Making it Better: Minnesota's Health Improvement Log

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Making it Better: Minnesota's Health Improvement Log

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May 9, 2019

Spring Regional Meetings

Two remaining regional meetings

Register today for the Metro meeting in Minnetonka next week or the Southwest meeting in Slayton the following week. Join OSHII and other regional SHIP staff in a discussion about our collective vision for the next round of SHIP. This will be an important starting point to our SHIP planning process. Please encourage your public health leadership to attend as well.

Metro, Ridgedale Library, 12601 Ridgedale Dr., Minnetonka - May 15, 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Southwest, The Plaid Moose, 2630 Broadway Ave., Slayton - May 21, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Register today.


Apply to host a Walkable Community Workshop

shoes

Application deadline is June 3

Have you submitted an application to host one of our Walkable Community Workshops? Help spread the word about this great opportunity to create healthy, vital communities.

These half-day workshops, facilitated by MDH, will bring together community members and those who influence community walking conditions. Workshop participants will strategize ways to improve walkability within their unique local context.

Eligible applicants include local walking advocates, public health staff, tribal nations, city and county government staff, transportation planners and anyone interested in opening or continuing a conversation about walking.

Missed the webinar? A recording of the webinar discussing the workshop and application is available on the MDH website.

Apply and learn more.


MPHA Annual Conference rescheduled

MPHA conference

New dates for postponed MPHA Conference are June 6-7

After April's unusual winter storm resulting in postponement of the April 11-12 MPHA conference, it has been rescheduled for June 6-7, at the same venue, Bunker Hills Activity Center in Andover, MN. 

All registrants for the original April dates have been automatically moved to the new June 6-7 dates, so if you can attend the rescheduled conference, no action is needed. If you cannot attend the rescheduled dates, please email MPHA administration and request either: 1) a refund (expect it within about one week); or 2) donate your registration fee to the 2019 Conference Scholarship Fund.

Please make all refund requests by May 15.

Visit the MPHA website for additional details.


Provide feedback for next cycle of SHIP

During the Spring Regional Meetings, we offered structured conversations as the first of several formal opportunities for local public health to have input into a participatory planning process for the next funding cycle of SHIP.

For those who were unable to attend the meetings, we created an opportunity to provide feedback for the next funding cycle of SHIP. Your answers will be summarized along with the input from the meetings, shared back through the Making it Better log and move us into the next phase of planning.

Provide feedback by completing a survey.


SHIP Financial Guide FAQ

SHIP Financial Guide questions answered

Q. When is a staffing variance required?

A. Each grantee must have a full-time SHIP coordinator or full-time equivalent (FTE). The cost of this position may be paid by the SHIP grant as part of the local match, or by a combination of SHIP grant and match funding. Any SHIP-funded person must work a minimum of .5 FTE on SHIP responsibilities. Exceptions to this requirement are possible, but must be approved by your CS in advance using a variance request. See page 34 of the Financial Guide (PDF).

Variance forms can be found on the SHIP Grantees section of Basecamp. Staffing variances are not needed for supervisory, finance or office support roles.

Calendar

Webinar: Programs for Employers

Date: May 15
Time: Noon - 1:00 p.m.

What do DPP, Walk with Ease and SAGE all have in common? They are all programs for employers that address chronic health issues that impact employer cost and productivity. All of them have evidence based resources worth sharing.

Join to learn more about each of these programs and how you might weave them into your work with employers. See how the current SHIP strategies of healthy eating and physical activities can support these chronic issues.

Join the webinar using the MDH WebEx page. 

Session password: Nargles4spring!

This week's gem

Crossing guard and girl crossing street

Pipestone Schools making active transportation easier for students

Pipestone’s Safe Routes to School Program received two grants to help upgrade their equipment to help make it safer and easier for students to walk and bike to school.

The grants from Pipestone United Way and Shopko will be used to replace aging equipment that crossing guards use daily. The equipment includes flashing lights that attach to the crossing guards’ stop signs, cold and warm weather reflective vests and a “yield to pedestrians” sign, which is designed to be temporarily placed in a roadway.

“We are grateful for these grants. The dollars will be put to good use helping to assure that Pipestone’s students are able to safely get to and from school,” said Toni Baartman, Pipestone Elementary Principal.

The application for the grant was submitted by Pipestone schools with the support of the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP), which is administered locally by Southwest Health and Human Services.

The Safe Routes to School Program helps to make walking and bicycling to school safer, more convenient and enjoyable and the new equipment in Pipestone will continue to keep making this possible.