ACHI Executive Associate Director Named Assistant Dean at UAMS College of Public Health

Effective July 1, 2010, Professor Kevin Ryan, JD, MA, will serve as Assistant Dean for MPH Programs (ADMP) at the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health. 

This is a new position, created at the College of Public Health due to growth in their master’s-level educational programs.

In addition to serving as ACHI Executive Associate Director, Professor Ryan is an Associate Professor in the College of Public Health's Department of Health Policy and Management, serves on the Academic Standards Committee, and is Co-director of the DrPH program.  He has served as the primary instructor in Public Health Law as well as teaching and participating in a number of other courses.

Arkansas Minority Health Summit Includes Former U.S. Surgeons General

On April 15, a roundtable discussion with former U.S. surgeons general was held for Arkansas' public health leaders and legislators in conjunction with the health summit presented by the Arkansas Minority Health Commission.

The roundtable was moderated by

Dr. Joe Thompson who engaged discussion around the importance and relevance of Healthy People national health agendas. Consideration was given to setting realistic, measurable health goals for the nation that states can use to adequately address minority health and racial/ethnic health disparities.

(Left to Right) Thomas LaVeist, PhD – Professor in Health Policy and

Director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions at the

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Vice Admiral

Antonia C. Novello, MD (1990-93); Richard Carmona, MD – Former

Surgeon General (2002-2006); Joycelyn Elders, MD – Former Surgeon

General (1995-1997); Joseph W. Thompson, MD, MPH – Arkansas Surgeon

General, ACHI Director and Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity.

U.S. Surgeon General, Dr.  Regina Benjamin, Visits ACHI

ACHI Director and Arkansas Surgeon General, Dr. Joe Thompson, visited with Dr. Regina Benjamin on April 12.  Dr. Benjamin then met with Governor Mike Beebe, in recognition and support of Arkansas' current health initiatives, offering her assistance as the state moves forward.

Dr. Joe Thompson Blogs About the Recent White House Obesity Summit on EquityBlog.

As Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, housed at ACHI, Dr. Thompson participated in the White House Obesity Summit on April 9.  Following is a link to his blog on EquityBlog, highlighting top priorities discussed by the four workgroups that met to discuss and develop several recommended top priorities to inform the Presidential Task force on Childhood Obesity. The groups were formulated around the four pillars of the Let's Move Initiative.  Click here to read the full post.  

Arkansas Baptist College Hosts Minority Health Month and Public Health Week News Conference

Arkansas Minority Health Commission Director, Idonia Trotter read a proclamation from Governor Mike Beebe declaring April Minority Health Month.

The efforts of many were celebrated during an event on April 9, 2010 that encompassed recognition of Minority Health Month and Public Health Week in Arkansas.  The event was held at the Old Main Building at Arkansas Baptist College, a location chosen by event coordinators as an example of community revitalization in action.

The Minority Health Commission announced 11 recipients of grants given to community-based, non-profit organizations sponsoring events planned during  April that focus on health promotion and disease prevention in minority communities.  

Six Public Health Hero awards were presented to winners selected from statewide nominations.  The recipients are outstanding and innovative people and organizations who have activated members of their community to improve health. 

For more information including a complete list of grant recipients and Public Health Heros, click here.

Dr. M. Kate Stewart, MD, MPH, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy Management and Director of the Office of Community Based Public Health in the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, presents an award to Public Health Hero, Joy Rockenbach for her work with the Arkansas Coalition for obesity Prevention.

North Little Rock Celebrates Public Health Week at Location of New Argenta Market

On April 8, 2010, North Little Rock celebrated Public Health Week as a shining example of this year's theme:  Healthier Arkansas:  One Community at a Time.  In addition to a Public Health Week proclamation read by Mayor Patrick Hays, attendees were treated to an open house at the new grocery store on Main Street in historic downtown Argenta. Seeking to remedy limited access to healthy foods in the downtown area of the city, the market will focus on local foods from local farmers, featuring an array of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and other healthy, nutritious foods.  Read the release.

North Little Rock Mayor, Patrick Hays, presents Public Health Week Proclamation to Arkansas First Lady, Ginger Beebe and Dr. Joe Thompson.  Also participating were Certified Arkansas Farmers Markets President, Jody Hardin and Michael Drake of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability.

Jody Hardin treated participants to Arkansas' first strawberries of the year, frosh from his farm in Grady, Arkansas.

Delta Garden Study Breaks Ground

Dr. Joe Thompson and Michelle Justus joined First Lady Ginger Beebe, Delta Garden Study Lead Investigator, Dr. Judy Weber and others for an official ground breaking ceremony at Mabelvale Magnet Middle School – the project’s first pilot school.

The Delta Garden Study will provide middle school students in the Delta with an opportunity to work in new one-acre gardens with greenhouses thanks to a cooperative agreement between the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) and the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Delta Obesity Prevention Research Unit.  

Goals of the program include helping students become more involved with their school, increase physical activity and increase intake of fresh vegetables.  It is the first and longest study of gardening’s effect on middle school students.

