July and August Focus on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar; OHE Wants to Hear From You; New Health Disparities Widget
Announcements
Monday, July 24, 2017
Register for July FHEA Cyberseminar – Using Effective Communication of Healthcare Disparities and Vulnerabilities to Empower Professionals, Veterans and Stakeholders
Join the VA Office of Health Equity for July’s Focus on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar session. The session will focus on the EMPOWER research project and the Make the Connection video project targeting vulnerable Veteran groups. Presenters will focus on effective strategies for communicating about health disparities and other health equity issues among Veterans and healthcare professionals.
Using Effective Communication of Healthcare Disparities and Vulnerabilities to Empower Professionals, Veterans and Stakeholders
Thursday, July 27, 2017
3:00 – 4:00pm EST
REGISTER
Panelist will discuss the following:
Key findings of the EMPOWER project which was designed to understand how to effectively communicate with healthcare professionals about healthcare disparities;
Using tailored peer to peer Veteran stories of recovery to connect Veterans, family members, friends, and other supporters with information, resources, and solutions to issues affecting their lives; and
Operational and research partnerships executed by the Office of Health Equity to advance the goals of the VA Health Equity Action Plan.
Confirmed Speakers
Diana Burgess, PhD
Health Science Researcher, VA Minneapolis Healthcare System, Minneapolis, MN
Wendy Tenhula, PhD
Deputy Chief Consultant for Specialty MH, VA Central Office, Washington, DC
Uchenna S. Uchendu, MD
Chief Officer, Office of Health Equity, VA Central Office, Washington, DC
Background Resources
Office of Health Equity Bulletin – 05/05/2017
Use Your Voice During Mental Health Month for Suicide Prevention
Focus on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar - 02/23/2017
Using Veterans’ Stories to Promote Health Equity and Reduce Disparities
Thomas Houston, MD, MPH; Uchenna S. Uchendu, MD
Burgess DJ. (2011). Addressing racial healthcare disparities: How can we shift the focus from patients to providers? Journal of General Internal Medicine, 26(8): 828-830.
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August Focus on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar
The VA Office of Health Equity will not be hosting a Focus on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar for the month of August. In the meantime, please check out past sessions of the Focus on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar. Please stay tuned for September’s session.
Chronic Health Conditions among Vulnerable Veterans: Current Research and Action (June 29, 2017)
Military Service History and VA Benefit Utilization for Minority Veterans (April 27, 2017)
Incorporating Social Determinants of Health into VHA Patient Care and Electronic Medical Records (March 30, 2017)
Using Veterans’ Stories to Promote Health Equity and Reduce Disparities (February 23, 2017)
State of VHA Care for Vulnerable Veterans (January 26, 2017)
Release of the Inaugural VHA National Veteran Health Equity Report (October 27, 2016)
National Expert Panel Discussion on TBI & Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Morbidity & Mortality among Vulnerable Veterans (June 30, 2016)
Race/Ethnicity Data Collection in the Veterans Health Administration (April 28, 2016)
Using Data to Characterize Vulnerable Veteran Populations (March 24, 2016)
Treatment of HCV-ALD Among VHA Vulnerable Populations (February 25, 2016)
Findings from the VISN 4 Hypertension Racial Disparities Quality Improvement Project (January 21, 2016)
Office of Health Equity Hepatitis C Virus-Advanced Liver Disease Disparities Dashboard (November 19, 2015)
Disparities in Healthcare Quality Indicators among Adults with Mental Illness: A systematic review (April 27, 2015)
Partnership in Pursuit of Health Equity: Focus on Minority Veterans (September 24, 2014)
ACA-Health Equity/Disparities Connection (March 5, 2014)
VHA Office of Health Equity- What is it all about? (November 4, 2013)
View Past Sessions
Voices from the Field: VA Office of Health Equity Wants to Hear from You
Photo caption: OHE Chief Officer engages researchers and stakeholders at the 2017 HSR&D/QUERI National Conference
What are your ideas and/or suggestions for tackling disparities among Veterans with chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity?The VA Office of Health Equity oversees agency efforts to champion health equity efforts on behalf of Veterans—especially those vulnerable Veterans who experience health and healthcare disparities because of their membership in patient groups historically and currently linked to social or economic disadvantage.
We often ask during our engagement meetings for ideas and/or suggestions for tackling disparities among Veterans. Here are some recent suggestions that we have received from the field for addressing chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesity among Veterans:
Increase Healthy Teaching Kitchen programming to help address disparities in diabetes and obesity.
