From Disparity to Parity in Health” Eliminating Health Disparities - Call to Action

Shortly after Governor Mike Easley appointed her as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Carmen Hooker Odom declared eliminating health disparities a priority for the department. The Secretary charged the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities with lead responsibility for developing the DHHS Call to Action to Eliminate Health Disparities. A Steering Committee on the Elimination of Health Disparities was also established. The committee, which guides the work of the department in building the department’s capacity to identify and address disparities in each division, is made up of representatives from fourteen divisions and offices in DHHS. The DHHS Call to Action to Eliminate Health Disparities represents the work of the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities and the DHHS Steering Committee of Eliminating Health Disparities. The Call to Action provides an overview of North Carolina demographics and health disparities. Although the health status of North Carolinians has continued to improve over the last decade, the health status of a large segment of North Carolinians continues to lag behind that of the general population. Recent reports from the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics document persisting racial and ethnic disparities in health status for almost all conditions. The reports show that African Americans, American Indians and Hispanics in North Carolina are more likely to be in poorer health than the White population in the state.http://communityrelations.duhs.duke.edu/wysiwyg/downloads/CallToAction.pd

From Disparity to Parity in Health” Eliminating Health Disparities - Call to Action

Shortly after Governor Mike Easley appointed her as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Carmen Hooker Odom declared eliminating health disparities a priority for the department. The Secretary charged the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities with lead responsibility for developing the DHHS Call to Action to Eliminate Health Disparities. A Steering Committee on the Elimination of Health Disparities was also established. The committee, which guides the work of the department in building the department’s capacity to identify and address disparities in each division, is made up of representatives from fourteen divisions and offices in DHHS. The DHHS Call to Action to Eliminate Health Disparities represents the work of the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities and the DHHS Steering Committee of Eliminating Health Disparities. The Call to Action provides an overview of North Carolina demographics and health disparities. Although the health status of North Carolinians has continued to improve over the last decade, the health status of a large segment of North Carolinians continues to lag behind that of the general population. Recent reports from the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics document persisting racial and ethnic disparities in health status for almost all conditions. The reports show that African Americans, American Indians and Hispanics in North Carolina are more likely to be in poorer health than the White population in the state

Good Boy

In a post-apocalyptic world where nature has been infested by radioactive parasites, mankind manages to create a cure right at the last moment before it is lost forever. A man then tries to find a cure for his dying dog by entering an abandoned research facility which holds the cure, only to be confronted by something sinister lurking in the shadows. This is a full CG animated short film.Bachelor of Fine Art

Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in North Carolina REPORT CARD 2003

The North Carolina Health Disparities Report Card is intended to monitor the state’s progress towards eliminating the health status gap between racial and ethnic minorities and the White population. The report establishes a baseline for our efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health. The health status ranking of North Carolina in the nation is closely tied to the health status of minorities and other underserved populations. Although data are presented by race and ethnicity to describe the health status gaps, race/ethnicity in and by itself is not a cause of a particular health condition or status

Satisfaction With Care and Ease of Using Health Care Services Among Parents of Children With Special Health Care Needs: The Roles of Race/Ethnicity, Insurance, Language, and Adequacy of Family-Centered Care

OBJECTIVES. To examine whether racial/ethnic disparities exist in parental reports of satisfaction with care and ease of using health care services among children with special health care needs (CSHCN) and to identify factors associated independently with satisfaction with care and ease of use of health care services among CSHCN. METHODS. We analyzed data for 38886 CSHCN <18 years of age in the National Survey of CSHCN, conducted from 2000 to 2002. Outcome variables included perceived satisfaction with care and ease of service use. Covariates included sociodemographic factors, insurance, interview language, condition severity and stability, adequacy of family-centered care measures, and having a personal doctor/nurse. RESULTS. The prevalences of reported dissatisfaction with care and problems with ease of using services among parents of CSHCN were 8% and 25%, respectively. Black and Hispanic parents were significantly more likely than white parents to be dissatisfied with care (13% and 16% vs 7%) and to report problems with ease of service use (35% and 34% vs 23%). Hispanic/white disparities in satisfaction with care and ease of use of services disappeared only after multivariate adjustment for parental interview language. Black/white disparities in satisfaction with care disappeared after adjustments for adequacy of family-centered care measures, but black/white disparities in ease of using services persisted. The severity of the child’s condition, lack of insurance, parental interview in Spanish, and inadequate family-centered care were associated significantly with dissatisfaction with care and problems with ease of using health care services. CONCLUSIONS. Policies and strategies that reduce language barriers, promote insurance coverage and family-centered care, and improve ease of use of services among minority CSHCN have the potential to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in satisfaction with care and to promote ease of use of services among families with CSHCN

Unmet needs for specialty, dental, mental, and allied health care among children with special health care needs: are there racial/ethnic disparities?

