Summer 2024 News from Rural Health Partnership

SUMMER 2024 NEWSLETTER

Recently Released

North Central Florida County Health Profiles

WellFlorida’s annual publication North Central Florida County Health Profiles provides the health status of the 16 counties WellFlorida serves as the region’s local health council—Alachua, Bradford, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Marion, Putnam, Sumter, Suwannee and Union. The Profiles offer a snapshot of each county’s health data, and how the counties compare to each other, the region and the state.

Download a PDF of the North Central Florida County Health Profiles

Parents as Teachers Featured on WUFT's Greater Good

Parents as Teachers is featured on WUFT’s Greater Good program, a series showcasing non-profit organizations in the North Central Florida community. Parents as Teachers is a free program that equips parents and caregivers with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to help their children be healthy, safe and ready to succeed in school. The program is available in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Hamilton, Marion and Putnam counties.

Announcements

The Latest on Maternal, Infant and Child Health Programs Serving Rural Counties in North Central Florida

WellFlorida and its Healthy Start coalitions now serve as a milk depot for the Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida and can accept breast milk donations from registered donors. Learn more.

Healthy Start of North Central Florida and Central Healthy Start have partnered with the American Heart Association to provide their home visiting participants in Suwannee, Lafayette, Hernando and Lake counties with personal blood pressure monitoring kits.

Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) received CAPTA grant funding to expand services to all 16 counties in North Central Florida and grow their team. The grant allows NFP to serve an additional 75 families. NFP's focus is to provide evidence-based home visiting and outreach services to at-risk pregnant women and their infants affected by substances.

The Healthy Start Doula program provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible. Using the G.R.O.W. Doula model, the program now has 63 trained and certified doulas serving the region.

FIMR’s Community Action Group recently created two new subcommittees: safe sleep for infants and pre-pregnancy health. FIMR, or the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review, is a national, evidence-based model proven to reduce stillbirth and infant deaths. It is a community‐driven, action‐based process to review all the circumstances surrounding an infant or fetal loss and to find solutions to problems the family may have experienced accessing services. Interested in participating? Contact Shelly Vickers.

Working Together: WellFlorida Council and Health Council of East Central Florida Enter New Partnership

In May, WellFlorida Council and Health Council of East Central Florida (HCECF) entered into a partnership whereby WellFlorida would assume the day-to-day management of HCECF. WellFlorida and HCECF have long had a collaborative relationship. Recently, the two health councils worked together on implementing a pilot community paramedicine project for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their aging caregivers, and conducted statewide needs assessments for the Department of Children and Families behavioral health managing entities. This robust partnership has expanded and will foster new opportunities in both Council’s districts. WellFlorida’s region covers 16 counties in North Central Florida and HCECF’s region includes Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Brevard counties. Local health councils are a network of non-profit agencies that conduct regional health planning and implementation activities.

Free Webinar, Free CE/CME Certificate

Youth Vaping: How Healthcare Providers Can Help Prevent, Treat and Educate

Presenter: Dr. Issa Hanna, Jacksonville Pediatrician and Chair of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics E-Cigarettes Task Force

Why You Should Participate: The presentation aims to enhance providers' understanding of vaping, including its history, components, prevalence among youth, health effects and screening/counseling resources. Through a concise discussion and overview, learners will gain knowledge on vaping products, youth trends and methods for addressing vaping-related issues in your practice.

Who Is Invited? Physicians, PAs, ARNPs, nurses, social workers, health educators, public health professionals and other health professionals.

Events

NACCHO360—Heard it Through the Grapevine: Public Health Partnerships, Collaboration and Innovation

Annually, NACCHO360 is the largest convening of local health department leaders and public health professionals in the United States, offering the opportunity to learn, network, and share experiences and best practices across local health departments. Attendees, both on-site and watching via livestream, will learn how to adopt effective practices, engage with federal and state partners, and gain insights from public health experts.

July 23-26, 2024 Detroit, Michigan

Save the Date: Florida Department of Health’s PULSARA Initiative

Pulsara is a secure, user-friendly app that unites the entire care team, even across different departments or organizations. From EMS and hospital staff to urgent cares, nursing homes, testing clinics, standalone EDs, Public Health, and even FEMA Medical Operations Coordination Cells, Pulsara connects all members of the care team, regardless of location, organization or position.

The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) has made a substantial resource commitment to Pulsara, and David Summers from FDOH’s Bureau of Medical Oversight and Project Manager of Pulsara Implementation will kick off the event. The Pulsara team will provide a detailed educational overview of the system implementation and performance. We will also hear “voices from the field” as one current implementing health system and one current implementing EMS agency will tell us of their experiences with Pulsara.

This is a live event and location is to be determined. Keep an eye out for WellFlorida email updates regarding this event.

August 21, 2024 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Gainesville, Florida

Call for Submissions: NRHA's Annual Rural Health Conference

NRHA's Annual Rural Health Conference and Rural Hospital Innovation Summit are the nation's premier events celebrating rural health. They are curated for anyone with an interest in rural health care, including rural health practitioners, hospital administrators, clinic directors and lay health workers, social workers, state and federal health employees, academics, community members, and more.

Each year, more than 200 individuals present over 85 concurrent educational sessions, 20 research papers and up to 100 research and educational posters at NRHA's annual events, constituting the nation's largest, most inclusive rural health conference.

Any person with an interest in rural health is invited to submit session proposals by August 15 or original research by January 9 for presentation during the 2025 conferences.

Of Interest

With New EMS Quality Measures, Florida Aims to Have a National Impact on Rural Care

Rural Health Information Hub

A New Resource

KFF Health Policy 101

A new KFF resource—Health Policy 101—explains the basics on a range of topics about health programs and policy, such as Medicare and Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, health care costs and affordability, women’s health issues, and the politics of health care. Health Policy 101 chapters are available online and can be downloaded in PDF format.

LEARN MORE

WELLFLORIDA COUNCIL | www.WellFlorida.org