Blogs

Planning for the Future of Transportation Infrastructure

By Melissa McNeily posted 08-18-2017
August 18, 2017 11:51 AM Category: Health Equity , Physical Activity by Rosa Riley How can cities prepare for the future of transportation and technology? According to Harriet Tregoning, managing change and designing for adaptation are the best ways to prepare. Tregoning is the former principal deputy secretary of the Office of Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Transportation in cities is increasingly being changed and driven by technology. The primary technology that has impacted transportation systems has been the automobile itself. Our current places are a product of the automobile. ...

How Multi-Sector Health Partnerships Evolve

By Melissa McNeily posted 08-18-2017
Jul 10, 2017, 2:00 PM, Posted by Emmy Ganos Strong partnerships spanning an array of sectors—including public health, housing, education, transportation and others—are the bedrocks of healthy communities. How do they evolve and what makes them successful? When Mercer Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey, planned to close its doors more than 10 years ago, many in the community were alarmed by the likely impact on health services available to the city’s large, low-income population. Encouraged by Mayor Douglas Palmer and the State Department of Health, two hospitals, a federally-qualified health center, and the city health ...

Are you ready for an earthquake? New infographic can help keep you safe

By Melissa McNeily posted 08-17-2017
It’s a beautiful day and you’re leaving your home for the day. Suddenly, the ground starts to shake: It’s an earthquake! Do you know what to do? Earthquakes are more common than you think. And they don’t just happen on the West Coast. Globally, there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes every year, the U.S. Geological Survey says. Only about 100,000 of those can be felt, and 100 cause damage. Though you may not have heard about them in the news, there were earthquakes in California, Greece, Peru, Russia and other countries in the past month. People in Oklahoma experienced seven earthquakes in 28 hours in early August, causing power outages. ...

Los Angeles’ Mayor’s Sustainable City pLAn

By Melissa McNeily posted 08-15-2017
August 10, 2017 5:30 PM Category: Health Equity by Rosa Riley Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti has an ambitious plan to make LA a sustainable city. A four-part series article has featured the plan, which is split into 3 larger categories: environment economy equity The first series article focuses on a general overview of the pLAn being proposed by Mayor Garcetti. The second series article focuses on the environment, specifically focusing on LA’s challenges. However, the third series article moves into the economy, which includes topics of: housing and development mobility and transit prosperity and green jobs prosperity ...

Safe Routes to (More Than) Schools

By Melissa McNeily posted 08-15-2017
by Elizabeth Hartig - Project Associate, Planning and Community Health Center This blog was originally published on www.planning.org . To view the post, click here . APA’s Plan4Health project includes 35 coalitions in 27 states working at the intersection of planning and public health. From the development of Indianapolis’ first pedestrian plan to the launch of a healthy corner store program in Fort Worth , planners have engaged in strategies to increase access to healthy food or to increase opportunities for physical activity. While Plan4Health defines nutrition and active living as two separate focus areas, this distinction disappears ...

Safe Produce for a Sustainable System

By Melissa McNeily posted 07-27-2017
This month, APHA’s Year of Climate Change and Health is looking at agriculture and food safety and security . Due to the increase in pests and disease resulting from climate change, reducing risk to agriculture and ensuring a safe and abundant food system are imperative. Today’s guest blogger is Owen David. He is the produce safety specialist at the New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services, Food Protection Section, which works to prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness by inspecting restaurants and retail food stores. David is implementing a new Produce Safety Program in New Hampshire under a Cooperative Agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration ...

The Human Cost of the Food We Eat

By Melissa McNeily posted 07-17-2017
Written by: Louise Dettman 2017 is the Year of Climate Change and Health , a 12-month APHA-led initiative with monthly themes meant to raise awareness of and mobilize action on the health impacts of climate change. July is Agriculture, Food Safety and Security month. Here, APHA’s Surili Sutaria Patel, MS, senior program manager for environmental health with the Center for Public Health Policy, introduces the theme with a discussion of the human cost of climate change in our food supply chain. To learn more about this issue and other related topics, please visit: https://apha.org/topics-and-issues/climate-change/agriculture . When we think of the impacts ...

APHA Plan4Health Webinar Series: Summary

By Melissa McNeily posted 05-26-2017
By: Rosa Riley As part of the Plan4Health project, the American Public Health Association hosted three webinars in January, March, and May to focus on the areas where Plan4Health projects had success during the three-year grant period. January: Coalition Building During the coalition-building webinar, we heard from Tim Gibb and David Edgell from the Delaware Healthy Eating and Active Living (DE HEAL) coalition and Sandra Cummings from Health By Design to talk about coalitions and how they form and function to do the type of work being done with the Plan4Health project. The presenters discussed coalitions and collaborations and used them interchangeably ...

August Health News

By Melissa McNeily posted 09-01-2016
by Matt Makara - MPH, Program Manager, Affiliate Affairs, American Public Health Association Each month we’ll highlight a few news stories from around the nation related to nutrition, physical activity and chronic disease. Please see below for select stories from August: 8/1/2016 – Order Lunch Early, Lose Weight Later? You might be able to cut your calorie intake by ordering meals before you’re actually hungry, a new study suggests. Researchers examined the lunch orders of 690 employees using a corporate cafeteria and 195 university students choosing catered lunch options. 8/1/2016 – Fat May Not Hike ...

