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VDH to Distribute Folic Acid to Patients in Some Districts In July, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) began offering free folic acid supplements to family planning patients in 19 of its health districts. Studies have shown that daily consumption of 400 micrograms of the B vitamin folic acid can reduce the risk of birth defects of the brain and spine such as spina bifida and anencephaly, the two most common neural tube birth defects, by as much as 70 percent. Authors of a recent article in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology estimate that women receive only about 25 percent of the recommended daily dosage of folic acid from their diet, even when it is balanced and includes grains fortified with folic acid. “These birth defects can occur during the first month of pregnancy when most women would not even know they are expecting,” said State Health Commissioner, Robert B. Stroube, M.D., M.P.H. “That is why it is important for women who may become pregnant to take folic acid regularly.”
Approximately 43,000 women, or 59 percent of VDH’s family planning patients, are expected to receive the supplement during the two-year program. “Research has shown that women are more likely to take folic acid when a physician or allied health professional recommends it,” said Kathy Orchen, coordinator of VDH’s folic acid distribution project. “We are using the two most effective ways to increase the use of folic acid—providing advice from a health care provider and distributing the supplement directly to clients.” The program is targeting 19 health districts to participate in the distribution program that had spina bifida birth rates of at least 5.24 per 10,000 live births. Districts where at least 29 percent of the family planning clients are Hispanic were also chosen, as several studies have shown that the Hispanic population experiences higher rates of neural tube birth defects. Approximately 40 children are born each year in Virginia with spina bifida. Spina bifida is caused when a baby’s spine does not close properly. Approximately 10 children are born in the state with anencephaly, which occurs when the brain does not form properly. Women can get the recommended daily amount of 400 micrograms of folic acid by taking a folic acid supplement, a multivitamin and by increasing their consumption of foods fortified with folic acid. Foods high in folic acid include enriched cereal, bread, rice, pasta, and other grain products. Foods that naturally contain folic acid include orange juice, dried beans, lentils, spinach, asparagus and leafy green vegetables. For more information on folic acid and how it can prevent birth defects, visit http://www.vahealth.org/wic/folicacid.htm.
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| VDH Honors Public Health Nurse of the Year
For Pat Winter, director of nursing for the Western Tidewater Health District and recipient of the Virginia Department of Health’s (VDH) 2005 Public Health Nurse of the Year Award, the compassion and fortitude needed to be a public health nurse is all in a day’s work. Winter was honored at a ceremony in late May recognizing her more than 20 years of effort in the assessment, planning, management, and evaluation of all public and clinical nursing programs. Winter has been employed by VDH since 1983, when she started as a public health nurse supervisor in Isle of Wight County . In 1985, she was promoted to director of nursing for the Western Tidewater Health District, covering the cities of Franklin and Suffolk and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties. Public health nurses are constantly reaching out to their communities, making tremendous contributions toward improving the health of individuals, families and groups living in them. They provide a safety net of health services for many underserved populations, offering immunization clinics, family planning education, prenatal and pediatric care, disease control and prevention, and counseling. Public Health Nurses are committed to promoting health, detecting problems early, and restoring individuals to their optimal level of functioning. "Pat is an example of the rare, but highly effective, leader who inspires others to do their best. It has been said that public health is a team sport and Pat exemplifies the best of a team player." said Jeff Lake , VDH’s deputy commissioner for community health services. Winter agreed that she owes her success to teamwork, adding that her staff is critical in providing service to the large rural area of Western Tidewater. She sees her role as supporting her team, giving them the tools they need and allowing them to take risks. “It’s great to be able to work with a staff that responds in a positive way to whatever needs to be done,” said Winter. “It’s rewarding for me to watch my staff take on responsibilities beyond the routine expectations.” When Western Tidewater was severely flooded by Hurricane Floyd, Winter spearheaded a team to provide public health response in the community. Over several weeks, the team conducted community assessments, staffed emergency shelters, assisted the public in safe cleanup of the environment, provided community education and immunized nearly 5,000 emergency workers and Western Tidewater residents. In response to a series of devastating hurricanes that pummeled Florida last fall, the Florida Department of Health asked Virginia to send a team to help. Winter led a volunteer team of 27 nurses, outreach workers and support personnel to staff an emergency shelter in Indian River County , Florida . The shelter housed more than 300 elderly residents and people with special medical needs. The Virginia team provided direct health care and a safe environment that protected health and provided emotional support. “In public health, the community is our patient and, in this case, the shelter became our community,” said Winter. “We were able to use our public health skills to prevent disease within the shelter community.” In 2002, Winter continued her community health advocacy when she implemented a grant for medication assistance for the City of Franklin and Southampton County residents. The grant provides $1 million in free medication for more than 500 residents. Physicians in the area have observed that the health of many patients, particularly senior citizens, has stabilized as a result of the grant. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits caused by high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes and other illnesses common to Western Tidewater have also significantly decreased. “Pat not only understands the mission of public health, she demonstrates her understanding through her actions. She is well respected throughout the Commonwealth for her knowledge, management skills and hard work,” said State Health Commissioner Robert B. Stroube, M.D., M.P.H. Winter, who plans to retire in a few years, will to continue to strengthen her team. “Over the next two years we will be looking at our public health programs making sure we meet all the standards,” she said. “We also have a lot of staff close to retirement. Leaving Western Tidewater in good shape for the future is my goal now” For more information about VDH programs including public health nursing, log onto www.vdh.virginia.gov.
