How Healthy Are Our Connecticut Counties? How Do the Everyday Decisions We Make about Food and Exercise Affect Our Health Overall? The County Calculator Can Tell Us

How do the decisions we make outside the doctor’s office–in our schools, workplaces and neighborhoods influence our health and well-being on a daily basis? What role do Education and Income play in health care outcomes? Do these factors have any measurable impact on our health overall?  In the short-term and the long-term?  How much do the everyday decisions we make about what we eat and where we buy our foods  affect what happens to us years from now? 

You can find the answers in the 2012 County Health Rankings. The Rankings is an annual check-up that highlights the healthiest—and the least healthy—counties in America.

Published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and RWJF, the Rankings assess the overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states based on key factors that influence health, such as education rates, income levels, and access to healthy foods and medical care. This year’s Rankings include several new measures, such as how many fast-food restaurants are in a county, and levels of physical inactivity among residents.

Also new this year, the County Health Road-maps will help counties to mobilize and take action to create healthier places to live, learn, work, and play.  The 2012 County Health Calculator, an interactive app developed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Human Needs, uses education and income to illustrate how these factors outside the health care system may affect our health.

The links below are all active; put the cursor over the entry you wish to read more about and follow the prompts.  The County Health Calculator is extremely informative.  Here are some short-hand facts about New Haven County:

In New Haven County, Connecticut, if 5% more people attended some college and 3% more had an income higher than twice the federal poverty level we could expect to save 189 lives, prevent 2,700 cases of diabetes, and eliminate $21.1 Million in diabetes costs every year.  Learn much more by using the calculator and the other links for yourself.  (N’Zinga Shani, OneWorld, Inc)

Learn how your county ranks and watch videos about efforts to improve health in San Bernardino, Calif., and Hernando, Miss.

• State Medicaid Leaders Spur Health Care Innovation

• Physicians and Hospitals Bump Up HIT Use

• Reducing Just 64 Calories a Day Could Help Meet Childhood Obesity-Prevention Goals

• IOM Panel Urges Increased National Focus on Prevention, Public Health

• Expanding “Hot Spotting” to New Communities

• Can a Healthy Recess Prevent Bullying and Increase Time for Learning?  

  This is very valuable information; we at OneWorld encourage you to use the calculator in evaluating where you live.  It is easy, straightforward and most informative.  The information is provided courtesy of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  There is also additional related information at:  http://humanneeds.vcu.edu/ Virginia Center for Human Needs .  The Center is in partnership with the RWJF. Other related information are linked below.

• Public Health Program Area

• County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Focus Area

• County Health Rankings on newpublichealth.org

Black-on-black crime a crisis that needs a solution  Just found this remarkable article – worth reading.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Annette John-Hall, 04/17/2012

Annette John-Hall: Black-on-black crime a crisis that needs a solution

April 17, 2012|By Annette John-Hall, Inquirer Columnist

 After 44 agonizing days, Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey finally charged town watch volunteer George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in the death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.

You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief, not just from Martin’s anguished parents, but from all of us who believe justice doesn’t mean reducing a young man’s life to nothing more than road kill.

The Martin case has also opened the door for us to have an honest conversation about the domestic terrorism that stalks us nationally and in our own backyard.

I’m talking about the epidemic of young black males dying in cities all over the country by gun violence.  What are we going to do about it?

Ignoring the epidemic

If the Ku Klux Klan – you know, those other guys in hoodies, the ones who really are sinister – killed 230 black men (the number slain in Philadelphia last year), the city would be on lockdown. If 230 Americans got sick from eating tainted spinach, the USDA would conduct a national recall.

But 230 African American men killed in one city? Not one word. No hearings, no investigations. Nothing but silence.

That’s not me talking. I took those words almost verbatim from a speech Mayor Nutter delivered at the ninth annual Mayors’ Summit on Race, Culture and Human Relations in Tallahassee last week.

Nutter passionately addressed the plight of black males and made a convincing case that the future of our cities, indeed our nation, depends on our getting a grip on this problem.

It was a powerful speech. I only wish he had made it here.