For more information, visit www.arteengarden.com.

Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission Joins the Movement to Reverse Childhood Obesity

Grants totaling $578,704 were awarded to 56 Schools during an awards ceremony at the Arkansas State Capitol.  The grants are part of the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission's new Child Wellness Intervention Program (CWIP) developed in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education's Office of Coordinated School Health, Arkansas Children's Hospital and the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. 

The primary goal of the CWIP initiative is to reduce childhood obesity through increased physical activity and quality physical education programs.

ACHI's Michelle Justus (fourth from left) and Jennifer Shaw (to the right of Michelle)

with representatives from Bethel Middle School.

The grants were awarded to recipients by Governor Mike Beebe and Arkansas First Lady,

Ginger Beebe.           

Annika Sorenstam, best known for her domination of women's golf, was in attendance and endorsed the CWIP program's use of the grade-specific physical education curriculum and equipment - SPARK - with which Mrs. Sorenstam's foundation recently partnered. News release including list of recipient schools.

Governor Mike Beebe;

Annika Sorenstam;

First Lady Ginger Beebe;

Dr. Joe Thompson,

ACHI Director and Arkansas Surgeon General; and Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission member,

Dr. Drew Kumpuris.

ACHI Director Appears on C-SPAN's Washington Journal.

Dr. Joe Thompson, MD, MPH, ACHI Director, Arkansas Surgeon General, and Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal to discuss policy strategies to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic.  The program originally aired Monday, February 1, 2010 from 8 - 9 a.m. Central. Information on additional showings is available here http://www.c-span.org/Series/Washington-Journal.aspx.

State Coverage Initiatives Reports Release of New Brief On Impact of Health Reform on States

The following is an excerpt from St@teside, an on-line newsletter from State Coverage Initiatives, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and AcademyHealth:

While the prospects of health reform may have been dealt a serious blow with the Massachusetts election, at this point in time some compromise between the House and Senate bills remains possible. It is critical to realize that the problems a reform bill would have begun to address still remain. In addition, the cost of failure for our nation’s economy is daunting.

Thus it remains important to show the effect of health reform on people in individual states. Because state coverage levels vary dramatically in the current system, any significant reforms would affect states differently. A new report, How Would States Be Affected by Health Reform?, produced by the Urban Institute, funded in part by State Coverage Initiatives, uses the recent Senate bill as a starting point to examine this variation and provide detailed state and regional data.

Key findings include:

§  A large share of those who would benefit live in Southern and Western states, because of the states’ low levels of Medicaid coverage, relatively large low-income populations, and higher  rates of uninsurance.

§  Overall, about 18.6 million people would become newly eligible for Medicaid under the Senate bill, disproportionately in Southern and Western states; another 22.8 million people are currently eligible for Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) but not enrolled in those programs. Forty seven percent of the nation’s uninsured could potentially be covered through Medicaid once reform is in place.

§  Nine Southern states (West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas) and three states in the West (New Mexico, Oregon, and Hawaii) would have more than 10 percent of their population newly eligible for Medicaid.

§  The population with incomes between 133 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) – the main group potentially eligible for subsidies under the health reform proposals – account for 87 million Americans. Not all would receive subsidies because of restrictions for those with offers of employer-based coverage. 

§  95.2 million people—or 37 percent of the non-elderly population—would not be eligible for subsidies because their family income exceeds 400 percent of the FPL.A larger share of a state’s population falls into this income group in the Northeast (e.g. over 50 percent in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts) than in other regions, particularly the South (e.g., less than 30 percent in West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Arkansas).

Read this brief.

Michelle Obama to Fight Child Obesity at Grass Roots

According to USA Today, the First Lady has said she hopes one of her legacies will be her work in reducing childhood obesity, an effort she already has begun by planting the White House garden and joining in physical activities with children.

The idea behind the 1,100 garden on the White House South Lawn is to educate children about healthful locally grown fruit and vegetables and through children, educate families and in turn, communities. 

On January 20, USA Today included an article covering the First Lady's speech at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, saying that she plans to expand her grass roots efforts to put in place common-sense initiatives and solutions that empower families and communities to make health decisions for their kids.  Click here to read the article.

Boone and Newton Counties Receive One of 41 Community Grants From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Initiative.

The North Arkansas Partnership for Health Education (NAPHE) will use the grant to help fund their Healthy Kids, Healthy Ozarks project which aims to expand and improve upon earlier efforts to address childhood obesity and other health issues in the Boone and Newton counties area.  Working in collaboration with numerous public and private partners, including ACHI, the project will work to bring more affordable healthy foods to residents and to help children to be more active.

The grants represent Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) expansion of a landmark national program to create communities where children and their families have access to healthy, affordable foods and safe places to play and exercise.  Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities—one of the Foundation's largest and most ambitious community-action initiatives ever—is a cornerstone of RWJF's $500 million commitment in childhood obesity prevention. A complete list of the sites, descriptions and contact information is available at www.healthykidshealthycommunities.org.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity lead by ACHI in strategic partnership with PolicyLink (www.reversechildhoodobesity.org) is an integral part of the RWJF commitment in childhood obesity.