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New VDH Program Loans Hearing Aids to Children Patricia Dewey and Charles Ford
Children in Virginia who are facing delays in getting permanent hearing aids no longer have to wait. They can now borrow them from the Virginia Department of Health’s (VDH) Hearing Aid Loan Bank. The loan bank, which started in May, lends hearing aids and FM hearing enhancement systems for up to six months. That initial loan period can be extended for an additional six months in certain circumstances. The program is open to children under age 3 whose hearing loss is confirmed by an audiologist. To qualify, families must be in the process of securing permanent hearing aids through insurance or other means. The program’s goal is to provide children with temporary hearing aids so they do not experience developmental difficulties while their families work to secure permanent hearing aids for the child. Parents can apply for hearing aids and FM systems by contacting their child’s audiologist and completing an application form. The forms can be processed and hearing units can be mailed to the audiologist within a week. The Hearing Aid Loan Bank currently has 54 hearing aids and 35 FM systems to loan to eligible children. “When children with hearing loss receive therapy or hearing aids before the age of 6 months, we can expect their language and cognitive skills to develop on par with their peers,” said Patricia Dewey, manager of VDH’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program. “Otherwise they often experience difficulties in communication and emotional development.” The financial burden of securing hearing aids can be significant, and the process of securing means to fund the appliances can be time consuming. Costs range from $700 to $3,600 each. Often families have to buy two hearing aids, and most likely they need to purchase hearing aids more than once before the child reaches age 5. Many insurance companies do not cover the cost of hearing aids and state and private funding sources have strict income requirements. These organizations are often last-resort funding sources that require families to first exhaust all other options for payment. Hearing loss is one of the most common birth defects in the United States, affecting between one and three of every 1,000 newborns. VDH estimates that as many as 300 Virginia children are born every year with hearing loss. Virginia law requires all newborns be screened for hearing loss prior to discharge from the hospital. Those deemed to have hearing loss are referred to an audiologist for follow-up testing. The hospitals and audiologists send results of their tests to VDH, which works with parents and professionals to promote the importance of early detection and access to early intervention services. “ Virginia has a very good system of screening newborns for hearing loss,” Dewey said. “Ninety-seven percent of the infants born in Virginia are screened before they leave the hospital. Because of this and follow up tests with audiologists, we detect hearing loss in children within three or four months after birth. With the help of our Hearing Aid Loan Bank, we are working to lower the age at which these children receive appropriate intervention services, including hearing aids.” For more information about this program, call Lisa Powley at the Blue Ridge Care Connection for Children at (434) 924-0222.
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| Your Community
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Toolkit Helps Parents Talk to Teens About Sex
Talking with your children about issues such as relationships, dating and sex can be difficult. To help parents talk to their teens, the Virginia Abstinence Education Initiative at the Virginia Department of Health has made its Talk 2 Me toolkit available free to Virginia parents online. Introduced earlier this year, Talk 2 Me: A Toolkit for Discussing Sexuality and Relationships with Your Kids is designed specifically to help parents of 10 to 14 year-olds address those hard-to-discuss issues and to open the lines of communication. Based on focus group research with both parents and teens, the kit includes a how-to guide, parent brochure and a CD containing sample conversations. It also includes an interactive card game, a resource guide that includes a glossary of terms and the Family Life Education Standards of Learning for fifth through ninth grades. “Research shows that parents are major influencers on adolescent sexual decision making. This is why VDH decided to develop a resource to assist parents in their role as sexuality educators,” said Gale E. Grant, director of the Adolescent Sexual Health Program. Kids who have strong and open relationships with their parents are more likely to finish school and are less likely to become teenage parents or contract a sexually transmitted disease than kids who do not. The first 10,000 kits were distributed quickly. An additional 50,000 kits will be available early this fall. The project is funded, in part, by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Virginia Department of Social Services. To learn more about Talk 2 Me, request a copy of the kit, or access other parent resources, visit www.vatalk2me.org. Kits are also available by calling 1-877-CANWAIT.
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Chesterfield County Students Give
High Fives to After School Fitness and Nutrition Program
More than 100 Chesterfield County students in after-school programs had fun learning about the importance of physical activity and good eating habits this past school year through “High Five with Fitness.” The program, funded with Preventive Health and Health Services resources through the Virginia Department of Health, was implemented in Chesterfield Health District at two middle schools and two elementary schools through partnerships with the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA. In the course of nine lessons, public health nurses from the school health services team focused on increasing physical activity and eating five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. The interactive lessons included educational materials as well as physical activities such as dancing and active games related to nutrition . Students received motivational items to use with each lesson, such as jump ropes, hula-hoops, Frisbees, pedometers, water bottles, catch games, socks, stadium cups, balls and T-shirts. Parents were also educated about the importance of good nutrition and physical activity through letters and parent packets. VDH purchased a 96-piece before- and after-school activity set for the Boys and Girls Clubs that hosted the middle school level program. The equipment will encourage fun physical activity for every student at the Boys and Girls Club, not just those who participated in “High Five with Fitness.” Formal evaluation of the program is not complete. Preliminary evaluations have indicated that the students valued the program and gained an increased awareness of the importance of daily physical activity and increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables. Two sessions were taught last school year, and at least one is planned for the upcoming school year.
