It has been a busy several months for the PCW. Let me highlight several of the events. In May, our education committee hosted an event titled “Your Move: Exercise and Breast Cancer” in partnership with the Comprehensive Breast Care Program at NCCC. Attendees heard about the benefits of exercise both during and after therapy and then got to try some of the exercise programs. It was a well-attended event, even though it was held on the first sunny Saturday in May. The committee also held a session on ‘Exercise and Brain Health” in Lyme in June.
I attended a session of the Value Committee of the Board of Trustees on June 23rd. This session looked at hospital acquired conditions and also at the patient experience in the hospital. There has been a concerted effort to reduce acquired infections and there has been a marked improvement. The next meeting will look at issues with population health and community wellness.
The Advocacy committee, headed by Amanda Osmer, has also been hard at work. They are developing a toolkit or menu for businesses to access resources and ideas to become more family friendly. They are also working to raise awareness of the issues young children and their families face.
Hear about these and other issues at our annual meeting on November 10th. More about that later.
A Call to Action!
PCW members: Health and wellness begins with you in your communities. We’ve been working hard to support the priorities that your communities say matter to them. From healthy aging to substance misuse and behavioral health, to supporting families and young children, to addressing the social determinants of health, we’ve been listening to what you’re telling us about living healthfully in your communities. Part of the great value of PCW is that we have members like you who can work with a team of individuals and organizations to address issues around health and wellness that we all agree are important.
If you have an interest in sharing your expertise with us, please email me at: karen.j.borgstrom@hitchcock.org so we can learn from your experience and engage you in our programmatic work. Each of you is an ambassador who can help connect your community’s needs to our work. We need your leadership and help to build a civic mandate for health.
A Call for Nominations!
Although we’re enjoying beautiful New England Summer weather now, before you know it, it will be fall and time for our Annual meeting on November 10th. We’ll be sending you a “save the date” for that meeting soon. In the meantime, please start thinking about who you’d like to nominate to receive The PCW Alfred Griggs Ambassador Award and the PCW Business Leadership award which will be given out at the November 10th meeting. A description of the awards and nomination form is here for the Business Award and here for the Ambassador Award. If you would like to nominate a person or business for these awards, please fill out these forms so that they can be shared with the nominations committee.
This spring, your PCW Executive Committee voted to officially approve 11 new members. Please welcome:
▪ Pat BrayNew London NH Trained Honoring Care Decisions facilitator, already working in Raising of America efforts in New London ▪ Matthew CahillaneConcord NH NH Dept. Health and Human Services ▪ Suzanne CronkiteHanover NH Trained Honoring Care Decisions facilitator ▪ Melissa Fortin-CrewsManchester Chairperson of Hope for NH Recovery ▪ Susan Presberg-GreenEtna NH Retired ophthalmologist, part of the Tipping Point Grants work ▪ Holly GroschnerCorinth VT CEO VT Public Television ▪ John KitchenLaconia NH Attorney, trained Honoring Care Decisions Facilitator ▪ Carola LeaLyme NH Longtime supporter of CHaD, extremely active in Upper Valley Community ▪ Marc McMurphyHenniker NH Executive Director of White Birth Community Center ▪ Nick MorrisPeterborough NH MD, trained Honoring Care Decisions facilitator ▪ Madelyn MorrisPeterborough NH RN, trained Honoring Care Decisions facilitator
Take Another Look: Aging with Dignity Exhibit opening and reception Friday, July 22, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, NH.
The exhibit captures the lives of seniors in the Upper Valley, particularly focusing on Lebanon and Enfield, through photographs by Jodi Austin and Robin Roche, as well as a series of short films by local high school students.
Take Another Look, a project aiming to illuminate the challenges and resilience of aging in our communities, is a collaboration of the United Valley Interfaith Project (UVIP), ReThink Health: Upper Connecticut River Valley and CATV 8/10. The exhibit will be on display at AVA through August 19, 2016 in the Johnson Sisters Library (Second Floor).
Mt. Ascutney Prevention Partnership is excited to announce a film screening and panel discussion of The Raising of America on Wednesday, July 20, 6-8pm at the American Legion in Windsor, VT. This free event is open to the public and will include dinner. Co-sponsored by Mt. Ascutney Hospital, ACES in Action, and PCW.
For Our Upper Valley Members
Dear Upper Valley PCW Members,
ALL Together is a regional coalition that takes action to reduce the impact of alcohol and drug misuse in support of the development of healthy, safe, and resilient communities. ALL Together is a workgroup of the Public Health Council and is based out of the Community Health Improvement Department at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. ALL Together (www.uvalltogether.org) wants to know what you see and how you feel about substance use in your community.
Please help guide our work to provide the most effective strategies that will prevent alcohol and/or drug misuse among Upper Valley youth and young adults by taking the following survey. Click here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2016UpperValleyCommunitySurvey
You only need to complete this survey once and your answers are confidential. This survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. The survey will be open until July 15, 2016.
Thank you for being a part of the substance misuse conversation in the Upper Valley.
Respectfully,
Angie M. Leduc
Drug Free Communities Partnership Coordinator
ALL Together
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Angie.M.Leduc@hitchcock.org
Think health is all up to you and your genes? Think again — there are other factors at work.
Type 2 diabetes, obesity, lung disease — these have long been thought of as health issues people can avoid if they work hard, eat right, don't smoke and follow a healthy lifestyle. But it's not just how you live that offers protection for your health. Social and physical environments also play a role.
Social determinants of health are conditions that can affect your health and well-being. They include factors such as exposure to violence, job opportunities, community design and access to care.
First, a quiz: What’s the most common “vegetable” eaten by American toddlers?
Answer: The French fry.
The same study that unearthed that nutritional tragedy also found that on any given day, almost half of American toddlers drink soda or similar drinks, possibly putting the children on a trajectory toward obesity or diabetes.
But for many kids, the problems start even earlier. In West Virginia, one study found, almost one-fifth of children are born with alcohol or drugs in their system. Many thus face an uphill struggle from the day they are born.
BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. — States that spend more money on social services and public health programs relative to medical care have much healthier residents than states that don’t, a study out today by a prominent public health researcher found.
The study comes as the Obama administration prepares to fund its own research to support the idea that higher social service spending can improve health and lower health care costs. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a long-awaited rule that will pave the way for more doctors and hospitals to work closely with social services providers to keep people healthier, such as with home visits or help with housing.