August 2006

News from the PAN Branch

New PAN Branch Staff Member

The PAN Branch is pleased to announce that Erin Banks joined our staff on July 31 2006. Erin is working part-time and is developing and beginning implementation of an evaluation plan for the African-American Churches Eating Smart Moving More initiative. Erin is a student working to earn her PhD in Psychology in the Public Interest at NCSU.

Eat Smart Move More NC Ads

The PAN Branch and the Eat Smart Move More NC leadership team is happy to announce that television and radio ads promoting Eat Smart, Move More…NC communications plan, the ads are aimed at influencing consumer behaviors regarding healthy eating and physical activity. So between now and early September, keep your eyes and ears open for our ads encouraging people to eat more meals at home, right size their portions, eat more fruits and veggies, breastfeed their babies, re-think their drinks, tame the tube and move more everyday. For more information about Eat Smart, Move More…NC, a statewide movement encouraging healthy eating and physical activity wherever people live, learn, earn, play and pray, please visit www.EatSmartMoveMoreNC.com.

Programs, Projects and Initiatives

Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge

Action for Healthy Kids, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and working with the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Education, National PTA and other leading organizations, will inform, motivate, and mobilize support for school wellness good nutrition and physical activity that supports learning.

It is an all-inclusive, fun event for students, parents, teachers, administrators, and others to celebrate coming back-to-school with a fresh approach. The Game On! program integrates nutrition, physical activity and learning through a series of activity stations that will stimulate minds and bodies. Participation by adults and children, not performance, is rewarded. Action for Healthy Kids will offer an on-line toolkit of materials to help its teams, partner organizations, local PTAs, and schools host local events between August 1st and October 1. Partners are working with districts, communities and schools to host back-to-school events in every state culminating with a national event on the afternoon of October 5, 2006, in Washington, D.C. For more information go to: this link

Success Stories

No update this month.

Featured Resources and Research

FNS Launches New Eat Smart. Play Hard. Kids’ Web Page and Healthy Lifestyle Web Page for Parents
In July, the USDA, Food and Nutrition Service launched two new web pages that will help kids, parents, and caregivers to Eat Smart and Play Hard. The new resources will also assist the target audience in putting the new Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid recommendations into action.

The Eat Smart. Play Hard. kids’ web page connects kids to healthy eating and physical activity experiences within the community. It provides kids with interactive learning and skill-building experiences in a virtual community setting. The web page encourages and motivates kids to make better lifestyle choices using kid-friendly entertaining techniques. Power Panther, the campaign spokescharacter, leads kids in exploring the Town Library, Theater, Fitness Center, Power Tunes Store, Post Office, Eat Smart Grill, Fun Times Arcade, and Travel Center. Behind each door in this virtual community, kids learn healthy lifestyle skills through geography, music, reading, and science activities. This web page is filled with songs, experiments, activity sheets, comics, clipart, worksheets, games, posters, e-cards, recipes, and other materials that help to form and reinforce healthy behaviors.

The new Healthy Lifestyle web page provides parents and other caregivers with tools for healthy living including tasty, low cost menus and recipes that meet the new food guidelines. The web page has a handy Calorie Burner Chart, the MyPyramid Tracker, and the ESPH Tracking Card. FNS developed these resources to help parents make the MyPyramid guidance a part of their daily lives and set a good example for kids. Discover the Eat Smart Play Hard kids’ web page at this link. The Eat Smart Play Hard Healthy Lifestyle web page is at this link.

Experts Debate Whether Children Should Be Called Obese

CHICAGO, Illinois (from A July 5, 2006, Associated Press Article) Is it OK for doctors and parents to tell children and teens they’re fat? That seems to be at the heart of a debate over whether to replace the fuzzy language favored by the U.S. government with the painful truth — if kids are obese or overweight, telling them.

Labeling a child obese might “run the risk of making them angry, making the family angry,” but it addresses a serious issue head-on, said Dr. Reginald Washington, a Denver pediatrician and co-chair of an American Academy of Pediatrics obesity task force.

“If that same person came into your office and had cancer, or was anemic, or had an ear infection, would we be having the same conversation? There are a thousand reasons why this obesity epidemic is so out of control and one of them is no one wants to talk about it.”