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Triathlons Raise Funds for Childhood Obesity Programs
Through a partnership with the Charlottesville Triathlon Club, the Community Childhood Obesity Task Force in Charlottesville has found a unique way to support creative programming in schools and community organizations to address childhood obesity. The task force recruits and provides the volunteers to produce the club’s triathlons where 300 participants compete in swim, bike and run events. In return, the task force receives the profits of each event. The partnership began in 2002 when the task force presented information to the Albemarle County Medical Society about the growing problem of overweight children locally and throughout the nation. The task force hoped the medical society would donate some resources to their efforts. Physician Martin Katz, a member of the Charlottesville Triathlon Club, offered to organize a triathlon and give the profits to the task force, provided the task force find volunteers to produce the event. The task force produced four triathlons from 2003 to 2004, and received roughly $7,600 from the Charlottesville Triathlon Club. These funds in turn went to community programs through grants for projects that enhance physical activity or healthy eating. Profits are divided among the various programs based on the percentage of volunteers each program recruits to work the events. The largest donors of volunteers have been the Childhood Obesity Task Force itself and the Charlottesville Free Clinic. Other organizations contributing volunteers this year include the Boys and Girls Club and the Virginia School for Autism. Children with their parents or an adult can participate as volunteers and see first hand the fun to be had in these events. Due to increasing popularity, four triathlons were scheduled in 2005. The Sprint triathlon on June 19 saw 325 participants, and on July 31, the International triathlon attracted 290. Two events at the end of August will round out a busy summer, with the Xterra triathlon on Aug. 27, and a children’s triathlon Aug. 28. For more information about the Community Childhood Obesity Task Force in Charlottesville , or to volunteer and contribute to their efforts, please contact Barbara Yager at barbara.yager@vdh.virginia.gov.
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Office of Emergency Medical Services Tool Helps Agencies Keep Their Best Emergency Personnel
When Virginians call 911 for a medical emergency, they expect trained personnel to arrive and provide professional and prompt pre-hospital patient care. The Virginia Department of Health Office of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is working to help EMS providers retain the trained men and women to staff rescue squads, ambulance services, fire departments and medevac units. As Virginia’s population ages, emergency medical and critical care services will face an increased demand. At the same time, attracting and retaining volunteer EMS personnel is becoming more difficult as volunteers have less time to devote to public service. Seeking better pay, benefits, and advancement, career EMS personnel are moving on to other health care professions such as nursing and physical and occupational therapy. The pool of volunteer and career EMS personnel itself is aging, and the pool of potential personnel is decreasing. “Virginians need to know that we are serious about helping localities keep their trained and experienced EMS personnel,” said Gary R. Brown, director of the Office of Emergency Medical Services. To help local EMS leaders keep their valuable staff members, the Office of EMS has produced a series of workbooks and guides called “Keeping The Best!” with the help from Renaissance Resources, a Richmond area consulting firm. “Our goal with these workbooks and guidebooks is to empower local governments and EMS agencies to improve their retention strategies, regardless if they are a small volunteer rescue squad or part of a large municipal fire and rescue department,” Brown said. The first workbook, “Keeping The Best! How To Use EMS Retention Principles,” was distributed in July to agencies statewide. To help EMS leaders revitalize their membership and keep enough new members, the second workbook, “Keeping The Best! A Survival Guide to EMS Retention Problems,” will be available in late summer. The last two workbooks in the series will be available in the coming months, and will focus on maximizing retention efforts and retaining paramedics and other technicians. For more information on the “Keeping The Best” program, contact Rohn Brown, technical assistance coordinator in the Virginia Department of Health Office of EMS at Rohn.Brown@vdh.virginia.gov or (800) 523-6019.
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Chesapeake Public Health South Norfolk
Health Center Celebrates Ten Years of Success
On June 13, the Chesapeake South Norfolk Health Center celebrated its tenth anniversary. The facility continues to serve the City of Chesapeake by providing quality medical care to uninsured chronically ill citizens residing in the community. The clinic provides preventative health care, health promotion services and treatment for chronic conditions. It also provides specialty services including rheumatology, opthalmology, podiatry, surgery and gynecology. These services are made possible through volunteer physicians who donate their time for these clinics on a weekly basis. The outpatient center served more than 600 clients and provided for nearly 5,000 patient visits during the 2003-2004 fiscal year. Speakers at the event included Dr. Jack Lanier, Chairman of the Virginia State Board of Health, and Dr. Nancy Welch, Chesapeake Health District Director. Those in attendance from the Virginia Department of Health included State Health Commissioner Robert B. Stroube, M.D., M.P.H, Deputy Commissioner for Community Health Services Jeff Lake, and Director of Public Health Nursing Jodie Wakeham, Ph.D. |
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