Because I don’t think folks realize that through his establishing the Mayor’s Commission on African American Males two years ago, Nutter has taken the lead among big-city mayors in doing the hard work required to stem the flow of blood in our streets.

“As mayor of the largest American city with an African American mayor, I feel an obligation to speak out,” Nutter told summit participants.

Hard conversation

• Granted, talking about black-on-black crime is a hard conversation for everyone.
• Whites like to ignore it by saying criminals killing each other have nothing to do with them.
• Blacks hope that if they ignore it, maybe they won’t become victims themselves – even when it happens in their own neighborhoods.
• And nobody – white or black – cares enough to sign petitions, rally, or march to start a national outcry.
• All we get here are candles and teddy bears – and a community full of grief.

Bullets and emphasis  above placed by OneWorld, Inc

Medicare has announced that it will now cover obesity screening, testing and counseling.

An Important Decision by Medicare – Read the Decision Memo below the excerpt.  There are clear and specific guidelines, expectations and measureable outcomes.  This is an enlightened decision.  It is our fervent hope that this is not something that the Republican House of Representatives will be able to prevent or overturn later.   Obesity is one of the root causes of the sky-rocketing cost of health care; it also contributes negatively in many other ways to the health and well-being of children, families, communities and– by extrapolation– our entire society.  This decision is a step in the right direction.

How Money Factors Into The War On Obesity - Valuable reading
HealthyState.org   Farah Dosani, 04/17/2012
Medicare covers treatment for diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. All are costly to the health care system – and all often have their roots in a larger problem. The Medicare program recently announced it is now covering obesity screening and counseling by primary care providers – doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Many herald the move as a paradigm shift. Until eight years ago, Medicare said obesity was not a disease.

Decision Memo for Intensive Behavioral Therapy for Obesity (CAG-00423N)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has determined the following:  The evidence is adequate to conclude that intensive behavioral therapy for obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m², is reasonable and necessary for the prevention or early detection of illness or disability and is appropriate for individuals entitled to benefits under Part A or enrolled under Part B and is recommended with a grade of A or B by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). 

Intensive behavioral therapy for obesity consists of the following:

1. Screening for obesity in adults using measurement of BMI calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by the square of height in meters (expressed in kg/m²);
2. Dietary (nutritional) assessment; and

3. Intensive behavioral counseling and behavioral therapy to promote sustained weight loss through high intensity interventions on diet and exercise.

The intensive behavioral intervention for obesity should be consistent with the 5-A framework that has been highlighted by the USPSTF:

1. Assess: Ask about/assess behavioral health risk(s) and factors affecting choice of behavior change goals/methods.
2. Advise: Give clear, specific, and personalized behavior change advice, including information about personal health harms and benefits.
3. Agree: Collaboratively select appropriate treatment goals and methods based on the patient’s interest in and willingness to change the behavior.
4. Assist: Using behavior change techniques (self-help and/or counseling), aid the patient in achieving agreed-upon goals by acquiring the skills, confidence, and social/environmental supports for behavior change, supplemented with adjunctive medical treatments when appropriate.
5. Arrange:  Schedule follow-up contacts (in person or by telephone) to provide ongoing assistance/support and to adjust the treatment plan as needed, including referral to more intensive or specialized treatment.

Read the complete decision at: http://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/details/nca-decision-memo  It is important, beneficial and worthwhile reading.

For the purposes of this decision memorandum, a primary care setting is defined as one in which there is provision of integrated, accessible health care services by clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal health care needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community.  Emergency departments, inpatient hospital settings, ambulatory surgical centers, independent diagnostic testing facilities, skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities and hospices are not considered primary care settings under this definition. 

For the purposes of this decision memorandum a “primary care physician” and “primary care practitioner” will be defined consistent with existing sections of the Social Security Act (§1833(u)(6), §1833(x)(2)(A)(i)(I) and §1833(x)(2)(A)(i)(II)).

By eliminating recess many schools are going in the WRONG health direction.   Parents, we encourage you to advocate for your children; see to it that yuor child’s school has a built-in time for recess or other scheduled physical activities during the school day.  Also, before your children start homework, be sure they get phically refreshed; they will do better academic work.   Children NEED play time.  Please read the full  report linked below.  

