
CHI TIPbits
Timely Information and Points (TIP) for public health community providers from the Center for Health Innovation, New Mexico's Public Health Institute.
Greetings from the Center for Health Innovation (CHI), New Mexico's Public Health Institute. You've been recognized as one of the leading public health professionals in our state, which is why you have been sent our newest publication TIPbits. Every month, we will be sending out timely information and points to aid your efforts to foster better public health in the state. Feel free to share them with your networks and community. Thanks for all you do for New Mexico, and let us lend you a helping hand with TIPbits!
Webinars and Trainings
Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 12:30-2:00 PM, Casa Esperanza and The American Cancer Society present a free, virtual, interactive forum on cancer disparities and specific healthcare inequities faced by Native Americans. Speakers include keynote Dr. Marc Emerson, Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, a Native American panel, a Community Health Representative, a behavioral health specialist and a cancer patient/survivor. Register here.
In rural areas transportation is a core social determinant in gaining adequate access to health care. For those of you working in these areas, Systems for Action (S4A) is holding a webinar, Can Subsidized Transportation Options Slow Diabetes Progression? on Nov. 11, 2020, 10 a.m.. Register here.
Systems for Action is holding a webinar, Financing Coordinated Medical and Social Services for Patients with Psychosis, on Dec. 9 at 10 a.m. Those diagnosed with psychosis often need a coordinated set of services like pharmacotherapy, behavioral counselling, education, vocation and housing supports.  Public/private health insurance plans often don’t cover this full service array. This webinar presents a decision support tool health plans/providers can use to estimate costs of care and implement integrated payment strategies. Register here.
If you are working on obesity and/or diabetes prevention, Trust for America’s Health is holding a 90-minute virtual congressional briefing on its new report The State of Obesity 2020: Better Policies for a Healthier America on Nov. 19 at 10:30 p.m. Register here.
Funding/Fellowship Opportunities
DASH (Data Across Sectors for Health) has opened the Learning and Action in Policy and Partnerships (LAPP) funding program. Five grantees will receive $100,000 each to involve partners in advancing existing data-sharing efforts; systematically share data across sectors; and build relationships among partners to strengthen systems supporting improved health and equity in communities.  Applications due Dec. 16. Learn more at: https://dashconnect.org/funding-opportunities/lapp/
America Walks and Active People, Health Nations have announced another round of its annual popular Community Change Grant program. This program awards grantees $1,500 in community stipends for projects related to creating healthy, active, and engaged places to live, work, and play. Applications open now and due by Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. Click for proposal. 
Fact Flicks
 The Socorro County Health Council (SCOPE) sponsors the Magdalena Wellness Program, ican (providing ideas for cooking and nutrition classes), a Socorro Community Garden, and the annual “Maze of Life” event for middle school students to help them recognize the consequences of risk-related life choices (like smoking, lack of exercise, etc.). More info.
15% of NM children, ages 10-17 have obesity (2016-17). In 2018, 32.3% of adults in the state had obesity (a significant increase from 2017 to 2018. See: The State of Obesity 2020: Better Policies for a Healthier America
Resources
SAMHSA has a new report: The Opioid Crisis and the Hispanic/Latino Population: An Urgent Issue, in both English and Spanish. You’ll find recent data on opioid misuse prevalence and death rates in the Hispanic/Latino population; contextual factors and challenges to prevention and treatment; and innovative outreach and engagement strategies to help people gain treatment. 
The National Academy of Sciences released the Framework for Equitable Allocation of a COVID-19 Vaccine as a guide to states and public health agencies. Get the shorter Consensus Study Report Highlights. See how the vaccine can be disseminated equitably in phases. 
If you’re trying to promote civic literacy (voting, volunteering and membership in community groups like neighborhood associations) the Network for Public Health Law has a succinct factsheet with 5 pathways to enable citizens to use civic engagement tools to gain equity and to effect policy change.
Interested in implementing activities to advance racial equity and/or create workforce pipelines to benefit students, communities and employers? Read How to Keep Young Learners from Disconnecting During a Pandemic. New Mexico’s Future Focused Education shows how, with a grant from Presbyterian Healthcare, high school student interns in Albuquerque and Cuba trained with healthcare professionals in an innovative COVID-19 re-entry paid internship program, which can be duplicated by others. 
Facilitating Communication
How many of you try to provide public health messaging and information in ways that your intended community readers can easily find, understand, and use? You will find a handy Five Steps to Plain Language checklist to support your efforts to communicate effectively and clearly. 
In your work, you may encounter those who support the non-scientific Great Barrington Declaration. This encourages an alleged “focused protection” approach to COVID-19, allowing the virus to spread unchecked among young people—where it is supposedly less lethal—to create herd immunity (rather than to do so with a  vaccine.) To help you counteract this thinking, see the APHA (with 16 other public health agencies) statement.