Teach culturally relevant healthy cooking.
Expose Veterans to healthy low cost foods as many Veterans do not have much exposure to a variety of local fresh fruits and vegetables.
Provide training to providers and clinicians on weight discrimination in health care.
Develop health promotion messages that underscore the following message: taking care of yourself allows you to take care of the others that you love.
Increase the availability of education, programs and services for families and support group to support Veterans.
Engage community health workers to improve Veteran access, engagement, and outcomes.
Create partnerships with the Department of Defense and community wellness organizations like YMCA to leverage peer support for Veteran fitness and wellbeing.
Examine the contribution of VA provider communication in diabetes and hypertension counseling.
Measure provider implicit bias to determine how this affects patient outcomes.
Work with VINCI to develop a national interactive dashboard that facilities can use to track disparities at their individual facilities in real time.
The VA Health Equity Action Plan encourages incorporating the innovative ideas and input of all users in order to encourage bottom up approach while maintaining a strong connection to the overarching goals of the VA. Now it is your turn. The VA Office of Health Equity wants to hear from Veterans, health professionals, and other stakeholders.
What are your ideas and/or suggestions for tackling disparities among Veterans with chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity?
Email your suggestions to healthequity@va.gov and help shape how the VA addresses Veteran disparities.
Email OHE Your Ideas & Suggestions
New Widget from the Department of Health and Human Services for Exploring Health Disparities
The HHS Office of Minority Health , CDC National Center for Health Statistics and HHSOffice of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion are pleased to announce the release of a new health disparities data widget. The widget provides an easy way to find health disparities data related to the Healthy People 2020 objectives for the Leading Health Indicators (LHIs). LHIs are critical health issues that, when addressed, will help reduce the leading causes of death and preventable illnesses.
The widget provides charts and graphs of disparities data at your fingertips. Use the widget to browse data by:
Disparity type—including disability, education, income, location, race and ethnicity, and sex
Leading Health Indicator
The above graphic shows suicide disparities data by race and ethnicity for 2015 from the recently released data widget.
Suicide prevention is a top priority for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA Factsheet). you know that American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Veterans are at increased risk for suicide? According to the latest US Census, AIAN represent less than 1% of the US population. However, rates of suicide for AIAN are higher than those of other racial and ethnic groups [Source, Source].
to the Veteran Outreach Toolkit: Preventing Veteran Suicide is Everyone’s Business (A Community Call to Action):
and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities have troubling suicide rates. Outreach events for AI/AN communities should be a community priority to increase wellness, decrease stigma, and prevent suicide. Engaging leaders within the AI/AN communities, tribes, schools, and reservations is key to sharing resources. Building public health campaigns targeting AI/AN communities is a priority for organizations such as the Indian Health Service, National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, and Suicide Prevention Resource Center.
hope this new tool helps inform your programs, policies, research, and other actions related to achieving health equity.
Explore New Health Disparities Widget
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, North West
Washington D.C. 20420, United States
US Department of Veteran Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
Office of Health Equity
810 Vermont Avenue, North West
Washington, D.C. 20420, United States
-------Military Health System in Washington, D.C., United States for Monday, 24 July 2017 "Small critters, big consequences: be mindful of tick-borne diseases"
Small critters, big consequences: be mindful of tick-borne diseases
Tick bites and associated illnesses can be prevented, experts warn
Ticks may be small, but they can spread damaging illnesses through one bite. Knowing what to look out for and how to prevent tick-borne illnesses can help service members and their families enjoy the outdoors all year-round.
Ticks bite people any time of the year, but they really respond to weather,” said Ellen Stromdahl, an entomologist at the Army Public Health Center.
Top to bottom, illustration of black-legged tick, lone star tick, and dog tick. (Photo by Robert K. Lanier/Keller Army Community Hospital)
The Army Public Health Center tests about 3,000 ticks a year for disease-causing pathogens. Taken off service members, retirees, and civilians, the ticks come from about 100 different military installations, Stromdahl said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infections from ticks are increasing. They carry different diseases and can be found in various parts of the country depending on their species, said Stromdahl. Of all the tick-borne illnesses in the United States, one of the least-known viruses is also one of the most dangerous: Powassan virus.
With only 68 cases reported in the United States between 2006 and 2015, Powassan is rare, but the number of reported cases has increased in recent years, according to the CDC. The virus shows no signs at first, but symptoms begin anywhere from one week to a month after a bite from a black-legged tick. These symptoms include seizures, weakness, headaches, fever, coordination loss, and speech issues. Most reported cases of Powassan have been in the Northeast and the Great Lakes region.
