Month: October 2019

Disrupting Food Insecurity: Tapping data for strategies that tackle the root causes

An estimated 40 million Americans—including 12.5 million children—struggle with food insecurity, meaning they can’t afford an adequate diet. Federal nutrition programs and charitable meals make up the first line of defense, but solving this challenge will require communities to go beyond food to disrupt the root causes of economic distress.

Researchers at the Urban Institute have created a report identifying the various factors that contribute to food insecurity, and this report also features an interactive map with county-level data on these risk factors. You can access these resources at https://apps.urban.org/features/disrupting-food-insecurity/index.html

UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science: Call for Breakout Session Proposals

2020 9th Annual UMCCTS Community Engagement and Research Symposium

Date: Friday, March 20, 2020; 8:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Location: UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA
Keynote: Dr. Peter D. Friedmann, MD, MPH, DFASAM, FACP
Associate Dean for Research, Division of General Internal Medicine
Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School- Baystate, Chief Research Officer, Baystate Health

Breakout Session Proposals Due: Wednesday, November 20, 2019, 5:00 PM

The breakout sessions serve as an opportunity for learning about innovative initiatives from community-engaged research teams from the UMass system, other academic institutions, local communities and beyond.
Audience: Community leaders, faculty and staff from UMass’ five campuses as well as other organizations and institutions interested in partnered research.
Breakout Session Format: Breakout sessions should be 60 minutes long and include interactive discussion. Sessions or trainings previously presented at other conferences are welcome. Possible formats include:
Panel Discussion
Training/Workshop
Presentation of Research Results

Suggested themes include but are not limited to: health disparities, underserved populations, patient-centered communication, community-clinic partnerships, social media, environmental health, obtaining funding, methods and tools for community-engaged research, specific diseases or conditions, prevention, health promotion, implementation and dissemination research.

Please submit your proposal via email by Wednesday, November 20, 2019 to: communityengagement@umassmed.edu with the following information:
• Title of the breakout session
• Name(s) and affiliation of moderator(s)
• List of breakout session presenters with email/phone
• Background and purpose of the breakout session
• Anticipated format, including a description of how you will interact with the audience
Notification Date: You will be notified by December 13, 2019 regarding the status of your proposal.

Questions? Email Communityengagement@umassmed.edu
For more information, visit www.umassmed.edu/ccts/community
Registration for the Symposium will open on January 10, 2020.

Rural Public Health: A Path Forward

Date: Friday, October 18, 11:30am-3:30pm
Location: The John W. Olver Transit Center, 12 Olive St, Greenfield, MA

The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health will hold an oversight hearing to review the public health and health care findings and recommendations of the Rural Policy Plan developed by the Massachusetts Rural Policy Advisory Commission.

Rural health care and public health stakeholders will discuss how they are addressing rural health inequities in innovative ways and how to improve the health of the residents of the Commonwealth’s 170 rural communities.

Hosted by:
Joint Committee on Public Health
Rural Caucus
Franklin Regional Council of Governments
Baystate Health
Cooley Dickinson Health Care

Research Assistant Job Openings

Baystate Health has full-time job openings for Research Assistants to partner with the Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden County Sheriff’s Office to study opioid use disorder treatment for incarcerated patients.

This is part of a five-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The goal of the project is to evaluate provision of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in houses of correction across Massachusetts in an effort to decrease opioid use disorder and opioid overdose risks across the state.

The Research Assistants (RAs), under the supervision of the Project Director, will assist with data collection and entry focused on MOUD initiation and adherence in Houses of Correction (HOCs) in Western Massachusetts. RAs will work daily at one of three HOCs in Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties.

Click here for more details.

Alzheimer’s Disease: A Future of Hope and Research

Cooley Dickinson/Mass General Lecture Series – Alzheimer’s Disease: A Future of Hope and Research
Date: Thursday, October 17, 6:00-7:00pm
Location: Dakin Conference Room, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, 30 Locust Street, Northampton, MA

Learn about Alzheimer’s Disease and how it can progress, as well as early signs and symptoms, risk factors, and prevention. Speaker Zeina Chemali, MD, MPH, Director, Neuropsychiatry Clinics and Training, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, Mass General, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Harvard Medical School, will also discuss current recommendations for treatment.

Seating is limited; registration is required. To register, call 888-554-4234 or visit https://www.cooleydickinson.org/events/alzheimers-disease/

Moving Massachusetts Upstream (MassUP): Request for Information

The “Moving Massachusetts Upstream” (MassUP) initiative is a partnership across Massachusetts state agencies including the Health Policy Commission (HPC), the Department of Public Health (DPH), the Office of the Attorney General, the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

On behalf of the participating state agencies, the HPC has released a Request for Information (RFI) on MassUP.  Any interested organization or individual (e.g., a community organization, health care provider, social service agency, local government body, etc.) is invited to submit a response to the RFI.   This can be accessed here. Responses should be emailed to hpc-innovation@mass.gov by 3pm on October 25.

MassUP will include an investment opportunity to support partnerships that include health care provider organizations and community-based organizations working together to address upstream (i.e., social, environmental, and economic) challenges and enable sustainable improvements in community health and health equity.  MassUP also will include the establishment of an interagency policy alignment working group, through which state agencies will proactively work toward alleviating policy barriers to addressing the social determinants of health in the Commonwealth. This work includes hosting a Learning Forum that we are also requesting feedback on through this RFI.

Massachusetts Guardianship Policy Institute: 3rd Annual Guardianship Conference

November 6, 2019
8:45am – 4:45pm
UMass Boston Campus Center
100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA
On site parking available

This conference will continue the theme of balancing a person’s right to self-determination with protecting that person, by considering the issue of self-neglect. Topics will include evaluation of capacity, homelessness, hoarding, finances, and isolation.

For further information and to register, click here.

2 CEUs have been preapproved for CPCS Mental Health Litigation Division
6 CEUS have been approved for Nursing, NACCM, CGC, CCMC, NCCAP, LADC, NASW, & Nursing Home Administrators

Global Age-Friendly Expert Coming to Western MA

Date: Monday, October 28, 2019
Time: 10 a.m. – noon
Location: Community Music School of Springfield, Robyn Newhouse Hall
127 State Street, Springfield, MA 01103

Join the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts to meet and learn from Alexandre Kalache, Ph.D., medical epidemiologist specializing in the study of aging. Former director of the World Health Organization global aging program, Dr. Kalache is President of the International Longevity Centre-Brazil and Co-President of the Global Alliance of International Longevity Centres. We will also hear from diverse community-led efforts underway to make Western Massachusetts communities great places to grow up and grow old,