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Poison Control Program Update POISON HELP 1 Federal Register 1 Program Reauthorization 1 The 1-800-222-1222 Number 2 Grants Management Highlights 2 Office of Performance Review (OPR) Reviews 3 HRSA/AAPCC Collaborative Activities 3 Poison Help Campaign 4 HRSA/AAPCC Collaborative Activities (continued) 4 Formation of Financial Stability Workgroup Department of Health and Human Services HRSA POISON CONTROL Lori Roche Maxine Jones Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Resources and Services Administration The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Poison Control Program (PCP) Newsletter is issued quarterly to update and inform poison center directors, center staff, and others about issues and activities of interest to poison centers. Recently, the Poison Control Program has monitored the effect of the Federal budget on the HRSA Poison Control Grants Program, prepared the Federal Guidance for the FY 07 grant program, participated in the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) Mid-Year Managersí Meeting in Salt Lake City, hosted a concurrent meeting of the Northwest Health Educators at the Utah Poison Center, and hosted a meeting of the Northeast Health Educators at the New York City Poison Center. It has been a busy time for all of us. If you attended our presentation at the AAPCC's Mid-year Managers' Meeting in Salt Lake City, you may be familiar with some of the information in this issue. Please contact us if you want additional information. We welcome and encourage your comments and suggestions. Federal Register Notice–Indirect Cost HRSA issued a Federal Register Notice seeking public comment on a permanent 10 percent indirect cost limitation. Program Reauthorization Under the FY 2007 continuing resolution enacted by Congress, the Administration has the authority to adjust funding levels within the overall FY 2007 appropriation consistent with certain critical health care needs. The Administration has chosen to fund the Poison Control Program at $13.96 million, the level originally proposed in the President's FY 2007 budget. Because of this reduced funding level, the Stabilization/Certification grant amount available will decrease by approximately $6.8 million. The allocation amount for each Poison Control Center will be included in the Guidance. To provide additional funding in the stabilization grants, the incentive grant program was reduced from $1 million to $300,000. The grant Guidances are still in the departmental approval process. Grantees will be notified when the guidance is published. The 1-800-222-1222 Number Sabrina Jackson, Telecom Manager for HRSA's Poison Control Program, assisted by Rebecca Rembert, is the lead and primary contact point for implementation and operation of the national toll-free number. At the Salt Lake City meeting, Sabrina reported on the handling of misrouted calls, routing telephone number (RTN) and billing issues, emergency and scheduled rerouting, language line usage, operation, and construction of the new N-11/800# The next SPI Web cast will be Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 2-3:30 pm EDT. www.hrsa.gov/poisoncontrol/default.htm
GRANTS MANAGEMENT HIGHLIGHTS: GRANTS MANAGEMENT UPDATE PCCs are provided a minimum of 30 days to apply for grant funding. As you prepare your applications, remember that to claim indirect costs under the HRSA policy, you must have in place an indirect cost rate agreement. The indirect rate must cover "other sponsored programs" or "all programs." To explore this in greater detail, go to http://rates.psc.gov and click on "Contact Information and Office Locations." Please continue to direct requests such as carryover, extensions, re-budgeting, and name changes to the HRSA Grants Management Office, to the attention of the Grant Management Specialist identified on your Notice of Grant Award. TIPS FOR APPLYING FOR GRANTS Through our Technical Assistance Resource Center (TARC), we have offered assistance in fund-raising and related activities to support PCC financial operations. Many of you have already explored these opportunities; if you would like to learn more about them, please contact a member of the TARC staff at 301-755-2800. Nationally, this area is highly competitive. Effective proposal writing is critical to success, but you can increase the probability of success by developing a realistic understanding of the philosophy and expectations of grant-funding organizations. TARC Funding Consultant Wilma Killgo has provided consultation to many nonprofit organizations and has achieved a high rate of success in helping them identify, apply for, and compete for grant funds. Her potential to succeed is largely predicated on maintaining current information and understanding about foundations and grant funders. Recently, Wilma participated in a face-to-face exchange of practical information between foundations and grant funders and potential grant applicants. At the workshop, representatives from several large foundations offered suggestions and tips to strengthen the quality of applications, improve the probability of success, and minimize the expenditure of effort. They emphasized the importance of carefully researching the targeted funding organization; determining the fit between the goals and objectives of the targeted grant program and the purpose and