The diplomatic approach adopted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and used by many doctors avoids the word “obese” because of the stigma. The CDC also calls overweight kids “at risk of overweight.”

Those favoring a change say the current terms encourage denial of a problem affecting increasing numbers of U.S. youngsters.

Under a proposal studied by a committee of the American Medical Association, the CDC and others, fat children would get the same labels as adults — overweight or obese.

The change “would certainly make sense. It would bring the U.S. in line with the rest of the world,” said Tim Cole, a professor of medical statistics at the University College London’s Institute of Child Health.

To read the complete article, go to this link.

Legislation

No update this month.

Grants/Awards

Grant Opportunities from National Institutes of Health

School-Based Interventions to Prevent Obesity (R21) - National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services

School-Based Interventions to Prevent Obesity (R01) - National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services

School-Based Interventions to Prevent Obesity (R03) - National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services

These grants encourage the formation of partnerships between academic institutions and school systems in order to develop and implement controlled, school-based intervention strategies designed to reduce the prevalence of obesity in childhood. They also encourages evaluative comparisons of different intervention strategies, as well as the use of methods to detect synergistic interactions between different types of interventions. For more information on deadlines and eligibility go to this link.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Fresh Ideas: Community-Based Approaches to Improve Care for Vulnerable Populations Grant
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will award grants for the implementation of community-based approaches to health and health care problems that interact with social problems such as inadequate housing, poor education, and poverty. The foundation’s Fresh Ideas: Community-Based Approaches to Improve Care for Vulnerable Populations grant program will give priority to projects that focus on hard-to-reach populations such as new immigrants and refugees and at-risk adolescents. Awards will be up to $300,000 for up to three years duration. For more information and application guidelines go to www.rwjf.org/applications/solicited/cfp.jsp?ID=19480. (From National AFHK 7/06)

Training and Professional Development

2006 Healthy Carolinians Conference

Health Disparities – Lessons from the Past, Vision for the Future
October 5-6, 2006
Hilton University Place, Charlotte, NC

This annual conference will provide participants with a practical knowledge for recognizing, addressing and moving toward eliminating health disparities in their local community.

For more information, please visit this site.

Free Professional Continuing Education Credits

The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion is offering free continuing professional credits for dietitians and dietetic technicians for reviewing certain MyPyramid materials on their Web site.

See this link for more information.

Nutrition and Physical Activity Teleconferences

Every month, the CDC Division of Nutrition & Physical Activity (DNPA) sponsors a monthly teleconference on a variety of topics, but mostly dealing with nutrition &/or physical activity. The calls are scheduled the 2nd Thursday of each month from 1:30-2:30 p.m. The next call will be held on August 10, 2006. The topic will be “Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity’s State Legislative Database”. The speakers are Tina Lankford, MPH and Tamara Grasso, MS, RD, Policy Analyst, both from the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Anyone who would like the handouts or participate in future calls please send an email to NC5ADAY@ncmail.net.

National 5 A Day Teleconferences

Each month, the National 5 A Day Partnership sponsors calls geared toward each State 5 a Day Coordinator. The calls are scheduled the first Tuesday of the month from 1:00 -2:30 p.m. Included below is the tentative schedule for the remainder of 2006.

September 5th
Advocacy
Tracy Fox

October 3rd
Evaluation – Translating Research into Practice
TBA

November 7th
Strategic Thinking
TBA

December 5th
Council of 5 A Day Coordinators

If you are interested in possibly participating in the calls or receive the handouts, please send an email to nc5aday@ncmail.net.

Commission of Dietetic Registration Trainings

The Commission on Dietetic Registration will be offering certificate of training programs for Registered Dietitians (RD’s) in adult and childhood and adolescent weight management as noted below:

Certificate of Training in Adult Weight Management October 26-28, 2006 - Kansas City, Missouri; December 7-9, 2006 - Plantation, Florida. To obtain a registration form and to view the certificate requirements, timeline, registration deadlines and agenda, visit this link.

Certificate of Training in Childhood and Adolescent Weight Management - October 28-30, 2006 - Kansas City, Missouri. To obtain a registration form and to view the certificate requirements, timeline, registration deadlines and agenda, visit this link.

