Technical assistance calls for grantees are generally held every other Thursday from 2 to 3:30 PM EST. The schedule for August appears below. To register, search for summaries or materials from prior calls, or download materials for upcoming calls, please go to the grantee Website: www.capcommunity.hrsa.gov. Please remember that the site is password protected. Grantees should contact their primary contact to receive the password. Once you register for the call you should immediately receive a confirmation note by email that includes the call-in number. Please be sure to download the materials that will be used. If you have difficulty registering or do not receive the call-in number, please contact Latonya Dunlow at ldunlow@mscginc.com  or call 301-577-3100.

	CAP TA Calls
	Date		Topic
	September 15th		New Grantee Orientation
	September 29th		To Be Announced

With the exception of calls related to legal issues, TA calls are summarized and posted on the grantee website (www.capcommunity.hrsa.gov). Legal issue briefs are posted on the site under legal issues. You may also request an audiotape copy of any previous calls (up to one month after the call) by contacting Latonya Dunlow at the email above.

Congratulations to the Bronx Community Health Network (BCHN) who, in collaboration with several local health care organizations, has launched the Bronx Defeat Diabetes Project (BDDP) to respond to the diabetes epidemic in the Bronx. According to recent New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reports, levels of diabetes in NYC are highest in the Bronx, where 101,000 residents (11.5 percent) have diabetes. Further, Hispanic (12.25%) and African-American adults (10.8 percent) are more likely than Asians and Whites (less than 7 percent) to have diabetes. Being overweight increases the diabetes risk. In some Bronx neighborhoods, one in four adults are obese. Funded by HRSA's Healthy Communities Access Program, BCHN is the lead agency in this unique collaborative effort to tailor an effective community response to diabetes. The BDDP partners include: Health Force, Montefiore Medical Center, Morris Heights Health Center, Promesa Systems, Inc. and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The BDDP Project builds upon proven strategies such as peer education, use of the best clinical diabetes treatment practices, and patient self-management. The goals of BDDP include: widespread health promotion and education activities to identify persons at-risk, of or diagnosed, with diabetes; early access to quality primary and specialty health services; and reduction of the incidence of diabetes and the loss of productive time and life due to complications.

BCHN is a non-profit, community-based agency that is committed to providing financial and other resources for quality medical care for uninsured and medically underserved Bronx residents. Enrollment of uninsured residents into the public health insurance programs is another key component of the BDDP. For more information about the project, please contact Verna Smith at (718) 920-5886.

On July 1, 2004, Santa Cruz became the tenth county in California to start a universal health care program for their county's uninsured children. Healthy Kids of Santa Cruz County, which is modeled after similar programs in neighboring Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, provides comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and mental health coverage to local children..

Currently there are more than 5,000 uninsured children in Santa Cruz County. Of those uninsured, approximately two-thirds are eligible for publicly funded programs, which insure children based on age, residency requirements, and family income. Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families Program, for example, provide health coverage to children in families earning up to 133 percent and 250 percent of the Federal poverty level (FPL) respectively. Those remaining, who cannot afford health insurance, are forced to forgo health care or end up in emergency rooms where the cost is passed on to other taxpayers.

Healthy Kids of Santa Cruz County will fill in the gaps by providing comprehensive health coverage - medical, dental, vision, mental health, and substance abuse - to children up to age 18 in families with incomes up to 300 percent of the FPL ($56,500 for a family of four). Healthy Kids will also increase community outreach efforts to ensure that eligible children in Santa Cruz County are enrolled in the appropriate plan - Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, or the new Healthy Kids Health Plan.

The program officially started on July 1, 2004 and the Central Coast Alliance for Health, the health plan administering the program, reports that more than 350 children were enrolled in the new plan in just the first few weeks. For more information about Healthy Kids of Santa Cruz County, please contact Rama Khalsa at (831) 454-4474 or email rama.khalsa@health.co.santa-cruz.ca.us.

