Legislative Update

To see next week’s activities
Click here for the Agenda.
Click here to see the Current Health Legislation.

To get this information every week, send an email to President Sonja Armbruster at sarmbrus@sedgwick.gov

Kansas Senate to vote on Clean Indoor Air Act -- We need KPHA members to contact all Senators immediately!

KPHA sent an email to all Senators asking them to support SB25. You as an individual can also. If you can’t send one on your agency computer, please send one from your personal computer. Just “Forward” this newsletter email to your personal address.

It is vital that KPHA members contact their Senators because the membership voted on Tobacco Control Initiatives as your number one priority for the 2009 Legislative Session and because Legislators listen more to their constituents than they do anyone!

All you need to do is put in the Subject Box,
“A Constituent from (name your town) supports SB25-Clean Indoor Air Act!”
Write the following email:
As a public health advocate and a member of the Kansas Public Health Association, I am writing to ask for your support for SB25 (Clean Indoor Air Act) as it is debated on the Senate Floor. I am a strong supporter of Tobacco Control Initiatives!

You can edit this message add more information about yourself, etc.

Then copy this list of email addresses below and paste in the To box: and press Send! It is as easy as pie, and if you just take a minute to do this, all forty Senators will receive a great amount of supportive emails for SB25! The Senator from your district will notice your city and should pay particular attention to your email. Here are their email addresses. Please do this as soon as possible!

Steve.Abrams@senate.ks.gov
Pat.Apple@senate.ks.gov
Jim.Barnett@senate.ks.gov
Karin.Brownlee@senate.ks.gov
Terry.Bruce@senate.ks.gov
Pete.Brungardt@senate.ks.gov
Jeff.Colyer@senate.ks.gov
Les.Donovan@senate.ks.gov
Jay.Emler@senate.ks.gov
Oletha.Faust-Goudeau@senate.ks.gov
Marci.Francisco@senate.ks.gov
David.Haley@senate.ks.gov
Anthony.Hensley@senate.ks.gov
Tom.Holland@senate.ks.gov
Tim.Huelskamp@senate.ks.gov
Laura.Kelly@senate.ks.gov
Dick.Kelsey@senate.ks.gov
Kelly.Kultala@senate.ks.gov
Janis.Lee@senate.ks.gov
Julia.Lynn@senate.ks.gov
Bob.Marshall@senate.ks.gov
Ty.Masterson@senate.ks.gov
Carolyn.Mcginn@senate.ks.gov
Steve.Morris@senate.ks.gov
Ralph.Ostmeyer@senate.ks.gov
Tim.Owens@senate.ks.gov
Mike.Petersen@senate.ks.gov
Mary.PilcherCook@senate.ks.gov
Dennis.Pyle@senate.ks.gov
Roger.Reitz@senate.ks.gov
Derek.Schmidt@senate.ks.gov
Vicki.Schmidt@senate.ks.gov
Jean.Schodorf@senate.ks.gov
Chris.Steineger@senate.ks.gov
Mark.Taddiken@senate.ks.gov
Ruth.Teichman@senate.ks.gov
Dwayne.Umbarger@senate.ks.gov
John.Vratil@senate.ks.gov
Susan.Wagle@senate.ks.gov
David.Wysong@senate.ks.gov

HB 2221 made it out of committee and is headed to a vote on the house floor

KPHA President Elect, Eldonna Chesnut is encouraging local Health Departments (childcare licensing people especially) to contact their Representatives and encourage them to vote for this bill. This bill lays the ground work for being able to have an automated way for parents and others to get information on daycare providers via the internet. It also loosens restrictions on training agencies being able to notify providers of training availability etc.

Here is the background information on this bill:
The bill was introduced at the request of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment whose representative indicated that the bill was introduced to respond to the needs of the public, and especially working parents, to access child care records more readily and to create more transparency and efficiency in government. By no longer making the name and address of a child care facility, family day care home or maternity center confidential, the representative noted, the Department can begin using technology and the Internet to provide compliance information, inspection results, and related information to parents and the public. The House Committee on Health and Human Services recommended an amendment to clarify the ability of the Secretary of Health and Environment to prohibit the release of information when the prohibition is determined to be necessary.