Sacramento Regional Meeting Recap

By Melissa McNeily posted 08-24-2016
August 16, 2016 5:24 PM Category: Health Equity by Matt Makara - MPH, Program Manager, Affiliate Affairs, American Public Health Association This past week Plan4Health coalitions from around the country came together in Sacramento to participate in a multi-faceted meeting over the course of three days. Here, attendees had opportunities to meet and learn from one another as well as many guest speakers, share experiences and get out in the community to see the impact of the work that the Sacramento coalition is involved in. We were very fortunate to have a number of guest speakers throughout the three day meeting to provide guidance and ...

Farmers’ Markets in Rural Communities

By Melissa McNeily posted 07-21-2016
by Elizabeth Hartig - Project Coordinator, Planning and Community Health Center This entry is from Jed Hinkley, Healthy Foods Coordinator, Partnerships to Improve Community Health, Albemarle Regional Health Services Starting and running a farmers market in rural, northeastern North Carolina is very different than starting and running a farmers market in the urban areas of the state such as the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) or other urban centers across the country. In many ways a paradox exists in agricultural areas because often people have limited access to farmers markets and local fruits and vegetables. ...

June Health News

By Melissa McNeily posted 07-01-2016
June Health News by Matt Makara - MPH, Program Manager, Affiliate Affairs, American Public Health Association Each month we’ll highlight a few news stories from around the nation related to nutrition, physical activity and chronic disease. Please see below for select stories from June: June 1: Draft guidance to food industry for voluntarily reducing sodium in processed and commercially prepared food Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued draft guidance for public comment that provides practical, voluntary sodium reduction targets for the food industry. The draft short-term (two-year) and long-term (10-year) voluntary targets for ...

June is Men’s Health Month

By Melissa McNeily posted 06-14-2016
June is Men’s Health Month by Matt Makara - MPH, Program Manager, Affiliate Affairs, American Public Health Association “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Unfortunately, this old adage may not be actively taken to heart for a large part of the U.S. population – Men. In the U.S., men have higher rates for many of the leading causes of death, including heart disease and diabetes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Unfortunately, men are more likely to not have healthcare coverage compared to women and typically visit the doctor far less frequently for preventive ...

Youth suicide prevention music academy

By Todd Denny posted 12-31-2015

Building A Public Health Infastructure To Prevent Youth Violence

By Angel Morris posted 06-06-2014
We live in violent times. Americans are seven times more likely to die of homicide and twenty times more likely to die from shooting than people in other developed countries. 1 Stephen J. Schoenthaler, PhD, a professor of criminal justice at California State University, researched the effect of nutrition on cognition and behavio r in school children, prisoners and institutionalized juveniles. He reported a significantly lower level of antisocial behavior after dietary modifications which involved decreasing sugar consumption during a three-month and nine-month period respectively. In fact, as of 1983, at least nine separate institutions in three states ...

Affiliate CTG awardees

By Mekia Barclift posted 03-26-2014
In 2013, APHA awarded funding to the following nine Affiliates to support partnerships that advance community transformation in local communities. A summary of each Affiliate's activities and links to their recorded presentations can be found on APHA's website at http://www.apha.org/membergroups/states/leaderscorner/. You may also read more about their efforts via the Everything Affiliate resource library. Iowa Public Health Association Maine Public Health Association Massachusetts Public Health Association Minnesota Public Health Association Montana Public Health Association Oklahoma Public Health Association South ...

APHA announces its 2014 accreditation grant recipients

By Mekia Barclift posted 01-30-2014
The American Public Health Association is pleased to announce that it has awarded funding to eleven Affiliates to support activities that prepare local, tribal, state and territorial health departments for national accreditation. Proposed activities include surveys that assess staff capacity, knowledge and barriers to accreditation; educational sessions and peer-to-peer sharing opportunities on best practices and lessons learned from accredited health departments; technical assistance hours; and the development of resources and modules on national accreditation. APHA would like to thank the review panel for its assistance and guidance in the grant review ...

Q&A with new APHA President-elect Shiriki Kumanyika

By Mekia Barclift posted 11-22-2013
Courtesy of Public Health Newswire: November 21, 2013 - University of Pennsylvania professor and newly minted APHA President-elect Shiriki Kumanyika tells us about her work, why she's so hopeful about the future public health workforce and why the new APHA will lead to greater impact for health. http://www.publichealthnewswire.org/?p=8920

Public health continues to suffer from shutdown

By Mekia Barclift posted 10-14-2013
Courtesy of Public Health Newswire: October 14, 2013 - As the third week of the government shutdown begins, public health’s workforce is increasingly strained to provide vital services. State and local health departments are bearing the brunt of the consequences, as they rely on federal agencies to help maintain a variety of health activities. APHA’s Affiliates shared their stories with Public Health Newswire. To learn about the impact of the goverment shutdown on the Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota Public Health Associations, click here .

Today is Get Ready Day

By Mekia Barclift posted 09-17-2013
APHA's Get Ready Campaign helps Americans prepare themselves, their families and their communities for all disasters and hazards, including pandemic flu, infectious disease, natural disasters and other emergencies. APHA brings increased attention to the importance of emergency preparedness by recognizing every third Tuesday in September as Get Ready Day . This year, APHA hosted its second annual blood drive in partnership with the American Red Cross. We also prepared snacks for our fellow neighbors and employees using items that could be found in an emergency stockpile. These tasty treats include "Lights out s'mores" and canned brown bread with rhubarb ...