The Community Access Program of Arizona (CAPAZ) received HCAP funding in March 2001 to achieve two goals: (1) Strengthen the Yuma County (Arizona) medical safety net so that the uninsured and underinsured can gain entry into a comprehensive system of medical services; and (2) extend lessons learned to other U.S.-Mexico border communities. On June 14, 2004, the 7th annual Nuestros Niņos door-to-door outreach campaign was initiated. Nuestros Niņos is an outreach campaign designed to increase immunization rates and collect essential health status information for residents living in Yuma County, Arizona. Health promoters employed by the Western Arizona Area Health Education Center, Inc. (WAHEC) organize and supervise the campaign. WAHEC staff, together with medical, professional, and student volunteers, support the health promoters. This year, during Nuestros Niņos, more than 4,317 homes will be visited to ensure that families maintain up-to-date immunization records. The CAPAZ database currently maintains health-related information on more than 6,500 households.

HCAP support was solicited to organize a Technical Assistance Workshop last May in El Paso, Texas for members of the U.S.- Mexico Border Peer-to-Peer Network. Thirty-one people attended the Workshop representing eight HCAPS in the U.S.-Mexico border region of four States: California [San Diego Council of Community Clinics and Imperial County Healthy Community Access Program]; Arizona [Community Access Program of Arizona (CAPAZ), Eastern Cochise Safety Net Alliance (ECSA), and the Pima Community Access Program, (PCAP)]; New Mexico [The Wellness Coalition]; and Texas [El Paso Community Voices and Southwest Texas Network, Inc.]. Four core workshop themes addressed (1) language barriers to medical service; (2) border health indicators and databases; (3) bi-national insurance; and (4) strategic planning. Special appreciation is extended to workshop consultants Christi Bordeaux, Pablo Schneider, Doreena Wong, Deberah Corriea, and Howard Eng. The workshop was co-sponsored by the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission.

Lastly, congratulations to Dr. Kevin Driesen for receiving his doctoral degree from the University of Arizona, Department of Psychology. His dissertation topic involved the application of statistical process control methods to monitor and improve medical quality. For more information about the Community Access Program of Arizona please contact Kevin Driesen at 520-626-7946 or via email kdriesen@u.arizona.edu.

This program will provide grants to support the participation of State and local public health agencies in health information exchanges. The program will make funds available to public health agencies for activities in support of population-based public health services, as opposed to direct provision of health care (e.g., safety-net provider services). The program is designed as a one-time, short-term stimulus to catalyze and facilitate greater participation by public health agencies in health information exchanges. For more information please visit: http://www.rwjf.org/applications/program/cfp.jsp?ID=19420. 

The HHS NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recently announced the availability of a cultural competence and health disparities academic award. The overall objective of this program is to enhance the ability of physicians and other health care professionals to address disparities in the occurrence, management, and outcomes of cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematological, and sleep disorders among various population groups in the United States in a culturally sensitive manner.

This academic award provides support to medical institutions in the United States to develop core curricula and other educational materials that will increase the overall knowledge and skills of medical students, house staff, and other professionals, including practicing physicians, on the ethnic, cultural, religious, socioeconomic, linguistic and other factors that contribute to health disparities, and on culturally competent approaches to mitigating these disparities.  

For more information on this opportunity, please visit: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HL-04-012.html.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) announces the availability of Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS) grants to health-related institutions and organizations that seek assistance for projects to plan, deploy, evaluate, and sustain a comprehensive information environment that supports organizational mission activities that cross organizational and disciplinary boundaries.

For more information please visit: http://www.esri.com/grants/nonesri/health.html.

The American Psychiatric Foundation (APF), a charitable and educational subsidiary of the American Psychiatric Association, works to advance public awareness of mental illnesses and the fact that they can be effectively treated.

As part of this mission, APF is committed to promoting early recognition and treatment of mental illness and will make up to $750,000 in grant funds available over the next 3 years (2005-07) to fund educational, informational, and outreach initiatives that promote the early recognition and treatment of mental illness.

Grants will support a wide variety of activities in this arena. APF seeks to fund new and innovative ideas and programs that will promote awareness of mental illness and the effectiveness of treatment, the importance of early intervention, access to care, and the need for high-quality services and treatment.

