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Think Cultural Health
Think Cultural Health, a website sponsored by the Office of Minority Health, offers the latest resources and tools to promote cultural competency in health care. You may access free online courses accredited for continuing education credit as well as supplementary tools to help you and your organization promote respectful, understandable, and effective care to your increasingly diverse patients.
Bringing Awareness to Shift Work Disorder During Men's Health Month
In CFHC's interview with the Vice President of Men's Health Network, Scott T. Williams, Shift Work Disorder was highlighted as a health concern to bring awareness to during Men's Health Month. What is Shift Work Disorder? Who is primarily affected by it?
The Wake-Up Squad, an organization leading the fight against Shift Work Disorder, sheds light.
To learn more about Shift Work Disorder, visit The Wake-Up Squad's website at www.thewakeupsquad.com.
Connecting With Men
There is a growing interest in male reproductive health, but little information is available about how to effectively design programs that are attractive to and that successfully reach men in their adult years.
In a free, downloadable report entitled, Connecting with Men, California Family Health Council shares successful programming strategies targeting adult men, based on the experiences of CFHC’s Male Services Program.
This program, funded using Title X Special Projects Funds, was implemented in13 different Title X delegate agencies in California. Find out all about what was learned over that 10 year time span by reading this innovative report.
World AIDS Day
Join people world-wide who are working together on World AIDS Day, December 1st, to increase awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS epidemic. Over a million Americans are estimated to be living with HIV. Worldwide an estimated 33 million people are living with HIV.
Find out what is going on in your area by logging onto AIDS.gov and finding out more.
Rising suicide rate among Latina teens
The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools is sponsoring a free webinar May 21, 2009, to help shed light on the rising trend of suicides among Latina teens.
Supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this webinar will examine the high rate of suicide attempts by adolescent Latinas in the United States. Click here to read more about this training opportunity and to register.
Get More Training on LAM (Lactation Amenorrhea Method)
If you want more training on a method of birth control that breastfeeding mothers can use immediately after childbirth, then you will want to know more about the Family Health International (FHI) online training on the Lactation Amenorrhea Method (LAM).
This online training is well suited for doctors, nurses, health workers and other service providers who come in contact with family planning clients during a clinic visit. The online module may be completed individually in about 35 minutes as a self-study program. Or slides and handouts can be downloaded and presented in a group training. It is also available in hard copy in Spanish and French.
The training module is a resource that can help you get the information and resources you need to effectively counsel breastfeeding clients on this method. Click here to go directly to the LAM training module.
CFHC also provides family planning training that includes LAM. If you are interested in learning more and completing a Certification Course for Family Planning Health Workers, go to www.healthed.org or email us at training@cfhc.org. Register early for our upcoming course by clicking the link below.
Download the November FPHW brochure (PDF, 200K).
Domestic Violence Hotline in Multiple Languages
1-800-978-3600
If you practice in Southern California, you may find this hotline a useful one to share with your clients who need to find a safe way out of their abusive environments. This toll-free service routes Southern California victims of domestic violence directly to trained shelter personnel in Los Angeles County.
The hotline operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Callers can get help in eleven languages -- English, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Khmer, Japanese, Thai and Armenian.
Your Role in Preventing Suicide
Did you know that suicide is the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 24? Even teens who seem fine on the surface may be considering suicide. Most people won’t tell you that they are thinking of harming themselves. Instead, they often describe their concerns in terms of physical and mental symptoms. Ask them questions like:
- Have you felt depressed lately? Does it seem like you want to sleep a lot? Have you lost interest in things you normally enjoy doing?
- Do you use alcohol or other drugs? Do you feel that your drug or alcohol use hampers your life or your relationships in any way?
- Have you felt like withdrawing from friends or family?
- Some kids really struggle in trying to figure how whether they are gay or straight. Is this something you’re dealing with?
- Are you dealing with an unplanned pregnancy?
- Do you feel yourself getting angry a lot? Have you been getting into fights lately?
The fact is that depression and suicidal feelings can be treated. Sometimes all it takes is one trusted adult making a connection with that teen. Show them that you want to know how they are feeling and that you won’t judge them. Make sure they know that there are many adults who care – their parents, teachers, aunts or uncles, school counselors or even hotline counselors.
Let all of your clients, especially teens, know about the free National Girls and Boys Town hotline at 1-800-448-3000.
Click here to download free posters and wallet cards for your waiting area and exam rooms.
Help Families Talk During "Let's Talk" Month
Did you know that October is “Let’s Talk” Month? This month is also known as “National Family Sexuality Education Month.” Each year, over 50 national organizations celebrate this month with campaigns to help families talk about sex.
During October, encourage your patients to talk! Parents and teens can use this month as an excuse to start conversation. They could say: “I heard that October is 'Let’s Talk' Month. It’s all about helping parents and teens talk about sex. There’s even a website called 'TalkWithYourKids.org'. Have you heard about it?”
October is Health Literacy Awareness Month
California Family Health Council is celebrating Health Literacy Awareness Month by making two evaluation tools available to health care providers coming to www.healthed.org. You know it's important to evaluate the health education materials you use with your health care clients. But where can you start?
Most patients like concise, easy-to-read, and attractive health education materials. And most people read comfortably at the 5th grade level or lower, especially when it comes to health care information. It's important to check the health education materials you plan to use with your clients for reading level. Click here for the Fry Graph and Instructions for evaluating the reading level of your document.
Once you've found out that the material is easy enough for most of your clients to read, then take some time thinking about other issues. Is it culturally appealing to your population? Is the print size big enough to read easily? Is there plenty of white space to draw the reader into the document? Use CFHC's easy-to-use Checklist for Evaluating Health Education Materials to help guide your decision-making process.
By the way, all the materials in CFHC's Online Database has already been evaluated by a professional health educator. Don't miss this great online resource to help you find the best client education materials available. Click here to access the Online Database.
