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News digest
This frequently updated news digest on the subject of Vulnerable Populations showcases select articles from major journals, news publications and blogs. The Vulnerable Populations Portfolio is a diverse collection of innovative programs that address health issues within their broader social context. News articles within this digest highlight the integral relationship between our health and how and where we live, work, learn and play. The digest is a free service of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All rights reserved. Sign up to receive the digest free via email.
| Feb 9, 2012 |
Teaching kids how to play outside is money well spent Houston Chronicle, Patricia Kilday Hart, 02/09/2012 In the middle of the playground at Stepping Stones Elementary stands an individual who has been identified to me as the linchpin in the operation of this Alief-area charter school. Without this person, Principal William Clark tells me, learning and morale would plummet, and chaos would gain a foothold. I am skeptical. Clark is talking about a 20-something kid in a hoodie sweatshirt, battered athletic shorts and running shoes. But, clearly, "Coach Lawrence" is the ringmaster here: A single sharp command from the whistle dangling from his neck brings the circus that is Third Grade Recess to instant stillness. Lawrence English is an employee of the nonprofit organization Playworks, a national group with a serious commitment to the value of play. Five Houston-area schools employ Playworks' coaches, who have been trained in engaging students in - and these may be some of the saddest words I have ever written - the absolutely foreign concept of playing outside. In communities with high concentrations of multi-family homes and parents who work long hours, children increasingly are spending their after-school hours behind locked doors for safety reasons. Parents with no money for Little League or organized activities must consign their children to the only safe place available: in front of the TV or computer. |
| Feb 8, 2012 |
We Mustn't Let Poverty Get in the Way of Learning The Huffington Post, Carolyn S. Miles, 02/08/2012 My work with Save the Children takes me all around the world. In just the past few months, I've traveled to Egypt, Uganda, Kenya and several places in between. Everywhere I go, I meet people who are doing remarkable work for children and hear about how individuals are giving their all to keep kids in their community safe, healthy and happy. But one of the stories that I find replaying over and over in my head is a story I heard right here in America's backyard, at St. Paul Elementary School in Clarendon County, South Carolina. The determined and energetic principal there, Rosa Dingle, told me about a recent school day when one of her teachers called her down to her classroom and asked her to watch the class for half an hour. Rosa went, perplexed about why her teacher would suddenly need to leave the classroom to run an errand. When she arrived, she pulled the teacher aside, asked what the emergency was and found that her colleague went to the store to buy a new pair of shoes for one of her students. |
| Feb 7, 2012 |
Foundation provides free dental treatment to abused women The Globe and Mail, Susan Hampson, 02/07/2012 Two years ago, on International Women’s Day, (Dr. Tina Meisami) initiated the Dr. Borna Meisami Commemorative Foundation with four of her female dental colleagues, who have been friends since studying at U of T. They provide free dental and orthodontic treatment to abused women in the Toronto area. “Rebuild a smile, empower a woman, restore her life” is their slogan. |
| Feb 6, 2012 |
Whittier, Boston Inner-City Health Center, Gets New $35 Million Facility Associated Press, Bob Salsberg, 02/06/2012 Bob Thompson learned he had prostate cancer after routine screening at the Whittier Street Health Center, a community-based facility that has long served serving thousands of residents of the inner-city Roxbury neighborhood. The screening probably saved his life, said Thompson, 60, a long-time Roxbury resident who had surgery for the cancer last May. "Without it I probably would not have discovered that I had cancer, it would have gone on for a number of years and the cancer would have gotten worse," he said. On Monday, Gov. Deval Patrick and others will attend a ceremony dedicating Whittier's new, $35 million state-of-the-art facility viewed by many as a model for efficient health care delivery to traditionally underserved urban residents. The six-story, 79,000-square-foot building has been described as a "one-stop" center for health care and social services, offering 19,000 residents everything from cancer screening to dental care to violence prevention programs. |
| Feb 5, 2012 |
Poor, minority residents face most health risks with climate change U-T San Diego, Bernice Yeung, 02/05/2012 Poor, urban and minority residents are most at risk for health problems linked to climate change, according to a new California Department of Public Health analysis of Los Angeles and Fresno counties. The department examined social and environmental factors ranging from the rising sea level to public transportation access and found that African Americans and Latinos living in these counties are more likely to be exposed to health and safety risks related to poor air quality, heat waves, flooding and wildfires stemming from climate change. |
| Feb 4, 2012 |
Business leaders back early education as economic development Maine Business, Randy Billings, 02/04/2012 Jim Clair says four years ago he was probably the least likely person to become involved in early childhood education. "I was just a guy running a company," says Clair, the CEO of Goold Health Systems, a $21 million health care management company in Augusta that employs 200 people. That all changed when he was appointed by then-Gov. John Baldacci to participate in a business roundtable discussion about early childhood investment. Clair says he accepted the invitation "out of a sense of civic duty," but what he learned turned him into an advocate. "I had my own little a-ha moment," he says. That moment was spurred by a report indicating 90% of core brain development occurs by the time a child is 3 years old, yet only 4% of education spending occurs during that period. Children who are nurtured and educated during those formative pre-kindergarten years are more likely to succeed in school and the workplace, while those who are not require more public assistance throughout their lives. "That was pretty compelling," says Clair. Now, Clair is leading a group of business leaders on a mission to improve the quality of early childhood care and education, while expanding access to top-notch facilities for all Maine families, especially families with low incomes. The Maine Early Learning Investment Group is preparing to launch a fundraising campaign to put some monetary muscle behind its mission. The intent is to direct public awareness and private funds toward solving a problem usually regarded as a social justice dilemma rather than an economic development opportunity. |
| Feb 4, 2012 |
For mentally ill inmates, health care behind bars is often out of reach MSNBC.com, Elizabeth Gluck, 02/04/2012 According to criminal justice experts, many jails and prisons have struggled to adequately handle mentally ill inmates. Few areas of the country, they say, have the money and resources and staff to handle such a challenging population. |
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