Local and national organizations with 501(c)(3) charitable status that have been in existence for at least 2 years are eligible to apply. Organizations need not be mental health programs, and grants may be sought for new initiatives or the expansion of current programs. Requests must be for educational, informational, or outreach efforts. The latter may focus on a specific mental disorder, mental illness in general, or target a specific population. APF district branches and subsidiaries are eligible for the program.

See the APF Web site for complete program information, grant restrictions, and application forms. For more information please visit: http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/940/apf.

The Association for Community Health Improvement (ACHI) will hold an audio conference on September 15, 2005, entitled "Improving Community Health and Working to Contain Costs: Experiences and Data from the It's Your Life Program." Tune in to find out how thousands of Michigan residents have succeeded in measurably improving their health status with the help of facilitated behavior changes. Cindy Bjorkquist, Executive Director and Amy Schultz, MD, Director of Performance Management for the Foundation for a Healthy Community in Jackson, Michigan, will share their community-oriented health management model, and its use in a Michigan county burdened with overall average to poor health. For more information and to register visit: http://www.communityhlth.org/communityhlth/education/audio.html

Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt invites you to attend the 3rd National Prevention Summit. The Summit will focus on chronic disease prevention and health promotion and will feature innovative prevention programs that are making a difference in communities across the country. These programs are focused on healthy lifestyle choices, including eating a nutritious diet, being physically active, avoiding high-risk behaviors, and getting preventive screenings to prevent the major health burdens created by obesity, diabetes, asthma, cancer, heart disease, and stroke. For more information please visit: http://www.healthierus.gov/steps/summit.html.

The California HealthCare Foundation, in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, will sponsor a 2-day learning and networking conference, Chronic Disease Care: Better Ideas for Solving Real-World Problems. The conference offers a unique opportunity to learn about best practices and meet others from around the country that are engaged in improvement work. For more information visit: http://www.chcf.org/topics/chronicdisease/index.cfm?itemID=112543&subtopic=CL351&subsection=reports.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 is the Federal government's science-based advice to promote health and reduce risk of chronic diseases through nutrition and physical activity. The sixth edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans places stronger emphasis on reducing calorie consumption and increasing physical activity. Eating a healthy balance of nutritious foods continues as a central point in the Dietary Guidelines, but balancing nutrients is not enough for health. Total calories also count, especially as more Americans are gaining weight. Because almost two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and more than one-half get too little physical activity, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines place a stronger emphasis on calorie control and physical activity. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines and consumer brochure are available at www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines.

Your Disease Risk: Source on Prevention

The Harvard University School of Public Health has created a Web site that provides a detailed questionnaire to help you assess your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis, and 12 varieties of cancer. The site also offers personalized tips on how to help reduce risk. To view the site please visit: www.yourdiseaserisk.harvard.edu/.

Dental Pipeline Web Site

A Web site targeting dental educators was launched by the National Program Office of the Pipeline, Profession & Practice: Community-Based Dental Education (Dental Pipeline) program. The Web site will serve as the primary source for dental schools seeking to improve oral health care access to vulnerable populations and increase access to dental education for underrepresented minority and low-income (URM/LI) students. The Web site features the activities of 15 U.S. dental schools that are part of the Dental Pipeline program. Since 2003, each of the Dental Pipeline schools has been developing community-based dental education programs, revising their dental school curriculum to include cultural competency classes, and designing initiatives to increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority and low-income (URM/LI) students. To view the site please visit: http://www.dentalpipeline.org.

Cultural Competency Web-Based Resources

The Society of Medical Anthropology has a page on their website designated to Cultural Competency Resources. Visit the website to learn more about The Center for Cross Cultural Health and The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Healthcare, produced by the Office of Minority Health Resource Center. For more information visit: http://www.medanthro.net/academic/topical/cultcomp.html.

Kids Count 2005 Data Book Online

Data is now available from the Annie E. Casey Foundation 2005 KIDS COUNT Data Book. This data can be accessed in an easy-to-use, powerful online database that allows you to generate custom graphs, maps, ranked lists, and State-by-State profiles; or, download the entire data set as delimited text files. For more information please visit: http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/databook/.