RWJF’s Pioneer Portfolio and Ashoka’s Changemakers have launched a global search for individuals and institutions who help people make better decisions regarding their health and the health of others. Now through April 1, 2009 you are encouraged to enter your idea as part of the new online, open-source competition “Designing for Better Health.”

What can often make the difference in the health-related options we choose are the nudges we get. Nudges are innovative little pushes that can help us make better choices. They entail an individual or institution intentionally creating a choice environment that makes it easier for people to make decisions that can improve their health.

View details of the competetion online at http://www.rwjf.org/pioneer/product.jsp?id=37528 [posted on RWJF Contents Alert]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released an updated and improved version of the Surgeon General’s Internet-based family health history tool. This new tool makes it easier for consumers to assemble and share family health history information.  It can also help practitioners make better use of health history information so they can provide more informed and personalized care for their patients. For more information please visit the following URL: https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/fhh-web/home.action

DisabilityInfo.gov’s Community Life Section offers a wide range of information and resources to help people with disabilities live independently and participate fully in all aspects of community life. http://tinyurl.com/yv69xv (or start on the home page http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/ and select the Community Life tab) Included in this section are “Emergency Preparedness” and “Multicultural Populations Resources“.

Planning for the health and safety of those attending mass gatherings is an enormous challenge for local officials. Mass gatherings are defined as those attracting more than 1,000 participants and include events like the Olympics, Super Bowl, religious services conducted by the Pope, state funerals, and presidential inaugurations. Public health concerns range from ensuring adequate drinking water, food safety, first aid, and toilet facilities to planning for the extremes of possible major accidents, dangerous weather and even terrorist threats.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has compiled a Web page of links to information on the public health aspects of planning for all kinds of mass gatherings, http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/massgatherings.html. These resources include a search of PubMed for medical journal article citations as well as documents from government and other sources. Topics include preparedness for large numbers of casualties and management of disease outbreaks.

Health tips for those attending inauguration weekend outdoor activities are available from the US Department of Health and Human Services at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/01/20090112a.html.

For more information on the Disaster Information Management Research Center at NLM, please visit http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/

The Radiation Event Medical Management System (REMM) http://remm.nlm.gov/ is available for download to mobile devices (Blackberry®, Windows Mobile®, Palm®) with selected key files from the full online version.  REMM is produced by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Office of Planning and Emergency Operations, in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine®, Division of Specialized Information Services, with subject matter experts from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many US and international consultants. For more see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd08/nd08_sis_reprint_remm.html [NLM New files for the week of Dec 29, 2008]

WISER 4.2 is now available! You may download it from the WISER web site http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/ , or access the on-line version, WebWISER. http://webwiser.nlm.nih.gov/ WISER is a system designed to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents. WISER provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression advice. [NLM-WISER-L]

DisasterAssistance.gov
http://www.disasterassistance.gov/
DisasterAssistance.gov is an easy to use website that consolidates disaster information in one place. Currently, 17 U.S. Government agencies, which sponsor more than 40 forms of disaster assistance, contribute to the website. You can apply for many forms of assistance with a single, online application. Your application information is shared only with those agencies that you identify and is protected by the highest levels of security. Ultimately, DisasterAssistance.gov will speed the application process and allow you to check the progress of your application online. [[DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB ]

Ready or Not 2008
http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/bioterror-report-2008.pdf
Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released the sixth annual Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism report, which finds that progress made to better protect the country from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk, due to budget cuts and the economic crisis. In addition, the report concludes that major gaps remain in many critical areas of preparedness, including surge capacity, rapid disease detection, and food safety. [MRC National Listserv]

Read this blog posting from Tutor/Mentor Connections http://www.tutormentorconnection.org/ that discusses at risk youth as a public health issue http://tinyurl.com/a7rb3m The organizers at Tutor/Mentor Connections are looking to collaborate with others who are acting to make eduction and drop out reduction a public health priority. Please get in touch with them through the website or contact Dan Bassill tutormentor1 @ earthlink . net