operations of the applicant organization; establishing and maintaining effective communication and ongoing relationships with the funding organization; and having realistic expectations. Office of Performance Review (OPR) Reviews All projects funded by HRSA are subject to OPR Review and, as of this writing, 26 PCCs have been visited by the HRSA OPR. Each onsite review focuses on implementation of projects supported by HRSA grants and is conducted by OPR staff from the Federal Regional Office with jurisdiction for the State in which the poison center is located. When possible, HRSA PCP staff attend. Each grantee selects the performance measures to be reviewed. Based on OPR reviews conducted to date, the top five performance measures most frequently used and their categories are Call Volume (Total Calls), Call Volume by Type, Human Exposure Calls (percent managed at home), Education/Training, and Call Volume (National Poison Control Hotline). During the Salt Lake City meeting, Lori Roche, Director of the Poison Control Program, led a discussion on the experiences of Directors who have gone through the OPR review. Their experiences were generally positive. It was observed, however, that OPR reviewers have not always been fully familiar with the operations of PCCs, and this has resulted in a loss of efficiency and created hardships among staff in both preparing for and participating in the review. The HRSA PCP works closely with the OPR. Staff from both programs recognize the need to prepare and move efficiently through the review process. Therefore, the issues of preparation and actual conduct of the reviews will be revisited. 2007 OPR reviews are scheduled for three PCCs: Hennepin County (MN), University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the University of Utah. The MCHC-Chicago Hospital Council is an alternate site if one of the scheduled three does not occur. EXAMPLE: The OPR review of the PCC at Children's Hospital in Michigan involved the development and management of a pay-per-click campaign using Google and Yahoo. This campaign presented a Poison Center ad on the Google and Yahoo Web sites that visitors could click on, which would then re-route to the Poison Center Web site. The campaign was conducted from October through December 2006. The objective of the OPR technical assistance was to increase traffic to the PCC Web site. A target of 120 to 180 "clicks" per month (or a range of 360 to 540 "clicks") was established for the 3-month campaign. This paid search campaign helped the PCC increase awareness, access, and visits to its Web site. During the 3 months, the campaign generated a total of 679 "clicks" to the PCC Web site, which was more than 50 percent HIGHER than the expected number of 450 "clicks." More than 65,000 visitors clicked on the Google and Yahoo ads. www.hrsa.gov/poisoncontrol/default.htm 2 HRSA/AAPCC Collaborative Activities Collaboration between the Poison Control Program and AAPCC continue, with special emphasis on several ongoing and newly identified activities. Here are brief updates on several of these activities: PATIENT MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES Since 2001, the HRSA Poison Control Program, in conjunction with AAPCC, has directed the development of guidelines to standardize the management of poison patients. As originally implemented, 16 guidelines were planned; however, in 2006 an extension was provided to support the development of two additional guidelines for a total of 18. Currently, 14 guidelines have been completed and panel-approved, 2 are in the process of secondary review, 1 is at the second draft stage, and 1 (*carbamazephone) is not expected to be completed. HRSA is working with AAPCC and the grants management office to extend the cooperative agreement for the purpose of conducting an evaluation of the patient management guidelines. BIOTERRIORISM EDUCATION PROGRAM Sample materials for customization by PCCs have been developed based on the Illinois Poison Center Program. These materials include Internal Notification Documents, EMS cards, Bioterrorism Treatment Guidelines, Disaster Brochure (for the public), Public FAQs, Preparedness Course Brochure (for healthcare professionals), and BioPoster-Bioterrorism Syndromes. These materials will be available on the AAPCC Web site. NATIONAL CORE SYSTEM BETA (NCS-beta)TRAINING All four training sessions have been postponed until AAPCC locates optimal training sites to accommodate the need to closely monitor the trainees interaction with the system and provide the most effective training. EDUCATOR SUPPORT During this past quarter, HRSA, through its PC TARC, supported a Regional 1-day meeting of the Northwest Educators. The meeting was hosted by the Utah Poison Center. It ran concurrent with the Mid-Year Managers Meeting, enabling Educators to sit in on key segments of the larger meeting. HRSA's PCP provided funds to support travel expenses for participating Educators. The agenda (next column) was developed by the attendees and approved by Stu Heard, AAPCCís Director. For copies of the meeting handouts, available on CD, please contact Denise Nguyen at dnguyen@pire.org. The Northeast Educators Regional Meeting at the New York City Poison Center was held on April 19th. The focus was on "Putting Health Education Programs on Paper," a day of research skill-building. The final agenda is in the blue box (next page).