Participation is limited. Please reserve you place on or before the registration deadline. Past certificate programs have been filled to capacity several days prior to the registration deadline. CDR strongly recommends that flight arrangements and hotel reservations not be finalized until written registration confirmation is received. The registration fee is $345. Registration includes the home study module, 2 1/2 day onsite workshop and post-test. The adult weight management program is approved for 28 CPE units, and the childhood and adolescent program is approved for 27 CPE units - Level II. Program participants must pass the pre-test to attend the on-site program. All program participants will receive continuing professional education units; however, only those who pass the post-test will receive the certificate. Participants will only be given one opportunity to take the post-test. To register for a certificate of training program by phone, please call CDR at 1/800-877-1600, x 5500.

Getting to the Basics: The Business of Weight Management Programs. The obesity epidemic is threatening the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans. Are you prepared to help reverse the trend?

Online Spanish Course for Health Professionals
September 6 – December 15, 2006
The Office of Continuing Education at the UNC School of Public Health is pleased to offer “Spanish for Health Professionals-Part I”.

The primary focus of this innovative online course is improving oral communication skills and promoting cultural awareness of the Latino immigrant community, so health professionals can better communicate with their patients and clients.

The course covers four units of the specially designed ¬°A su salud! Spanish for Health Professionals course materials developed at UNC and published by Yale University Press. Part I covers Units 1a, 1b, 2a, and 2b.

Who should take this course?
The course is designed for intermediate Spanish speakers in the health professions (e.g., physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, social workers, physical therapists, health educators, nutritionists, EMS, etc.).

Objectives:

• Improve your Spanish language skills and awareness of Latino culture
• Learn through engaging DVD drama with interactive exercises
• Earn continuing education (CE) credit

What are the course dates?
Two sessions are being offered this year:

Spanish for Health Professionals-Part I:
March 1-June 9, 2006
Application deadline: February 8, 2006
Early-bird discount deadline: February 1, 2006

Spanish for Health Professionals-Part I:
September 6-December 15, 2006
Application deadline: August 16, 2006
Early-bird discount deadline: August 9, 2006

How do I apply?
Complete the following steps by the application deadline:

1.Run the Computer Technical Specifications Check and enter the results on the application form.
2.Enter your responses to the Language Skills Assessment Check on the application form.
3.Pay a $35 non-refundable application fee when submitting the application form.

How much does this course cost?
The fee for this course is $575. (This total includes the $35 non-refundable application fee, but does not include the cost of course materials which must be purchased separately.)

Early-bird discount
If you complete the application process, are accepted into the course, complete the registration form, and pay your course fees by the early-bird discount deadline, you will receive a $100 discount on the course fee. The discounted course fee is $475. (This total includes the $35 non-refundable application fee, but does not include the cost of course materials.)

For more information about the application process and links to the application form, please visit this site for more information.

2006 National Health Promotion Conference

September 12-14, 2006
Hilton Atlanta
255 Courtland Street
Atlanta, Georgia

The 2006 National Health Promotion Conference is the first joint conference presented by CDC’s Coordinating Center for Health Promotion (CoCHP) and its constituent groups: the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), and the Office of Genomics and Disease Prevention (OGDP). With a conference theme of Innovations in Health Promotion: New Avenues for Collaboration, the conference will provide an unprecedented opportunity to create new partnerships and strengthen existing ones to move forward with a national health promotion and wellness agenda. Visit http://www.cdc.gov/cochp/conference/ for updates and more information.

Food Safety Education to be Focus of September 2006 Conference

September 27-29, 2006
Denver, Colorado

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and NSF International, a non-profit public health company, invite food safety education professionals to join them at a 3-day conference, Reaching At-Risk Audiences and Today’s Other Food Safety Challenges, in Denver, Colorado, September 27-29, 2006.The conference will provide an excellent opportunity for presenting and sharing projects through plenary, breakout, and poster sessions. Pre-conference workshops will be held on September 25 and 26; post-conference tours on September 29.Also sponsoring the conference: Food and Drug Administration; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; USDA‚Äôs Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; and NSF/WHO Collaborating Center for Food Safety.

