Tobacco
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, more than 3.9 million people were reached during the first year of its tobacco-tax-funded campaign to brand tobacco as a "smelly, puking habit." The campaign was launched during last year's Super Bowl with the airing of the Frankenstein's monster ad. The campaign's second year began with the 1997 Super Bowl premiere of a new spot titled "P.P." It stars a dog named Barkley that has an attitude to match his basketball namesake's and demonstrates an extremely effective means of extinguishing secondhand smoke. Six English and three Spanish TV spots and nine English and three Spanish radio commercials ran during the campaign's first year. As an adjunct to the campaign, community-based coalitions sponsored tobacco prevention education in schools and merchant education programs. Campaign funds are running low, and Arizona Governor Fife Symington and legislators are working to lift the spending cap and fund the campaign as voters intended. Contact the Arizona Smokers' Helpline at (800)556-6222.
Violent and Abusive Behavior
The Bureau For At-Risk Youth has a comprehensive, curriculum-based, violence prevention video series for middle and high school age children. Featuring youth counselor Michael Pritchard, PeaceTalksTM addresses issues critical to teens, such as anger management, conflict resolution, racial divisions; violence triggers-drugs, alcohol, and guns; dating pressures; and sexual harassment. Mr. Pritchard gives practical answers to surviving in today's violent world and offers strategies for teens to adopt to protect themselves and their communities from the threat of violence.
The Bureau's "The Silent Victims Speak" is a three-video series that presents experiences shared by adults who grew up in violent homes and then shows followups from a panel of experts, including therapists, social workers, and police officers. The series presents coping strategies for young people growing up with family violence. The videos are: "Growing Up With Domestic Violence," "Impact of Domestic Violence on Children," and "Coping With Domestic Violence."
To order or for more information, write to The Bureau For At-Risk Youth at P.O. Box 760, Plainview, NY 11803-0760, or call (800)99-YOUTH.
Crosscutting
NetWellnessTM, the University of Cincinnati's
electronic consumer health library at http://www.netwellness.org offers
a database of current information about virtually every health
topic. The site links to other databases, such as the Merck
Manual Physicians' Desk Reference and Health Source Plus (which
contains the full text of over 200 medical journals and abstracts
for over 500 other journals). Other features include news items,
links to several current network news services and 35 partner
organizations, a search engine, and a health professionals
directory that lists over 900 physicians on staff at the
University of Cincinnati Hospital. Visitors can ask health care
experts specific questions and browse the questions and answers
of other users. NetWellness has received Point Communications'
"Top 5% of the Web" award and recently was named a
semifinalist in the National Information Infrastructure Awards
Program for extraordinary achievement in information highway
applications.
Physical Activity and Fitness
The Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports
Medicine's web site at http://www.fau.edu/divdept/exsci/seacsm/sehomepage.htm
presents membership information; a Healthy People 2000
section with the names and telephone numbers of regional and
State representatives, major objectives of the initiative,
chapter projects, and helpful hints for a healthier life;
upcoming meeting announcements; grant information; job and
internship bulletin boards; tables of contents and subscriber
information for Medicine & Science in Sports &
Exercise; and links to other sites.
HIV Infection
CDC has a new Business Responds to AIDS (BRTA) and Labor
Responds to AIDS (LRTA) web site at http://www.brta-lrta.org that
provides materials and assistance for setting up effective
HIV/AIDS worksite programs, including resources for employers and
employees, such as the BRTA Manager's Kit and LRTA Labor Leader's
Kit; samples of print ads for employer publications and
newsletters; related publications; and links to HIV/AIDS-related
web sites. Business, labor, and community leaders give personal
accounts of successful programs. CDC's Business and Labor
Resource Service, developed in conjunction with workplace
education experts and business and labor leaders, links callers
from business and labor with resources designed to help them
prepare to manage issues related to HIV/AIDS in the workplace. To
speak with an AIDS-in-the-workplace specialist, call
(800)458-5231 or send e-mail to blrs@cdcnac.org.
Immunization and Infectious Diseases
HHS has put up an electronic public service announcement called "Get the Flu Shot, Not the Flu" for Medicare beneficiaries at http://www.hcfa.gov/medlearn/refimmu.htm. The program is targeting both consumers and health care providers on parallel web sites. For more information, call Laura Koziol at (202)690-7179.
Crosscutting
In collaboration with the Federal Office of Rural Health
Policy, the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) is
conducting an initiative to develop State rural health
associations for better representation and service for rural
health care consumers. Contact Rosemary McKenzie, NRHA, One West
Armour Blvd., Suite 301, Kansas City, MO 64111; (816)756-3140; or
send e-mail to rm@nhraural.org.
