Making it Better, Your Minnesota's Health Improvement Log

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April 16, 2015

Current and archived issues available at www.health.state.mn.us/divs/oshii/log

To be added to the distribution list please email Health.MakingitBetter@state.mn.us.

In This Week's Issue

• Don't forget!
• Gems
• Webinars ~ Serving With Success Using Smarter Lunchrooms ~ MDE ~ April 16 & 29
• Resource ~ Buying Local Food Decision Tree ~ USDA
• 2015 Farm to School Census ~ USDA
• Training ~ School Health ~ Minnesota Action for Healthy Kids ~ St Paul, April 29, 3pm
• Report ~ Promoting Health and Preventing Disease and Injury Through Workplace Tobacco Policies ~ CDC
• Webinar ~ Tobacco Cessation for Pregnant Women and Mothers: What Clinicians Should Know ~ April 22, 1pm
• Tobacco Cessation as a Preventive Service: Q&A Session ~ ALA ~ April 23, 1pm
• Resource ~ Establishment Registration & Tobacco Product Listing ~ FDA
• News ~ Warning Letters Issued to E-Cigarette Companies Illegally Making FDA-Related Claims
• Resource ~ NDPP Program Calendar ~ MDH
• Article ~ Raising Legal Smoking Age to 21 ~ Forbes
• Resources ~ CDC Celebrates National Minority Health Month
• Funding Opportunity ~ Tobacco Retail Compliance - Indian Tribes ~ FDA
• Save the Date ~ Regional Learning Meetings ~ Healthy Eating & Active Living ~ May
• SHIP 4 Webinar Thank you and Planning Update

Don't forget!

• Thurs ~ April 16 ~ Conference ~ Health Equity Leadership Institute
• Thurs ~ April 16 ~ 10am ~ Webinar ~ MnDOT Bike Ped Counts ~ 1-888-742-5095 ~  Conference Code: 9282086172
• Thurs ~ April 16 ~ 11am ~ Conference Call ~ SRTS Network Call ~ 1-866-635-8513 ~ Conference Code: 651 662 2192
• Tues ~ April 21 ~ 12:30pm ~ Conference Call ~ National Healthier Food Retail Peer Networking Call ~ 1-877-915-2761 | participant code 54261519
• Tues ~ April 21 ~ 2pm ~ Webinar ~ Smart Fundraising for Healthy Schools
• Thurs ~ April 23 ~ 12pm ~ Webinar ~ America Walks Webinar: Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper - and Healthier

Gems

Last month, Renville County passed an amendment to the County Tobacco Ordinance prohibiting any establishment with a retail tobacco license from sampling tobacco, tobacco-related devices, or electronic delivery devices. Kudos to the Kandiyohi-Renville SHIP team and the Renville Alliance for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drugs (RAPAD) Coalition for all their hard work!

Countryside Public Health SHIP partnered with the rural town of Dawson and the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission to develop a Sidewalk Plan to make Dawson a more walkable community through strategic sidewalk investments. The Sidewalk Committee recognized that a good sidewalk network provides many benefits to the community and enhances the quality of life of the citizens by having a connected and accessible pedestrian network.The City will use the plan in their current Road and Bridge committee meetings to incorporate this important health infrastructure work into future engineering plans.  

Do you have a resource or success story (“gem”) to share for a future issue?  Submissions for each week’s Thursday publication are due by noon every Tuesday to Health.MakingitBetter@state.mn.us or community specialists for:

• SHIP  Allison Heinzeller, Sarah Small or Jessica Smith
• Tobacco Pa Khang
• American Indian LaRaye Anderson or Sarah Brokenleg

No resources

Webinars ~ Serving With Success Using Smarter Lunchrooms ~ MDE ~ April 16 & 29

The mission of the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement is to equip school lunchrooms with evidence-based tools that improve child eating behaviors and thus improve the health of children. The Smarter Lunchrooms Movement was started in 2009 with the goal of creating sustainable research-based lunchrooms that guide smarter choices. Smarter Lunchrooms demonstrate core values including:

• Low cost/no-cost solutions
• Lunchroom environment focus
• Promotion of healthful eating behaviors
• Sustainability

Who should attend the webinars: school foodservice directors, school foodservice managers, registered dietitians and nutrition educators that deliver training to schools.