Arkansas to Participate in Safe Routes to School National Partnership's 2010-2011 State Network Project

Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas in partnership with the Arkansas Coalition for Obesity Prevention has been awarded a grant to help increase physical activity for children in grades K-8 by increasing safe opportunities for children to walk and bicycle to school. The grant will complement current work undertaken through the Arkansas Safe Routes to School program, a partnership between the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department and the Injury Prevention Center at Arkansas Children's Hospital.

The grant is part of the expansion of the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) National Partnership State Network Project with funding provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ACHI Honors Long-Time Friends and Welcomes New Annual Sponsor During

Annual Holiday Party

Susan Hanrahan, incoming Health Policy Board Chair and Bob McGinnis, honored for his service as past Chair, look on as Joe Thompson presents a token of appreciation to Tom and Dolores Bruce.  In addition to serving on the Health Policy Board for more than ten years, Tom and his wife, Dolores, provided the initial support necessary to launch ACHI through the a challenge grant from the Thomas A. and Dolores F. Bruce Endowment Fund of the Arkansas Community Foundation.

The annual ACHI holiday party has traditionally been a time to recognize those whose service has meant so much to the Center's success. This year that recognition was especially poignant as four long-time friends of the Center were honored for their many years of dedicated service and a new annual sponsor was announced.

Honored were retiring members of ACHI's Administrative Committee, Robert Shoptaw (Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield) and Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, MD (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences), along with Dr. Tom Bruce who retired his position on the ACHI Health Policy Board after more than ten years of service.  Bob McGinnis, who has been a member of the Health Policy Board since 1999 was honored too for his service as Health Policy Board Chairman. 

Dr. Joe Thompson, ACHI Director, expressed sincere gratitude on behalf of the entire Center staff for the many years of leadership, commitment and support provided by these visionary men.  He said, "Bob Shoptaw, Chancellor Wilson, Tom Bruce and Bob McGinnis have not only helped ACHI grow from an idea to the important catalyst for change that it is today, they have also been friends and trusted advisors."

Aa hearty welcome was also given to Ed Choate, President and CEO of Delta Dental of Arkansas -- ACHI's newest annual sponsor. This new sponsorship will provide additional core support that allows ACHI to respond to emerging issues raised by policy makers and provides the ability to meet new demands on ACHI's staff capacity.  As chief administrator of Delta Dental of Arkansas, Ed Choate will take a place on the ACHI Administrative Committee.

Senator Blanche Lincoln

Discusses Health Care Reform

with Governor's Roundtable on Health Care

On November 16, 2009, the Governor's Roundtable on Health Care met to discuss several current issues with significant impact on the health of Arkansans.

Included was the impact of federal health care reform legislation on Arkansas.  Senator Lincoln joined the discussion via teleconference to provide an update from Capitol Hill and to exchange questions and answers with members of the Roundtable. 

Other issues discussed included: the positive results of Arkansas' tobacco Prevention and Cessation program including a presentation from State Health Director, Dr. Paul Halverson; and a panel presentation covering the various components of Arkansas' Health Information Technology efforts.  For more information including presentation materials, click here.

ACHI's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity Hosts Healthy Kids, Healthy Nation: Reversing the Childhood Obesity Epidemic by 2015

More than 400 members of national program offices and grantee organizations funded through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) childhood obesity initiative gathered in Atlanta, GA for a two-day conference hosted by the RWJF Center housed at ACHI in strategic partnership with PolicyLink (Oakland, CA). 

During the conference, attendees created a shared strategy to promote synergy that will advance the national movement to reverse our nation's childhood obesity epidemic.

For the latest news, resources and updates on our progress, please visit      www.reversechildhoodobesity.org.

Sam Kass, Assistant White House Chef and Food Initiative Coordinator delivered

a keynote message focused on First Lady Michelle Obama's interest in promoting

health and wellness and work on curbing the spread of childhood obesity.

ACHI Releases New Report:  The Impact of National Health Care Reform on Arkansas

This report takes a look at:

· What the employer-sponsored health insurance system looks like in Arkansas, including unemployment rates, the size of businesses in our state and the number of people who don’t have insurance coverage.
· How Arkansans might be effected by health care reform, considering general level of education, homeownership, foreclosure rates, medical bankruptcy and the amount of money Arkansans earn.
Click here to view the report

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Based at ACHI, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Center was launched in 2009 as a national institution focused solely on the epidemic that threatens our country's children and adolescents – and on the actions needed to reverse it. Leadership for the RWJF Center is provided by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement in strategic partnership with PolicyLink. For more information visit, www.reversechildhoodobesity.org

The Arkansas Coalition for Obesity Prevention (ArCOP)

ArCOP has announced a new opportunity that will enable communities state-wide to address the childhood, adolescent and adult obesity problem. In addition to ArCOP, this initiative, entitled Growing Healthy Communities, brings together the following partners for implementation: the LifeStages Branch of the Arkansas Department of Health, the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health.  Click here for more information and application materials.