Creating Healthy Communities

When Rachel Carson wrote “Silent Spring” did she realize it would be the catalyst for environmental awareness of a generation?

The health-related groups that are involved in the HBO series “The Weight of the Nation” are too numerous to mention. We count ourselves, the Creating Healthy Communities Community of Practice (CHC CoP), as a group that wants the series to succeed in galvanizing people to become involved in the obesity issue.

Weight of the Nation Series Logo

The Weight of the Nation Discussion guide breaks the series into 3 parts:

-Consequences

-Choices

-Children in Crisis

The Children in Crisis segment addresses many of the issues the CHC CoP addresses in our work online, in webinars and twitter chats. We focus on the role of the community in public policy and education of the community much as this series does.

Join us as we watch the series May 14 and 15th. Organize a group to discuss the series and gear up to make some changes in your life and/or the life of you community. Who knows it could be the catalyst for change — be it just YOU or YOUR community.

Discuss the series on Twitter and use the hashtag #weightofthenation and #PriesterHealth.

Visit the HBO series page http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/

Visit the NIH info page at http://www.nih.gov/health/NIHandweightofthenation/

As the Creating Healthy Communities membership GEAR UP for the Priester Conference April 10 – 12 in Washington, DC, we are also preparing attendees and potential attendees for the types of speakers and interactions, they can expect to be exposed to when they attend the Conference in person.

Public policy, funding, and community action are necessary components of community development — the two webinars will be discussing these important issues. Enhancing the Impact of Public Policy on the Health of Vulnerable Populations and Connecting Federal Priorities with Local Community Action are the titles of the two webinars.

Title: Enhancing the Impact of Public Policy on the Health of Vulnerable Populations

Presenter: Roberta Riportella, Ph.D.,  Professor, Health Policy Specialist, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Date & Time: Monday, March 26 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. (EDT)

Link to http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/communities a few minutes before 3:00 p.m. (EDT). Participants will use computer speakers for audio and interact through the chat box.

Title: Connecting Federal Priorities with Local Community Action

Presenter: Sharon Hoelscher Day, CFCS Emeritus, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension

Date & Time: Monday, April 2 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. (EDT)

Link to http://learn.extension.org/events/478 a few minutes before 1:00 p.m. (EDT). Participants will use computer speakers for audio and interact through the chat box.

For more information about the speakers connect with the Priester Conference website at http://blogs.extension.org/priesterconference/ and click on the preconference webinar tab AFTER you check out the schedule of events for the April 10 – 12 Priester Conference.

We look forward to seeing your name on the list of webinar attendees and at the Priester Conference.



The Journal’s mission of “‘presenting timely research into and evaluations of the use of communication to prevent disease and promote good health’’ is also part of the Creating Healthy Communities mission. We, like the Journal, want to “nurture supportive personal, family, work, and community environments’’. (Ratzan 1996).

Celebrate the 100th issue of the Journal of Health Communication

In celebration — the Journal of Health Communication — has open access to all the 100th issues articles. IT IS FREE!

Visit the site at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/uhcm20/current

Articles include:

•Health Communication Grows in Significance—The 100th Issue

•A Look Back: The Journal of Health Communication Celebrates 100 Issues

•Critiquing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Health Communication Campaigns Targeted to American Indians

•The Picture of Mental Health/Illness in the Printed Media in Three Central European Countries

•Build It, and Will They Come? Unexpected Findings From a Study on a Web-Based Intervention to Improve Colorectal Cancer Screening

•The Role of Endorsers, Framing, and Rewards on the Effectiveness of Dietary Supplement Advertisements

•When Movies Matter: Exposure to Smoking in Movies and Changes in Smoking Behavior

•Using Theory to Identify Beliefs Associated With Support for Policies to Raise the Price of High-Fat and High-Sugar Foods

•Communicating Immunization Science: The Genesis and Evolution of the National Network for Immunization Information

- Remember to visit the site online at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/uhcm20/current

And YES — we could have linked individually to each  article — but we wanted you to see the breath of work that encompasses health communication before clicking out into hyperspace.

Sit back and read the 100th issue cover to cover - be it a print copy, tablet PC or iPad

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Ratzan , S. ( 1996 ). The status and scope of health communication . Journal of Health Communication http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10810730.2012.646910#tabModule