To find your Kansas House of Representatives member go to http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-legisportal/redistricting.do and send them an email to support the bill. Since this is not one of the KPHA Legislative Priorities we are not asking everyone to send an alert like we are SB25—but, that doesn’t mean it is not important for public health—just not one of the priorities this year! Anytime a Board member asks for support—the KPHA office tries to respond.

Legislative Forums during NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH WEEK-April 6-12th

KHPA wants to once again hold Legislative Forums across Kansas in recognition of National Public Health Week. We need a Forum in your City. If you are interested in helping to host a Forum, please contact the KPHA office at director@kpha.us. President Sonja Armbruster will be appointing a Chair, soon! Johnson County Health Department, and KPHA Board member Barbara Mitchell, has already scheduled theirs for April 8th!

As a state affiliate of the American Public Health Association, we want to also encourage you to visit the APHA website and learn more about NPHW.

For the APHA toolkit with press release and proclamation language, for your local events, go to

http://www.nphw.org/nphw09/pg_tools_toolkit.htm

Join Us in “Building the Foundation for a Healthy America”

A Letter from APHA Executive Director, Dr. Georges Benjamin:

For more than a decade, communities around the country have celebrated National Public Health Week (NPHW) each April to help protect and improve our nation’s health. Each year, we pick a different issue around which to come together and focus our efforts. This year, with the nation’s attention directed towards our failing health system, NPHW 2009 will focus on the role public health must play in improving our nation’s health.

To understand the importance of this year’s theme, one need only to look as far as the startling health indicators that show that, even though we spend more on health care than any other nation, our nation is falling behind in many important measures of what it means to be healthy. U.S. life expectancy has reached a record high of 78.1 years but still ranks 46th — behind Japan and most of Europe. Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported some progress, a baby born in the United States is more likely to die before its first birthday than a child born in almost any other developed country.

Each day during NPHW will focus on a different setting through which our health is impacted, so we may better understand the importance of a strong foundation of public health in every aspect of our lives:

Monday: Your nation – Building the foundation for a healthy America
Tuesday: Your community – Addressing the impact of where we live on our health
Wednesday: Your workplace – Supporting healthy employees and healthy businesses
Thursday: Your schools – Nurturing healthy students and educators
Friday: Your home – Protecting and promoting health in our daily lives

Even if you have limited resources, you can make a difference. We need your help today. Step one is simple and easy for everyone to participate: Post information, such as the NPHW brochure, fact sheets and free downloads, on your Web site and link to the official NPHW Web page, www.nphw.org. Use the resources provided in the toolkit to help you in your outreach. Contact your local radio stations and encourage them to air the NPHW public service announcements included in the toolkit. Get your city/county to sign a proclamation.

Sincerely,

— Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, FACEP (E), executive director of the American Public Health Association

For the NPHW brochure, go to
http://www.nphw.org/nphw09/nphw09_bro.pdf
For the NPHW toolkit, go to
http://www.nphw.org/nphw09/toolkit_2009.pdf

Personal stories are a great way to learn more about how public health touches our lives and serves as the foundation of our health system. We need some Kansas public health stories on the APHA website. Please take a moment to enter a story at: http://www.nphw.org/nphw09/pg_share_personal.htm

Save the Date—KPHA Fall Conference

SAVE THE DATES!!

KPHA Fall Conference
September 22-24th, 2009
Hyatt Regency Hotel
Wichita, Kansas

Eldonna Chesnut, Conference Chair, and the Conference Committee has chosen the theme for this year’s conference, and as you can see, she is very frugally building upon National Public Health Week’s logo!!

Community Health Section Chair sends out Section Newsletter

KPHA Community Health Section Chair Barbara Mitchell, Jo Co Health Department sent out a Section Newsletter in January to the Section Members. Click here to see the first KPHA Section Newsletter Jan 09. This is one way for Section members to communicate and stay in touch hopefully other Section Chairs will follow Barbara’s lead.

KU MPH program Survey request

Below is a request from KPHA Secretary Ruth Wetta-Hall regarding the email from Dr. Hawley

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As a valuable member of the public health community, the University of Kansas Master of Public Health (MPH) program would like your opinion on the future directions of the MPH program.

We have developed a short survey that discusses the creation of MPH concentrations, the possibility of a new doctoral program in public health and new degrees in biostatistics. The survey consists of eight questions and will take approximately 3-5 minutes to complete.