In Part 1 we will review behavioral economics and its influence on choice, identify tools on the Smarter Lunchrooms website you can use at your school, and identify opportunities for change in your school cafeterias.
April 16, 2015, 2:00-3:00
Register for Part 1.

In Part 2 you will learn how to interpret your Smarter Lunchroom diagnosis, discuss the steps to developing a Smarter Lunchroom action plan, and discuss ways to generate support for the Smarter Lunchroom Movement in your school.
April 29, 2015, 2:00-3:00
Register for Part 2.

Resource ~ Buying Local Food Decision Tree ~ USDA

USDA has developed a new decision tree to help answer the question: How will you bring local foods into the cafeteria with your next school food purchase? 

2015 Farm to School Census ~ USDA

On March 16, USDA released the 2015 Farm to School Census questionnaire to Minnesota schools.  Minnesota's goal is to achieve a 90% response rate. The 2015 Census should be completed by every school or district participating in the national school lunch program even if your school or district is not currently involved in farm to school.

Please encourage school foodservice directors in your community to complete the survey. An email with the survey link was sent to all foodservice directors.

As a state, we’ve currently got a 32% response to the Census. In 2013, our response rate was 84%. Our goal this year is a 90% response! North Dakota and Colorado are currently ahead of us with well over 35% of their districts having responded. Wisconsin and South Dakota are quickly catching up! Let’s go MINNESOTA!

Training ~ School Health ~ Minnesota Action for Healthy Kids ~ St Paul, April 29, 3pm

Please join in for a free training for Minnesota School Health Teams. Action for Healthy Kids school health team training teaches school community members how to work collaboratively to improve school policy and practices related to healthy eating and physical activity. Participants will learn how to turn their school wellness projects into a community effort that will have lasting impact on students and families. You will come away from this training armed with project ideas and resources to get started. Click here for details and to register. 

Report ~ Promoting Health and Preventing Disease and Injury Through Workplace Tobacco Policies ~ CDC

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health published a new report this month recommending that all workplaces become tobacco-free and employers make tobacco cessation programs available to workers. This report also includes e-cigarettes and is aimed at protecting workers from the occupational hazards of tobacco, secondhand smoke, and emissions from e-cigs. To access the report, click HERE.

Webinar ~ Tobacco Cessation for Pregnant Women and Mothers: What Clinicians Should Know ~ April 22, 1pm

The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center will host its next free webinar, Tobacco Cessation for Pregnant Women and Mothers: What Clinicians Should Know, on April 22 at 1:00pm. CME/CEUs will be available for participants who join the live session. To register, click here. 

Tobacco Cessation as a Preventive Service: Q&A Session ~ ALA ~ April 23, 1pm

The American Lung Association will host the webinar, Tobacco Cessation as a Preventive Service: Q&A Session, on April 23 from 1-2pm. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about cessation coverage under the Affordable Care Act and learn about how the Cessation FAQ is being followed in state marketplace plans. To register, click here. 

Resource ~ Establishment Registration & Tobacco Product Listing ~ FDA

The FDA launched two publicly searchable databases with information on registered U.S. tobacco establishments and tobacco products.

The FDA is required under the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act to make this information available to anyone who requests it, and the agency has previously provided such data in response to individual written requests made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The FDA developed these new databases to provide quicker and easier access to commonly requested, publicly releasable data on tobacco establishments and products registered in the U.S.

For more information, see the FDA’s Letter to Industry notifying tobacco product registrants about the searchable tools.

