Evaluation
of the San Mateo County Children's Health Initiative
This
report, the third in a series of five annual reports from the Evaluation of the
San Mateo County Children's Health Initiative (CHI), provides an overview of
the Initiative as well as a detailed look at particular aspects of the program
and access to specific services. During 2005 the initiative took on several
new challenges, such as an increased focus on improving retention in public
programs, increasing use of preventive care, and improving access to dental and
mental health care.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/evaluation_of_t_1.php
More
Communities Target Parents Who Allow Underage Drinking
Parents in
more U.S. communities are facing fines and
other penalties for allowing underage youths to drink in their homes, according
to participants at the annual National Leadership Conference in Baltimore, Md., the Associated Press reported Aug. 25. Supporters of the laws
acknowledge that enforcement is difficult, so they're hoping that publicizing the
penalties will serve as a deterrent.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/more_communitie.php
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Teenage
alcohol and drug use: At best, parents know about it only half of the time
New
research looks at how helpful parents may be in terms of assessing their
children's alcohol and/or drug use and abuse. Findings indicate that parents
do not provide valuable information about their children's use of alcohol and
drugs because they are often unaware of it.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/teenage_alcohol.php
Many
Teens Drink, Use Drugs and Drive; Parents Called Effective Deterrent
A new
survey finds that 19 percent of teens drive under the influence of alcohol, 15
percent drive after using marijuana, and 7 percent report driving under the
influence of other drugs. However, the annual Teens Today survey, sponsored by
Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and the Liberty Mutual insurance
company, also found that teens whose parents set high expectations and impose
serious consequences are less likely to drive while impaired.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/many_teens_drin.php
**Civic
Engagement
Movement
Mobilizes Values Voters with Hundreds of Minimum Wage Events Across U.S.
As Congress
continues to stall on raising the minimum wage, the national Let Justice Roll
Campaign will hold hundreds of rallies, workshops, religious services and
prayer breakfasts in October to build support for raising the minimum wage at
the state and federal level. Let Justice Roll, a fast-growing nonpartisan
partnership of more than 80 faith and community groups, is working to pass
minimum wage ballot measures in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana and Ohio.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/movement_mobili.php
National
Homeless and Low Income Voter Registration Week, Sept. 24-30
Being
homeless can present significant challenges not the least of which includes
figuring out how to become a fully participating citizen in our nation of
abundance. Nonpartisan voter registration events like the one being organized
by Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness will take place across the country
during the week of Sept. 24-30 to mark National Homeless and Low Income Voter
Registration Week.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/micah_to_host_v.php
**Community
Development
Understanding
Diverse Neighborhoods in an Era of Demographic Change
Immigration
is bringing profound changes to urban and suburban neighborhoods across the
country. Many housing and community development practitioners are working to
promote mixed-income communities, so that lower-income households can enjoy
greater access to quality public and private services and to mainstream social
and economic opportunities.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/understanding_d.php
**Economic
Security
Lower
Income Means Higher Risk for Heart Disease
Low-income
adults are more likely to have very high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a
risk factor for heart disease, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Southern California. The study, published in the current issue of
Brain, Behavior and Immunity, finds that among adults with income levels at or
below the poverty line, 15.7 percent had very high levels of CRP, compared to
only 9.1 percent of those in families above the poverty line.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/lower_income_me.php
**Education
As
2 Bushes Try to Fix Schools, Tools Differ
Well before
President Bush signed his No Child Left Behind law, Jeb Bush poured his own
ideas into a school improvement program for Florida. Over the years since, Governor Bush has mostly held his tongue about
the president's very different law, even as detractors of all stripes have
attacked it. But in recent weeks --- perhaps seeking to cement his legacy as a
school-policy expert as he prepares to leave office --- Governor Bush has been
speaking out about the federal law, mixing dollops of praise with measured
criticisms --- and taking an occasional potshot.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/as_2_bushes_try.php
Audit
Finds Ethical Lapses In U.S. Reading Program
A scorching
internal review of the Bush administration's billion-dollar-a-year reading
program says the Education Department ignored the law and ethical standards to
steer money how it wanted. The government audit is unsparing in its view that
the Reading First program has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful
mismanagement.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/_audit_finds_et.php
**Health
Health
Care Costs Rise Twice as Much as Inflation
A widely
followed national survey reported yesterday that the cost of employee health
care coverage rose 7.7 percent this year, more than double the overall
inflation rate and well ahead of the increase in the incomes of workers. Since