TOPICS OF THE NORTHWEST EDUCATORS' MEETING IN SALT LAKE CITY Methods of Outreach Health fairs Special Populations Spanish materials Train the Trainer Tonya Drayden, Oregon Poison Center Share and Swap Presentation: Media Matters: How to Make the Headlines Guest Speaker: Michelle Cadwell Blackston, PIRE Presentation: Social Marketing "How to Implement Constructs of Social Marketing Presentation: Health Literacy Guest Speaker: Angela Mickalide, PhD, CHES Presentation: Measuring Outcomes Monique Sheppard, PhD, PIRE In January, as planned, HRSA hosted a meeting with Widmeyer and the AAPCC selected technical expert committee: Elena Juris, Evelyn Waring, Gail Banach, Kathy Marquardt, Jennifer Lowry, and Karen Simone. The purpose of the meeting was to begin production. Several modifications were agreed upon. Based on committee feedback, three of the four storyboards–"Helpline Call," "Car in Snow," and "Husband and Wife" (the 40s era)– were revised. The group discussed modifications to the communications plan to address some of the poison center medical directorsí concerns and ensure that prevention is clearly identified as a major theme of the campaign. An early November launch date is planned for the Poison Help campaign. The production timeline includes two rounds of feedback from the expert committee. The first draft of production materials willbe available for technical expert committee review and comment the week of April 23rd.
CONFERENCE EXHIBITS Through HRSA's technical assistance contract with AAPCC, Elena Juris, in conjunction with the PCC Health Educators, will exhibit and distribute materials at national events. The selected events are •Directors of Health Promotion, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Society of Public Health Educators (SOPHE) (Seattle in June) •National Association of Nurses (Nashville in late June) •National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (San Francisco in late July) Through the TARC, PCC Educators also exhibited at two additional conferences in March: Aging (ASA-NCOA), Chicago, and Formation of Financial Stability Workgroup HRSA has established an all-volunteer workgroup to conduct a peer review of various aspects of the financial operation of PCCs. Members of the Financial Stability Workgroup are Leo Artelejo, David Baker, Ellen Chavez, Barbara Crouch, Marsha Ford, Robert Geller, Linda Kalin, Ed Krenzelok, Toby Litovitz, Steve Marcus, Lee McGoodwin, Mary Powers, Ruddy Rose, Tama Sawyer,Jay Schauben, Earl Siegel, Henry Spiller, Jon Thompson, Richard Weisman, Jim Williams, and Kathy Wruk Issues considered during the first meeting on April 13th were: •Common poison center values, and •Establishing a development program. The full groupís first all-day meeting was in Rockville, Maryland. A second all-day in-person meeting will be held in August. The development and value groups will meet via conference call between now and then. We plan to complete this activity by November 2007. As it develops, we will keep you informed and provide you with an opportunity to contribute to the process. For further information, please contact Stu Swayze at 301-755-2794. Northeast Educatorsí Regional Meeting 8:00 - 8:15 a.m. 8:15 - 9:00 a.m. 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. 10:00 10:45 a.m. 10:45 11:45 a.m. 12:15 1:15 p.m. 2:45-3:45 p.m. Visit the Adobe Reader Web site and follow the instructions to download the appropriate version of Adobe Reader for your operating system. |
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