News ~ Warning Letters Issued to E-Cigarette Companies Illegally Making FDA-Related Claims

For the first time, the FDA recently issued warning letters to three different companies – Vaperz Ltd, Knoxville Vapor and Dr. K – for making FDA-related claims on their websites regarding their e-cigarette or e-liquid products. The three companies each received a warning letter for violations of Section 301(tt) of the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), which prohibits companies from making certain statements or representations directed to consumers about tobacco products that, among other things, would mislead consumers into believing that the product is approved by the FDA, safe for use, and/or less harmful based on oversight or inspection by the FDA.

To learn more about this important compliance and enforcement action, read FDA’s full statement.

Resource ~ NDPP Program Calendar ~ MDH

National Diabetes Prevention Program/I CAN Prevent Diabetes Program Calendar Up and Running!

MDH has launched a NDPP Program Calendar! You can fill out a quick form to tell us about your upcoming NDPP courses and we will add your course to the calendar. As we are promoting the NDPP to healthcare professionals, social service providers and people who may be at risk, we will point them to the NDPP Program Calendar to find a program in their community. Let us help promote your NDPP courses.

Benefits of registering your course:

• Free promotion, get your courses filled faster, get your organization out into the prediabetes community as a program provider.
• Customized information, you can specify enrollment criteria on the form and it will appear on the calendar.

Registering your courses will also help MDH understand the statewide NDPP capacity and where there are gaps. We continue to pursue reimbursement for the NDPP through sources like Medicaid and employer covered benefits. Understanding the capacity of providers will help these efforts.

You can view the NDPP Program Calendar at the I CAN Prevent Diabetes website. Contact us at health.diabetes@state.mn.us with any questions or concerns.

Article ~ Raising Legal Smoking Age to 21 ~ Forbes

Counterpoint – An opposing argument to raising the legal smoking age to 21. 

Resources ~ CDC Celebrates National Minority Health Month

April is National Minority Health Month and the CDC has a new webpage with program summaries and free resources. CDC continues to partner with states and other grantees to work on reducing tobacco use among racial and ethnic minorities, funding eight National Networks to identify populations vulnerable to tobacco use and implement best practices. Four of the eight National Networks serve racial and ethnic minority groups. Scroll down to find information from the Surgeon General and sample social media posts for Minority Health Month.

Funding Opportunity ~ Tobacco Retail Compliance - Indian Tribes ~ FDA

FDA has posted a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Tribal government agencies to contract with the FDA to conduct tobacco retailer inspections in Indian Country. CTP invites Tribes and Tribal organizations to participate in a pre-proposal conference webinar on TODAY, April 16 regarding the Tobacco Retailer Inspection Contracts and to review the RFP requirements. The webinar will also provide opportunities to learn about the application process and FDA’s tobacco retail inspection program.

Save the Date ~ Regional Learning Meetings ~ Healthy Eating & Active Living ~ May

Click on date/location for agenda.

May 12 | Minneapolis

May 14 | Little Falls

May 14 | Rochester

May 14 | Redwood Falls

May 18 | Crookston

May 21 | NE Region Webinar

SHIP 4 Webinar Thank you and Planning Update

MDH  would like to thank all of the LPH staff who participated in the SHIP 4 Draft Menu of Strategies feedback webinars in March. MDH greatly appreciates your time and willingness to give input on the SHIP 4 planning process.

We were thrilled to see that 111 Local Public Health staff participated in the webinars. 34 out of 38 SHIP grant areas were represented in the follow-up survey, with a total of 82 survey respondents. We received a range of feedback, reflective of the many differences and perspectives across the state.

Our internal teams reviewed and considered the input you provided, and it will inform our next steps in the SHIP 4 planning process.  MDH will try our best to incorporate your feedback and strike the right balance in the application.

We look forward to releasing the SHIP 4 Application to Local Public Health in May! Thank you again for your partnership in this planning process. 

No announcements