“The fatality rate is about 10 percent,” said Stromdahl, “and Powassan can have long-lasting consequences even if you survive. However, some people infected with the virus are asymptomatic.” She added there’s no specific treatment or cure available.
In severe cases, hospitalization can be required because of inflammation in the brain. About one-half of those who survive have permanent neurological damage, such as memory problems or headaches.
One of the most commonly reported tick-borne diseases in the United States is Lyme disease. About 20 to 30 percent of black-legged ticks are infected with the pathogen that causes Lyme, said Stromdahl. In 2015, more than 28,000 confirmed cases were reported in the United States. Thousands of cases among service members and other Military Health System beneficiaries have been reported over the last decade.
Early symptoms of Lyme can seem flu-like, including fever, chills, fatigue, headache, aches, and swollen lymph nodes. A characteristic sign of Lyme is a bull’s-eye rash around the tick bite, but up to 20 percent of patients may not develop, or do not recall, a rash.
“It’s a preventable disease and, if left untreated, it can have some pretty serious consequences,” said Air Force Col. Carol Fisher, Chief of Defense Health Agency’s Public Health Division. Symptoms can worsen days to months after getting bitten by an infected tick. These signs can include joint pain and swelling, nerve pain, headaches and neck stiffness, and fatigue. Patients can also experience other rashes, heart palpitations, difficulty walking, and problems with short-term memory.
People can help protect themselves against ticks by avoiding wooded areas and areas with high grass, using a tick repellent on skin and clothing, and checking for ticks after being outside, said Fisher. Checking household pets can also help
“It’s great to be outdoors and active, but we also need to be mindful of the risks ticks can bring to us,” said Stromdahl, echoing Fisher’s warning.
Read More ...
for MHS?
The Army Public Health Center tests about 3,000 ticks a year for disease-causing pathogens. Taken off service members, retirees, and civilians, the ticks come from about 100 different military installations, Stromdahl said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infections from ticks are increasing. They carry different diseases and can be found in various parts of the country depending on their species, said Stromdahl. Of all the tick-borne illnesses in the United States, one of the least-known viruses is also one of the most dangerous: Powassan virus.
With only 68 cases reported in the United States between 2006 and 2015, Powassan is rare, but the number of reported cases has increased in recent years, according to the CDC. The virus shows no signs at first, but symptoms begin anywhere from one week to a month after a bite from a black-legged tick. These symptoms include seizures, weakness, headaches, fever, coordination loss, and speech issues. Most reported cases of Powassan have been in the Northeast and the Great Lakes region.
“The fatality rate is about 10 percent,” said Stromdahl, “and Powassan can have long-lasting consequences even if you survive. However, some people infected with the virus are asymptomatic.” She added there’s no specific treatment or cure available.
In severe cases, hospitalization can be required because of inflammation in the brain. About one-half of those who survive have permanent neurological damage, such as memory problems or headaches.
One of the most commonly reported tick-borne diseases in the United States is Lyme disease. About 20 to 30 percent of black-legged ticks are infected with the pathogen that causes Lyme, said Stromdahl. In 2015, more than 28,000 confirmed cases were reported in the United States. Thousands of cases among service members and other Military Health System beneficiaries have been reported over the last decade.
Early symptoms of Lyme can seem flu-like, including fever, chills, fatigue, headache, aches, and swollen lymph nodes. A characteristic sign of Lyme is a bull’s-eye rash around the tick bite, but up to 20 percent of patients may not develop, or do not recall, a rash.
“It’s a preventable disease and, if left untreated, it can have some pretty serious consequences,” said Air Force Col. Carol Fisher, Chief of Defense Health Agency’s Public Health Division. Symptoms can worsen days to months after getting bitten by an infected tick. These signs can include joint pain and swelling, nerve pain, headaches and neck stiffness, and fatigue. Patients can also experience other rashes, heart palpitations, difficulty walking, and problems with short-term memory.
People can help protect themselves against ticks by avoiding wooded areas and areas with high grass, using a tick repellent on skin and clothing, and checking for ticks after being outside, said Fisher. Checking household pets can also help
“It’s great to be outdoors and active, but we also need to be mindful of the risks ticks can bring to us,” said Stromdahl, echoing Fisher’s warning.
Read More ...
for MHS?
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The Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301, United States
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