2000, the cost of family coverage has risen 87 percent while consumer prices
are up 18 percent and the pay of workers has increased 20 percent, the survey
noted.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/health_care_cos_1.php
Study
Reveals Seniors at Risk for Stopping Medications After Losing Brand-Name Drug
Coverage
A recent
study found that over one in four seniors cut back on their use of medications
after their health plan stopped covering brand-name drugs. This has
implications for the 23 million elderly people enrolled in the new Medicare
Drug Benefit plan, where some health plans are trying to bridge a
"coverage gap" in the benefit by providing coverage for generic but
not brand-name drugs.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/study_reveals_s.php
Survey
of California's Latino Renters Shows High Rates of Exposure to Drifting Tobacco
Smoke Despite Home Smoking Bans
Despite 95
percent of Latino families banning smoking inside their apartments, the
first-ever statewide survey of Latino renters showed high rates of exposure to
drifting tobacco smoke, according to the "Latino Renters Survey: Attitudes
about Secondhand Smoke in Apartments," released by the Hispanic/Latino Tobacco
Education Partnership and the American Lung Association of California's Center
for Tobacco Policy and Organizing.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/firstever_surve.php
Nursing
Research Targets Underserved Korean American Communities
Two unique
community-based research initiatives will provide health awareness and
interventions to underserved Korean Americans at risk for diabetes and high
blood pressure. In a $3.5 million study funded by the National Health, Lung,
and Blood Institute, Kim will explore health literacy interventions for Korean
Americans with high blood pressure
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/nursing_researc.php
AIDS
study challenges conventional treatment guidelines for HIV patients
A newly
published study by investigators at the Center for AIDS Research at Case Medical Center, along with a nationwide team of
AIDS/HIV experts, strongly challenges conventional thinking about the role of
measurements of the amount of HIV particles in the blood as a method of
predicting a patient's ability to fight off the disease. The study, published
in the current issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association),
indicates that the amount of HIV in a patient's blood is much less reliable as
a tool for determining the rate at which he or she will lose infection-fighting
cells than previously thought.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/aids_study_chal.php
Cost
of HIV/AIDS Highlights Racial, Ethnic Disparities
The
economic cost of HIV/AIDS is far greater than previously estimated, and the
cost is even higher for minorities, according to a new study that estimated the
direct and indirect costs of the disease. The total lifetime cost of illness
for Americans newly diagnosed with HIV in 2002 is approximately $36.4 billion,
of which more than 80 percent is related to productivity losses, a cost that
most previous studies have omitted.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/364_billion_a_y.php
Creating
21st Century Medicaid System Requires Building Model Based on Choice,
Flexibility, Accountability
According
to a September 2006 Gallup poll, more than 65 percent of
Medicaid beneficiaries reported that they would likely switch to a Medicaid
plan that offered the incentive of a shared savings account.. As greater and
greater portions of state and federal budgets are directed toward the Medicaid
system, now is the time to seek out and apply solutions that will lead to more
choices of higher quality at lower cost.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/summit_leaders.php
**Hunger
and Nutrition
Surveys
find outright hunger among Latino immigrants in North Carolina
Wake Forest
University School of Medicine researchers have found high rates of hunger in
surveys of immigrant Latino families in eastern and western North Carolina, southwestern
Virginia and Forsyth County. "About 40 percent of the respondents in each
study reported worrying that food would run out and that food bought would not
last," according to the study’s lead author.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/surveys_find_ou.php
**Substance
Abuse
Recommendations
to States to Effectively Address Alcohol and Drug Problems
Lawmakers
and other addiction stakeholders have warmly greeted the new Blueprint for the
States report prepared by a Join Together policy panel, which contains a broad
set of recommendations for optimizing state governments to effectively address
alcohol and other drug problems in communities. "People have been very
interested" in the report, said former Massachusetts governor and
presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who chaired the policy panel and was in
Boston this week to present the Blueprint to a meeting of the New England
Association of Drug Court Professionals.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/positive_review.php
Abstinence
Saves Lives
A long-term
follow-up study of addiction-treatment graduates found that those who stayed sober
a year after treatment were much more likely to be alive 15 years later than
those who reverted to drinking. Patients who had spent three weeks or longer
in inpatient care were more likely to have died, probably because they had more
serious drinking problems to begin with.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/study_abstinenc.php
Study
Relates AA Membership to Lower Murder Rate
Noting the
relationship between drinking and violent crime, a new study suggests that
increased membership in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) could actually lower the
murder rate in a community, Reuters reported Sept. 25. "Our study showed
that total and male homicide rates in Ontario were strongly related to average levels of alcohol consumption,"
according to a University of Toronto study.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/09/study_relates_a.php
