Archive for 2009

Health care cost are spiraling out of control and researchers estimate, “75% of all healthcare cost directly stem from preventable chronic health conditions, yet only 1% of the 1.9 trillion dollars spent on health care in the United States is devoted to protecting health and preventing illness and injury” (Campbell & Lanza, 2006). Rising health care costs not only have an impact on individuals, but on employers too.

The Healthy Workforce Act

Senators Harkin and Smith introduced the Healthy Workforce Act (S. 1753) to assist businesses in their health promotion efforts while providing incentives to offer onsite health promotion programs. The legislation is targeted primarily at smaller and mid-sized companies, who would otherwise have difficulty making the initial investment needed to support such programs. The Healthy Workforce Act provides a tax credit for 50% of the cost of a qualified employer health promotion program, up to $200/employee for the first 200 employees and $100/employee for remaining employees. The credit is conveyed through income tax credit with for profit employers and through payroll tax with tax exempt employers.

Why become a grassroots advocate/endorser?

There are many benefits to becoming a grassroots advocate/endorser. Becoming an advocate/endorser of this bill will allow you to grow your professional skills by learning about and engaging in political advocacy. In addition, helping health promotion advocates’ pass Senator Harkin’s Healthy Workforce Act (S.1754), you will be a part of the movement to put health promotion on the national agenda. If this bill passes, the health promotion industry will grow and strengthen significantly. For more information please contact Leah Tiller at ltiller@higginbotham.net or visit www.healthpromotionadvocates.org

You can now download the pre-application form for the 2009 Champions in Health Award.

The Award Ceremony will be held on November 5th, 2009. The location is still being determined but will be posted as soon as a decision is made. The Guest Speaker this year will be Todd Whitthorne, President and CEO of Cooper Concepts. We are thrilled to welcome Todd to the Champions in Health program and know that you will enjoy hearing what he has to say about the workplace’s role in risk management and health promotion.

Pre-Application Download

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – http://www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/
The CDC provides information and research on hand sanitation along with links to helpful tips for proper hand washing.

Kids Health – http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/general/sick/hand_washing.html

Kids Health is a project of Nemours. Nemours also creates high-impact educational projects that positively affect the health of children. These projects are developed through the Nemours Center for Children’s Health Media, a part of Nemours completely dedicated to this task. The Center creates award-winning, family-friendly health information in a number of formats, including print, video, and online.

Government Food Safety Information – www.foodsafety.gov

This link provides updated information on food safety.

Cough and Sneeze Etiquette - http://www.coughsafe.com/media.html

This five minute video was designed to encourage people to cough and sneeze according to the infection control guidelines put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Connections Quarterly: The Web Publication for College Health Nurses http://www.pitt.edu/~cjm6/sp99fluprev.html
Connections Quarterly is a web publication about, by, and for college health nurses. It particularly deals with issues of concern and interest to nurses and nurse directors of college health services, who work in small colleges, universities, and community colleges, and nurses who function with a small staff and meager operating budgets.