Schools Find Active Kids Make Smarter Students 
Minneapolis Star Tribune, Herón Márquez Estrada, 04/23/2012 
When students at Meadowview Elementary in Farmington needed to improve their reading scores last fall, they were turned over to physical education teacher Joe McCarthy. Each morning for months, McCarthy had the students spend 15 minutes running or shuttling from side to side in the gym. It wasn’t any type of punishment, but part of a growing trend in education that focuses on increased physical activity to improve learning. The students were selected based on their scores on fall state assessments. When the kids took the tests again earlier this year, after McCarthy’s exercise regimen, they showed the greatest improvement of any students at Meadowview, double the school average, McCarthy said.

“It’s more than a theory. It’s a well-established fact,” said Jack Olwell, incoming president of the Minnesota Association for Health, Physical Education and Dance, the group representing the state’s thousands of physical education teachers. “The more active you are, the more brain cells you create.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a paper in 2010 urging more physical activity for students because of the health and academic benefits.

“There is substantial evidence that physical activity can help improve academic achievement, including grades and standardized test scores,” the CDC report concluded.

 OneWorld’s television program line-up for May 2012  focuses on Women’s Health issues and concerns.  The programs are extremely informative.  You can learn a great deal more by watching these porgrams in various venues.  Read on.    Visit: http://www.oneworldpi.org/home.html to connect with us on FaceBook, Youtube and Twitter.  OneWorld programs are also available statewide on AT&T Uverse Chan 99.  See more details below.  We greatly appreciate the support of those who have called, written letters and sent us inquiries about the availability of our programs.  Thank you.

May is Women’s Health Month – and OneWorld is bringing to television some very special programs expressly for women.  These programs can be seen on AT&T Uverse – dropdown menu Channel 99.  The times and topics are listed by stations – alphabetically: Branford, East Haven, North Haven. Our programs are also on Comcast Channels 10, 15, 18, 26 and 34, and on Cox Chan 15 and Charter Communications – Community Visions – Channel 21.

The following programs can be seen during the month of May starting Sun. 5/6/12,  7- 8PM on Citizens Television, Comcast Channel 26 in Hamden, New Haven and West Haven.   In response to those who have called inquiring why they cannot see our programs during the week, please know that OneWorld has no control over the fact that CTV will air the program only at 7PM on Sundays. 

1. Gynecological Cancers with Drs. Schwartz and Rutherford & community participants.  5/6/12
2. Tips for Maintaining Health & Well-Being As Women Age w/ multicultural women MDs 5/13/12
3. Cancer Genetic Screening, Counseling & Testing w/ Ellen Matloff, Yale Genetics,    5/20/12  

4. Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) w/ Yale MDs & Nurse,  5/27/12   

OneWorld programs can be seen on the stations listed below at various times:

1.  Branford Community TV (BCTV, Comcast Channel 18) www.branfordtv.org
2.  East Haven Public TV (ETV), Comcast Channel 18 – www.easthaventv.org/
3. North Haven Community TV (NHTV), Comcast Chan. 18 – www.nhtv.com
4. Comcast of Middletown, PEG Access Channel 15 (Cromwell, East Hampton, Middlefield, Middletown & Portland)
5. Comcast of Seymour, PEG Access Channel 10 (Covers Valley towns of: Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Naugatuck, Oxford, Shelton & Seymour.)
6. Comcast Channel 26, Citizens Television, (covers Hamden, NH and WH) OneWorld programs air on Sundays at 7pm on Chan. 26
7. Comcast of Clinton, PEG Access Chan. 34 (covers – 9 towns – will be reinstated shortly)
8. Cox Communications Chan 15 www.patv15.com/ (covers: Meriden, Southington & Cheshire.) 
9.  Charter Community Visions 21: www.communityvision21.com/ (covers Trumbull, Monroe,    Newtown, Brookfield, New Fairfield, Sherman, Bridgewater, Roxbury, New Milford, Kent, Southbury, Woodbury, Bethlehem, and Washington