Local, National and International Community Health Related Events

US Conference on African Immigrant Health 2010 (Atlanta)

Qasimah Boston will be presenting in the US Conference on African Immigrant Health 2010 the workshop ” Public Health Policy and Programs in Ghana Addressing Health Disparities” April 7th-11th 2010 At the Hilton Atlanta/Marietta Hotel Conference Center

The Association of Minority Health Professions Schools, Inc.24th Annual Symposium on Career Opportunities in Biomedical Sciences and Health Professions  (Alabama)

Miaisha Mitchell will be presenting  at the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools..24^th Annual Symposium on Careers in Bio Medicine….using the Unnatural Causes framework.  April 15-18^th 2010 , Sheraton Hotel, Birmingham, Alabama.

Women of Color (WOCN) National Call To Action Institute and Conference (Louisiana)

Joyce  Brown will be presenting at the WOCN National Call To Action Institute and Conference  the Westin New Orleans , Canal Place Joyce will be presenting on Sexual/ Reproductive Rights, Domestic Violence ,  HIV and other Health Disparities.. May 11-14^th

League of Women Voters (Tallahassee)

Teresa Chase

Hot topics luncheon open to the public; – May 18^th; $17 lunch 11:30-1pm…location TBA

Next HEAT meeting is March 16

The next regular HEAT meeting will take place Tuesday, March 16, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., at the Leroy Collins Public Library (200 W. Park Avenue) in downtown Tallahassee. We will discuss the town hall meeting we are planning to wrap up Unnatural Causes events in April and get reports on the food environment and HEAT-BP projects. If there are other items you’d like to add to the agenda, please contact Lance Gravlee. We hope to see you there!

Hold the date: Health Summit 2010

Mark your calendars for April 3, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., to attend Health Summit 2010, sponsored by the Leon County Health Department. The Summit, which marks the beginning of Minority Health Month, will take place at the South Side location of the Leon County Health Department (872 West Orange Avenue). For more information, please contact the LCHD Office of Minority Health (850-606-8110).

New CD-ROM on Community-Based Participatory Research

HEAT is among a growing number of community-academic partnerships that have embraced community-based participatory research (CBPR) as an approach to explain and eliminate social inequalities in health. Some leading proponents of this approach have now released an instructional course—available on CD-ROM or as a downloadable file—to help people get started with this approach.

The course is titled “Community-Based Participatory Research: A Partnership Approach for Public Health.” The primary instructors are Barbara Israel, Chris Coombe, and Robert McGranaghan from the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (where, incidentally, I did my postdoctoral training in CBPR). As the instructors describe it, the training includes five parts:

• Rationale, definition, and core principles
• Strategies for forming, maintaining, sustaining, and evaluating CBPR partnerships
• Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods and interpretation
• Dissemination and translation of research findings
• Benefits, challenges, and recommendations for using CBPR for research and social change

To receive a free copy (if sent within the United States and U.S. Territories) of the CD-ROM, or to access the downloadable version, please register at: www.cbpr-training.org. Information about availability of continuing education credits can also be found on the website. You may also register by phone by calling the Michigan Public Health Training Center at 734.615.9439 (Course code: CBPRR0909).

Next HEAT meeting is Feb. 16

The next HEAT meeting will take place Tuesday, Feb. 16, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., at the FAMU School of Allied Health Sciences Conference Room 103. We are grateful to FAMU for offering to host this meeting. A key goal for our February meeting will be to reflect on events we organized around the local re-broadcast of Unnatural Causes in January and to discuss our next steps for building on these events. We will also discuss new funding opportunities for community capacity building, improvements to the website, and other strategies for continued development of the partnership. Please join us!

Day of Dialogue on Minority Health IV

This Saturday, February 13, Bethel AME Church in Tallahassee will host the fourth annual Day of Dialogue on Minority Health. This year’s theme is “Stressors, Strains & Health: Connecting the Dots to Help.” Co-Chairperson, Dr. Penny Ralston, describes the theme this way: “The program this year focuses on the effect of so many strains on our families that we are now seeing in our congregations. These strains affect our physical, mental and spiritual health. Our purpose is to help church health leaders to identify stressors and strains and to find solutions, especially community resources available to help us.”

Dr. Ralston and Co-Chairperson Dr. Elsie Crowell have put together an excellent program. Featured speakers include Rev. Mary W. Robinson, Rev. Stanley L. Walker, Elder Franklin Rush, Dr. Temple Robinson, Dr. Cyneetha Strong, and Dr. Jackie Robinson.

Please join us for a Day of Dialogue at Bethel AME Church (501 West Orange Avenue) this Saturday, February 13, 8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

“Unnatural Causes” Kick-Off Event

The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) is teaming up with WFSU, the Public Broadcast Station, to begin a series of scheduled community screenings of the PBS documentary Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? This four-part series goes beyond popular conceptions linking health to medical care, lifestyles, and genes to explore evidence of other, more powerful determinants: the social conditions in which we are born, live, and work. The first episode will air Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 3:00 pm.

To jumpstart the community film screenings, we are inviting key stakeholders to the Unnatural Causes kick-off event at the studios of WFSU-TV at 6:00 p.m., Friday, January 8th, 2010 (see flyer). The event will be an evening of collaboration to address the health inequities that keep many American residents from living a long and healthy life. We invite you to help bridge this gap by building a shared understanding and language around the root causes of health inequities in Tallahassee and surrounding areas. The event will provide a preview of episode one of Unnatural Causes and we will hear from panel participants as we examine how the overarching themes of the film relate to our community.

For more information, contact Miaisha Mitchell, Executive Director of the Greater Frenchtown Governor’s Revitalization Council at 850-224-8404 or email her at mmiaisha@aol.com.

Update, 1/6/10: The agenda for the Kickoff Event on Friday, Jan. 8, is now available here (PDF).

Next HEAT meeting is February 16

The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, February 16, at 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. We are evaluating whether our usual meeting space at TMH will be available. The key goal for the February meeting will be to reflect on events we are organizing around the local re-broadcast of Unnatural Causes in January and to discuss our next steps for building on these events. We also anticipate updates from the Food Environment and HEAT-BP Steering Committees and discussion of new funding opportunities for community capacity building.

Mark you calendars now and stay tuned for further announcements about the meeting location.

Next HEAT meeting is Nov. 17

The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. in Conference Room A at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Dinner will be available for $5. Here are the highlights from the proposed agenda:

• We will get a report from the Unnatural Causes Workgroup about planning for events related to the local re-broadcast of Unnatural Causes in January.
• We will get an update about progress in developing the HEAT Food Policy Council.
• We will discuss plans to pursue a funding opportunity from NIH for community-based participatory research on childhood obesity prevention

Mark you calendars now for the subsequent monthly HEAT meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 15 (location to be determined).

FAMU Forum on Health Care Reform

FAMU will hosting a forum on Health Care Reform on Wednesday, November 4, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m., in the New Pharmacy Building. The goal of the forum is to inform the public about the history and current status of healthcare reform. Confirmed speakers include Dr. Henry Lewis, Dr. Raymond Bellamy, Dr. Joseph Webster, Dr. Edward Hollifield, Dr. James Ammons, and Al Lawson. Carmen Cummings will moderate the discussion.

The forum is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend. For more information and details about the location, please see the FAMU website.