We examined racial/ethnic disparities in unmet specialty, dental, mental, and allied health care needs among children with special health care needs (CSHCN) using data on 38,866 children in the National Survey of CSHCN. Compared with White CSHCN, Black CSHCN had significantly greater unmet specialty (9.6% vs. 6.7%), dental (16% vs. 8.7%), and mental (27% vs. 17%) health care needs. Hispanic CSHCN had greater unmet dental care needs (15.8% vs. 8.7%). Black females had greater unmet mental health care needs than other groups (41% vs. 13-20%). Most disparities disappeared after multivariate adjustment. Significant risk factors for unmet health care needs included uninsurance, having no personal doctor/nurse, poverty, and condition stability and severity. Eliminating unmet specialty, dental, and mental health care needs for all CSHCN, and especially minority CSHCN, may require greater efforts to reduce poverty and increase insurance coverage among CSHCN, better mental health care assessment of Black female CSHCN, and ensuring all CSHCN have a medical home

Is medical home care adequacy associated with educational service use in children and youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?

Abstract Background The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends medical home care for children and youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for health needs. Children and youth with ASD also receive educational services for cognitive, social, and behavioral needs. We measured whether inadequate medical home care was significantly associated with current educational service use, controlling for sociodemographic factors. Methods We analyzed the 2016/2017 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) on 1,248 children and youth with ASD ages 1–17. Inadequate medical home care was operationalized as negative or missing responses to at least one medical home component. Educational service use was defined as current service use under individualized family service plans (IFSP) and individualized education programs (IEP). Results Inadequate medical home care was significantly associated with higher likelihood of current educational service use (aOR = 1.95, 95% CI [1.10, 3.44], p = 0.03). After adjustment, older children (aOR = 0.91, 95% CI [0.84, 0.99], p = 0.03), lower maternal health (aOR = 0.52, 95% CI [0.29, 0.94], p = 0.03), and children without other special health care factors (aOR = 0.38, 95% CI [0.17–0.85], p = 0.02) had significantly lower odds of current educational service use. Conclusions Inadequate medical home care yielded higher odds of current educational service use. Child’s age, maternal health, and lack of other special health care factors were associated with lower odds of current educational service use. Future research should examine medical home care defined in the NSCH and improving educational service use via medical home care

Trends and progress in reducing teen birth rates and the persisting challenge of eliminating racial/ethnic disparities

PURPOSE: We examined progress made by the Milwaukee community toward achieving the Milwaukee Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative\u27s aggressive 2008 goal of reducing the teen birth rate to 30 live births/1000 females aged 15-17 years by 2015. We further examined differential teen birth rates in disparate racial and ethnic groups. METHOD: We analyzed teen birth count data from the Wisconsin Interactive Statistics on Health system and demographic data from the US Census Bureau. We computed annual 2003-2014 teen birth rates for the city and four racial/ethnic groups within the city (white non-Hispanic, black non-Hispanic, Hispanic/Latina, Asian non-Hispanic). To compare birth rates from before (2003-2008) and after (2009-2014) goal setting, we used a single-system design to employ two time series analysis approaches, celeration line, and three standard deviation (3SD) bands. RESULTS: Milwaukee\u27s teen birth rate dropped 54 % from 54.3 in 2003 to 23.7 births/1000 females in 2014, surpassing the goal of 30 births/1000 females 3 years ahead of schedule. Rate reduction following goal setting was statistically significant, as five of the six post-goal data points were located below the celeration line and points for six consecutive years (2010-2014) fell below the 3SD band. All racial/ethnic groups demonstrated significant reductions through at least one of the two time series approaches. The gap between white and both black and Hispanic/Latina teens widened. CONCLUSION: Significant reduction has occurred in the overall teen birth rate of Milwaukee. Achieving an aggressive reduction in teen births highlights the importance of collaborative community partnerships in setting and tracking public health goals