The speaker’s at today’s NIH Summit on the Science of Health Disparities were all dynamic and knowledgeable. Governor Howard Dean MD, Chairman, Democratic National Committee started off the day with a rousing speech on the future of health care in the US. He was followed by several panelists speaking on the intersection of science, policy and practice. The lunch keynote speaker, Elijah Cummings, United States Congress, Washington, DC capped off the morning with a powerful and inspiring talk that had audience members visibly moved. Moving into the afternoon breakout sessions was more of the same - presentations and sharing of knowledge and action around overcoming health disparities. Below are some resources I learned about while at the Summit

Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health
http://www.who.int/bookorders/anglais/detart1.jsp?sesslan=1&codlan=1&codcol=15&codcch=741
Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health
Nonserial Publication
World Health Organization
The Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health sets out key areas of daily living conditions and of the underlying structural drivers that influence them in which action is needed. It provides analysis of social determinants of health and concrete examples of types of action that have proven effective in improving health and health equity in countries at all levels of socioeconomic development.

The Community Health Promotion Handbook: Action Guides to Improve Community Health
http://www.cdc.gov/steps/actionguides/
Partnership for Prevention® and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed The Community Health Promotion Handbook: Action Guides to Improve Community Health, an evidence-based tool that bridges the gap between research and practice. Five selected recommendations from the Task Force on Community Preventive Services’ The Guide to Community Preventive Services: What Works to Promote Health? have been translated into action guides that provide public health practitioners and others interested in health promotion with the necessary “how to” guidance to implement effective community-level strategies.

Moving Upstream: How Interventions That. Address the Social Determinants of Health Can. Improve Health and Reduce Disparities
http://www.nursingcenter.com/pdf.asp?AID=819665 (pdf)
David R. Williams, Manuela V. Costa, Adebola O. Odunlami, and Selina A. Mohammed
J Public Health Management Practice, 2008, November(Suppl), S8–S17
CopyrightC 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 11:30:00 AM ET
http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=7320
Dr. Varmus chairs the Scientific Board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health program and leads the Advisory Committee for the Global Health Division. He was a member of the World Health Organization Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, and is a co-founder of the Public Library of Science, a leading publisher of open access journals. In addition, Dr. Varmus serves as co-chair of the IOM’s committee on The U.S. Commitment to Global Health. The committee will issue its interim report on the day preceding the lecture. You will be able to view the event at http://videocast.nih.gov when the event is live. Read the complete NIH News Release is available online at
http://www.nih.gov/news/health/dec2008/fic-10.htm

Report Finds Economic Crisis Hurting U.S. Preparedness for Health Emergencies
Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism finds that progress made to better protect the country from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk, due to budget cuts and the economic crisis. Released by Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the sixth annual Ready or Not? concludes that major gaps remain in many critical areas of preparedness, including surge capacity, rapid disease detection, and food safety. http://www.rwjf.org/publichealth/product.jsp?id=36628 [posted on RWJF Content Alerts]

The National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine
Evaluating the Emergency Care Environment State by State 2009
American College of Emergency Physicians
http://www.emreportcard.org/uploadedFiles/ACEP-ReportCard-10-22-08.pdf.pdf

The Problem of Measuring Emergency Preparedness: The Need for Assessing ”Response Reliability” as Part of Homeland Security Planning
Brian A. Jackson
Rand Occassional Paper
http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/
Scroll down through the 2008 publications to find the link to the PDF file.

http://www.diversitypreparedness.org/
Sign up to recieve the eNewsletter on the home page.
From the latest newsletter:
New Online Toolkit: Emergency Preparedness Planning Toolkit for Diverse Populations
This online toolkit produced by the Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness provides resources to public health planners and individuals from other sectors involved in preparedness efforts targeting diverse populations including those with limited English proficiency. These resources aim to improve outcomes for diverse populations during a public health emergency by focusing on planning considerations. In addition to planning resources, the toolkit features natural disaster-based HSEEP compliant tabletop exercises that users can customize to meet their needs. To download the toolkit or access the materials online  http://info.med.yale.edu/eph/ycphp/VPtoolkit.html

Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 301: Interim Emergency Management Training Guide for Special Needs Populations
This interim guide, jointly developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, outlines how involving special needs populations in planning enables emergency managers to address the function-based needs of individuals. The guide explicitly addresses the needs of culturally diverse, non-English speaking, and limited English proficient populations and strategies to integrate them into emergency communication, evacuation, and recovery plans. Read the complete press release at http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=45435
View the Interim Guide at http://fema.gov/pdf/media/2008/301.pdf