The Bureau For At-Risk Youth has a free kit to help schools and organizations apply successfully for Government and private grants for violence prevention, substance abuse, and other guidance-related programs. This packet of information includes two pamphlets, "How To Prepare a Successful Grant Proposal" and "Where To Find Funding for Your Program," and a catalog describing more than 1,000 videos, books, pamphlets, curricula, and other resources for youth programs in schools and organizations nationwide. Most of these products qualify for Safe and Drug-Free Schools, Title I, Goals 2000, and other Federal, State, and private funding.
Write to The Bureau For At-Risk Youth, P.O. Box 760, Plainview, NY 11803-0760, or call (800)99-YOUTH.
Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine, Project Summary reviews the roles and limitations of cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) as a policy tool and outlines recommendations for enhancing the quality and comparability of CEAs of alternative public health and medical care strategies.
The summary was prepared from the full report of the same name
by the Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine and
published by ODPHP, Office of Public Health and Science, HHS. For
a single copy (handling fee, $5), contact the ODPHP Communication
Support Center (301)468-5960. (For information about ODPHP's new
center, see box in Etcetera.)
Mental Health and Mental Disorders
Multicultural Issues in Counseling: New Approaches to Diversity, 2nd ed., edited by Courtland C. Lee, Ph.D., gives proven strategies for working effectively with culturally diverse clients. The ideas presented are from personal and professional experiences of each chapter's authors, who are scholars from the specific cultural group covered or who have intimate knowledge of a particular group. The book is designed to help mental health professionals apply their awareness of and knowledge about cultural diversity to appropriate skills development with specific client groups. It offers techniques and strategies for individual and group counseling with such diverse clientele as Native, African, Asian, Latino, and Arab Americans. Case studies illustrate the foundations of culturally responsive counseling.
The book is available from the American Counseling Association
Distribution Center at (800)4ACA-648 or (301)470-4ACA. To receive
a review copy, contact Geoffrey Darnell at (703)823-9800, x338.
The National Community Mental Healthcare Council® (NCMHC) has
published the 40-page Principles for Behavioral Healthcare
Delivery, a how-to guide on providing quality consumer care.
The Council represents more than 900 community-based behavioral
health care providers, associations, networks, and public
authorities. Send $10 per copy plus $4 shipping and handling to
NCMHC, 12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Suite 320, Rockville Pike,
Rockville, MD 20852.
The National Institute on Aging's Progress Report on
Alzheimer's Disease 1996 is available on the Internet at http://www.alzheimers.org/adear
or by calling the Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral
Center at (800)438-4380. The 32-page book reports on advances in
diagnosis and treatment and highlights studies on such questions
as genetic testing for Alzheimer's disease.
The third edition of the Alzheimer's Education and Training
Resource catalog lists over 100 publications and videos
related to all aspects of the disease and its management. It is
organized into categories of caregiving resources, including
disease/behaviors, environment, professional caregivers,
training, and family and therapeutic interventions. Featured in
the catalog is the "Comfort Care" video training
series, which has over 19 hours of specific training in caring
for people with dementia. Programs in the series include
"Understanding Alzheimer's Disease," "Creative
Interventions With the Alzheimer's Patient,"
"Programming for Dementia," "Understanding and
Managing Difficult Behaviors," and "Dementia-Specific
Policies and Procedures." For further information, contact
Geriatric Resources at (800)359-0390.
Unintentional Injuries
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has released the first issue of its Consumer Product Safety Review, a quarterly publication providing national consumer product-related injury and death data, consumer product research activities and emerging hazard studies, and the latest product recalls. A mechanism for reporting incidents involving consumer products, the publication is designed to assist in reviewing, developing, and implementing consumer product safety guidelines.
To order, go to "Publications" at the CPSC's web site at http://www.cpsc.gov or call (202)512-1800.
Unintentional Injuries
The Fatal Vision Starter Kit contains a pair of goggles, "walk-the-line" and instructional videotapes, trainer's guide, and participant handouts. For information, contact Curt Kindschuh at (414)924-5751 or Mike Aguilar at (800)272-5023.
Fatal Vision simulator goggles, introduced at Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson's Conference on Highway Safety last summer, have become an important tool in the ongoing fight to stop alcohol- and drug-impaired driving among young people. While wearing the goggles, volunteers experience the visual distortions resulting from intoxication or drug impairment and literally "see" how quickly an impaired driver can turn fun into devastating consequences. At the simulated .17 blood alcohol level, everything is thrown off-from participants' depth perception to hand-eye coordination to equilibrium.
Fatal Vision goggles are used by police officers, driver
education instructors, Citizens Against Drug Impaired Drivers,
hospitals, teachers, Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapters, U.S.
Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army National Guard, Business Against
Drunk Drivers, and other traffic safety programs across America.