Please complete the survey at the following website by Friday, February 20. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rRtr8L6XHKGwx6T03aWdYQ_3d_3d

Also, please feel free to share this survey link with your colleagues in public health practice and public health research. We would like to get as many responses as possible so we can make an informed decision that will benefit all of Kansas.

Thank you for your assistance in completing this survey.

Sincerely,
Suzanne R. Hawley, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Director, KU-MPH - Wichita Campus
Co-Executive Director, Kansas Public Health Leadership Institute - WALD Department of Preventive Medicine & Public Health University of Kansas School of Medicine - Wichita 1010 North Kansas Wichita, Kansas 67214-3199

email: shawley@kumc.edu

KPHA participates in KHPA Data Consortium—report full of information!

Since the inception of KHPA, KPHA staff and Board have participated in many of the meetings to determine the future for Health Policy in Kansas, from the Data Consortium to the Advisory Councils. We are please to see some of all the work KHPA is doing come to fruition. The new report just out shows many health indicators for Kansas. Just visit:

http://www.khpa.ks.gov/KHPADataConsortium/Docs/DataConsHealthInd012309.pdf

Some of the Kansas statistics you can find in this report are: Tobacco Use in Adults and Adolescents , Overweight and Obesity in Adults and Adolescents, Binge Drinking Among Adults, Percentage of Adults and Adolescents That Participate in Recommended Levels of Physical Activity, Percentage of Adults Who Were Tested and Diagnosed With High Blood Cholesterol, Hypertension, Diabetes, Percentage of Adults who Consume Fruits and Vegetables 5 or More Times Per Day etc.

New Health Director at KDHE

Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, MD, MPH, has been hired as Health Director and Kansas State Health Officer, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. He most recently has been county health officer of El Dorado County, Calif. He starts work in Kansas in March.

Pictures from the KPHA Board AND TFKC Meetings in January and APHA Affiliate Staff Conference Call

January was a busy month for leaders of KPHA the January Board meeting took place in Topeka, along with the TFKC meeting. We encourage all members to get involved and become active at any of the meetings—we also encourage more pictures for our photo gallery! The January Board meeting lasted for more than four hours, so your Board was very busy with lots of discussion. You can see the Board minutes that have been approved on the web site at: http://www.kpha.us/documents/boardminutes/boardminutes.html

You can also see lots of information about KPHA happenings on the website, such as ordering the new Statutes and Regulation book—we have already received over 10 orders. And, if you haven’t looked at the site, recently, be sure to visit it in the coming months as we hope to add a blog and maybe even a Face Book fan page.

KPHA is leading the way with pulling together public health in Kansas. Recently on a conference phone call many most of the other state’s public health associations we found out that we have lots to be proud of. Here are a few of the notes from that conference call meeting about how other states are raising revenue for their association:
-Oklahoma has corporate memberships – any organization with more than 100 employees – gets a per member discount. Oklahoma gets $20,000 from their state health department – paying for many of their employees ($12 each)
-Indiana shared that the Great Lakes Region is about to sponsor a training session which they anticipate will be a fund-raiser. They also are the third party fiscal agent for the state health department for 16 staff funded through grants
-North Carolina is getting ready to celebrate their 100th anniversary and will host a celebration. The local health departments and state health department have stepped up and made donations. They also partner with their health commissioners’ association. This year on their invoices, they included a line for PHA designations – donations have been significant and this highlights the importance of their partnership with the health director’s association and their state health department. UNC and other MPH programs, which will also help support the Anniversary have committed at least $15,000 for the annual conference/celebration. NC is also reaching out to the pharmaceutical companies, and biotech companies for sponsorships.
-Nebraska is working on being a fiscal agent for other non-profits and for their state health department. And will charge an administrative fee which is their portion for doing this work.

KKPHA Executive Director meets with Kansas Dept. of Agriculture Staff

In an effort to build better collaboration between food safety/consumer protection and other public health efforts at the Kansas Department of Agriculture, I met with Constantine V. Cotsoradis, Deputy Secretary, and Stacey Woolington, their Fiscal Officer. Below is a picture of Stacey and Constatine. We hope to recruit Department of Ag members in KPHA. If you work with any of their employess on any of their programs, please encourage them to know they are part of public health, too, and should be members.