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The Journal of Agromedicine published this FREE special issue (Volume 15, Issue 3) that presents papers based upon the research and safety strategies presented at the "Be Safe, Be Profitable: Protecting Workers in Agriculture" conference held in January 2010 in Dallas, Texas. The conference was a joint meeting of the Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASCHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). "It is our hope that this collection of editorials, panel presentations, plenary talks, and poster abstracts stimulates a new order of translational research, leading to effective research partnerships and improved health and safety outcomes," states Editor-in-Chief Steven Kirkhorn.

Do not miss the opportunity to read the results from this groundbreaking agricultural safety and health conference!

Poder Sano is a new initiative by Farmworker Justice to help mobilize rural Latino communities around the prevention of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis. Through this project, Farmworker Justice will provide free capacity-building assistance and community mobilization tools to strengthen community-based organizations' HIV prevention programs, improve monitoring and evaluation practices, and create partnerships for program support.

Poder Sano aims to mobilize rural Latino communities around the prevention of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and other health concerns relevant to migrant farmworkers.

Therapies that integrate mind and body, seek health as well as cure, and incorporate a patient's beliefs and values are increasingly popular among consumers. Not to mention, they are supported by strong biologic and outcomes evidence. But for many physicians, this “new age” medicine has been an understandable cause for suspicion.

Now, some rigorous scientists, featured in these videoclips, are conducting groundbreaking studies of the mind-body connection. They are uncovering how and to what extent psychosocial states and events significantly influence physical phenomena like pain and wound healing.

The Community Clinic Voice (the Voice) is a free, online community for Community Health Centers and other safety net health care professionals and partners to network, share information and exchange ideas. It provides one convenient, easy to navigate center to access news, resources, and colleagues. Voice members are clinic CEOs, Medical Directors, clinicians and allied health providers, CFOs, fundraisers, CIOs, operations and administrative staff, and more. There is no cost to join or use the Voice, and it is open to anyone concerned with community health. No commercial or marketing activity is permitted.

Special Bulletin: Outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough) in California
For Immediate Attention:
There is a critical outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough) in California: it is classified now as an epidemic. Five infants, all Latino, have died. This is due to unrecognized pertussis in older children and adults which then infects babies before they’ve had a chance to get their shots. PLEASE spread the word through every mechanism you have that it is critical to get Tdap in adolescents and adults and to get children immunized properly. This months ImmuNews includes a number of resources on Pertussis (Whopping Cough).

A Child and Teen Card, both in Spanish/English. MCN, along with CHEC (Community Health Education Concepts), has developed patient-friendly, low literacy, bi-lingual immunization cards for you to use with your clients. The cards are 5x7, and can be printed from your clinic computers. MCN designed the card to be as simple as possible, and to include only the most important information. If the information is meaningful and understandable to the clients, they are more likely to understand the importance of keeping their shots up to date.

The Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative (CTSC) KL2, a post-doctoral training program with an emphasis on multidisciplinary clinical and translational research. Qualified candidates are being offered an opportunity to apply to an innovative career development program whose purpose is to train clinician investigators.  The CTSC KL2 is designed to train the nation’s future leaders in clinical and translational research, and is part of the NIH Roadmap aimed at “re-engineering the clinical research enterprise.”

This flyer discusses diabetes and exercise. Available in Spanish and English.

A Shot of Quality Improvement!

Welcome to Immu-News, the Immunization Initiatives listserv, a monthly resource for the community of participants in this project.

All health care delivery organizations are required to have quality assurance and quality improvement programs, but it is often difficult to make these efforts really meaningful in the everyday practice of serving patients. This month’s Immu-News suggests a number of immunization quality measurements that you can adapt to your local setting. We are finding from our site visits that many of you really struggle with understanding who is getting immunized, who is missed, and what the root causes are for the gap between your goal of full immunization and the present reality at your center. Additionally, immunization data gathering is often very time consuming, often duplicated several times over for various outside agencies, and often not in step with the ways changes are made in other parts of your organization. Here are a few ideas from us, and we welcome responses back from you that will continually improve immunization practices.

Addressing the Big Four: On-Time Immunizations, Knowing Your Baseline, Making Improvement, and Accurate Records

Our four quality topics will cover:

• Immunization reminder systems
• Baseline immunization rate audits
• Measuring success
• Patient self-management in record retrieval

Resources

• PDSA Worksheet for Testing Change
• Immunization Audit Summary
• Manual Immunization Audit

Este recurso del CDC ofrece una visión general de la tos ferina , también conocida como Whooping Cough. Los temas incluyen síntomas , propagación, la tos ferina en los EE.UU. y las medidas de prevención.

This resources provides an overview of Pertussis, also known as the Whooping Cough. Topics include symptoms, how its spread, Pertussis in the US and prevention measures.

The Fresno County Website Community Health page offers information and resources on Pertussis also known as the Whooping Cough. Content includes information for parents, vaccination schedules and respitory hygiene, information for health care providers, and information for schools.

A comprehensive lung cancer tool & information portal. Research Guide on Malignant Mesothelioma Lung Cancer and Asbestos Topics including types of Cancer, treatment options, Hazardous Careers at risk of asbestos exposure, clinical trials and more.

California Department of Public Health, Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control has identified several cases of mercury toxicity linked to the use of adulterated, unlabelled face creams in the Latino community.  

Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit provides step-by-step guidance and tools for physicians and other primary care health professionals to use in assessing a practice and making changes to promote better understanding for clients of all literacy levels. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality commissioned the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to produce the toolkit. Contents include tools for practice change, video, documents, Internet resources, testimonials from a practice, tips, and key points. Topics include an overview of health literacy universal precautions, steps to implement the toolkit, and instructions on identifying and addressing areas that need improvement (spoken and written communication, self-management and empowerment, and supportive systems). The appendix contains resources such as forms, PowerPoint presentations, worksheets, and posters that support the implementation of the tools.