The conference will be organized around five primary themes:

*Food borne Illness Surveillance and Epidemiological Insights
*Food Safety Behavioral and Attitudinal Research
*Social Marketing, Educational Interventions, and Program Research
*Role of Foodservice and Food Industries, and
*New Technologies

Who should attend

*Public health professionals, medical personnel, and health care providers
*Food safety education professionals, researchers, consultants, and dietitians
*Cooperative Extension, food service, health department, and freelance educators
*Trade and health associations, and consumer groups
*Sanitarians and quality control professionals
*Food safety marketers and communicators
*Science writers, health care journalists, and other media professionals

For more information, please visit this link.

2006 Healthy Carolinians Conference

Health Disparities – Lessons from the Past, Vision for the Future
October 5-6, 2006
Hilton University Place, Charlotte, NC

This annual conference will provide participants with a practical knowledge for recognizing, addressing and moving toward eliminating health disparities in their local community.

For more information, please visit this link.

5th Annual North Carolina Conference on Aging

“Boomers Turning 60‚ÄîImplications For All of Us”
October 25-27, 2006
Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Convention Center
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

The North Carolina Conference on Aging is a collaborative effort to develop a professional conference to provide educational and networking opportunities for anyone interested in long-term care, vital aging, family issues, work and retirement, leadership, and professional development. Realizing the diverse nature of this task, we have made a deliberate effort to include local, regional and state-level service providers, educators, students, consumers, volunteers, clients, caregivers, policymakers, and administrators.

Approximately 77 million babies were born in the United States during the boom years of 1946 to 1964. This year the oldest in this group will turn 60 and can expect to live to 83. Many will continue well into their 90s. These baby boomers will have the opportunity to redefine the meaning and purpose of their older years. As some of the demands of work and family that have commanded their attention in mid-life recede, boomers will have the potential to become a social resource of unprecedented proportions by actively participating in the life of their communities. This conference is intended to serve as a forum for information exchange among persons from the academic, governmental and service provider communities.

Both the 2006 North Carolina Conference on Aging Preprogram/Registration booklet, as well as the 2006 Sponsor, Exhibitor and Advertiser Package are now available on line at this link.

If you would like a hard copy and haven’t received one by early August, you can request one by emailing: ioa@unc.edu with your complete mailing address, or calling (919)966-9444.

The Preprogram/Registration booklet contains the preliminary conference schedule and a listing of events, as well as a description of all plenary sessions, the registration form, and information on lodging and area attractions. (A listing of workshops, papers and roundtables will be available on the Conference web site later this summer). If you are interested in attending this year’s conference, be sure to send in your registration form and make your hotel reservation as soon as possible, as we expect space to fill quickly.

The Sponsor, Exhibitor and Advertiser Package contains information about opportunities to showcase your organization, materials and services, as well as the 2006 Application Form. If you are interested in reserving space at the conference, don’t delay - do it today - as space is available on a “first come, first serve” basis, and during each of our past Conferences, the exhibit hall has completely sold out. Please be sure to reserve your hotel room at the same time (see the Preprogram/Registration booklet for details) as we expect space to fill quickly.

For more information contact:
Diane Wurzinger
UNC Institute on Aging
720 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Suite 200
Campus Box #1030
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1030
Phone: 919-843-2647
Fax: 919-966-0510
Email: diane_wurzinger@unc.edu

National Prevention Summit:

Prevention, Preparedness, and Promotion
October 26 and 27, 2006
Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill
Washington, D.C.

Building on last year’s 3rd National Prevention Summit, the upcoming 2006 National Prevention Summit will focus on disease prevention, health preparedness, and health promotion and will feature innovative programs that are making a difference in communities across the country to build a HealthierUS. These programs are focused on healthy lifestyle choices eating a nutritious diet, being physically active, making healthy choices, and getting preventive screenings to help prevent major health threats and burdens such as obesity, diabetes, asthma, cancer, heart disease, and stroke. One special emphasis this year will be the prevention of childhood overweight and obesity. Another emphasis will be preparing for public health emergencies, such as avian influenza.

To register for the National Prevention Summit, please go to this link.