Program for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities receives federal contract to improve health, reduce disparities in South Texas colonias

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Rae Lynn Mitchell
Project team members in front of the Progreso Family Community Center

Project team members in front of the Progreso Family Community Center (left to right): Elva Beltran (promotora), Daisy Garces (Outreach Director at Progreso Family Community Center), Maria Davila (promotora supervisor), Dr. Joseph Sharkey (Project Director), Esther Valdez (promotora) and Melissa Gómez (Project Coordinator). Absent from the picture is Julie St. John (Community Engagement Coordinator).

The Program for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities at the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) School of Rural Public Health recently was awarded a Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) contract of $148,000 annually for five years.

Funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) REACH initiative under a sub-award from Hidalgo Medical Services Center for Health Innovation, the Program for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, under its Construyendo Comunidades Fronterizas Más Sanas (Building Healthier Border Communities) Initiative, is working to promote healthy eating, active living and healthy weight to help improve health and reduce health disparities in Progreso-area colonias in Hidalgo County.

REACH is a CDC program focusing on comprehensive strategies to improve well-being and lessen and eliminate chronic disease disparities among African-Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asian-Americans, and Pacific Islanders.

Joining other awardees in Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, the Program for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities will address health inequities impacting Hispanic/Latino populations through its Mejorando la Salud Comunitaria en Progreso – Improving Community Health in Progreso (ICHP) – by using a promotora-led community-based approach to identify, develop and disseminate effective strategies for improving community health through nutrition and physical activity. This program emphasizes the importance of developing and maintaining strong partnerships to guide and support the work.

As a community-based initiative, this project is led by Joseph Sharkey, Ph.D., M.P.H., RD, professor at TAMHSC-School of Rural Public Health and founding director of the Program for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, and ICHP leadership team and community partnerships. The community leadership team, known as the Progreso Community Health Advisory Council (P-CHAC), consists of Progreso area promotoras, residents, business owners and organizations (Progreso Family Community Center is the lead community organization.). The P-CHAC will facilitate engagement of the greater Progreso community and promote the growth of community-based partnerships that can identify community health concerns and facilitate community-based solutions to improving the long-term health of community residents.

This project has been made possible by the REACH Su Comunidad Consortium consisting of Hidalgo Medical Services Center for Health Innovation, Northwest Regional Primary Care Association, Center of Excellence in Women’s Health at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health El Paso Regional Campus.

The consortium will provide intensive training and technical assistance to 10 sub-recipients across five states.

 
Contact Information

Rae Lynn Mitchell

rlmitchell@srph.tamhsc.edu  |  (979) 458-0773


The Texas A&M Health Science Center provides health education, outreach and research through its colleges and campuses in Bryan-College Station, Dallas, Temple, Houston, Round Rock, Kingsville, Corpus Christi and McAllen.

Dr. Griffith presenting to CDC on Texas public health preparedness strategic planning

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Rae Lynn Mitchell
Jennifer Griffith, Dr.P.H., M.P.H.

Jennifer Griffith,
Dr.P.H., M.P.H.

Jennifer Griffith, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) School of Rural Public Health, has been invited to present at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response Director’s Seminar Series, April 17 in Atlanta.

To assess hazard risks within Texas, a team of stakeholders from local, regional and state public health; emergency management; homeland security; health care systems; mental health services; and academia came together to develop the Texas Tool for Public Health Risk Assessment. This evidence-based risk assessment tool measures and ranks hazards and response capability and can be used for public health preparedness strategic planning.

The TAMHSC-School of Rural Public Health Office of Special Programs has worked with state, regional and local partners to develop a strategy for interpreting and using data from the Texas Tool to aid in interpreting and applying the results and to engage stakeholders in the mitigation planning process.

“This work is an excellent example of a partnership that integrates public health practice and academics with community engagement to mitigate risk from hazards,” Dr. Griffith said.

Lead investigator on this project, Dr. Griffith will present the team’s work to the CDC. State partner Bruce Clements, M.P.H., Texas Department of State Health Services Section Director-Community and Preparedness Section, also will provide an overview of the rationale and development of the Texas Tool, and regional partners will be available to share experiences from the jurisdictional perspective.

 
Contact Information

Rae Lynn Mitchell

rlmitchell@srph.tamhsc.edu  |  (979) 458-0773


The Texas A&M Health Science Center provides health education, outreach and research through its colleges and campuses in Bryan-College Station, Dallas, Temple, Houston, Round Rock, Kingsville, Corpus Christi and McAllen.

Graduate Named ASPH/CDC Global Health Fellow

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Rae Lynn Mitchell
Oseni Abiri

Oseni Abiri

Oseni Abiri, alumnus of the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, has been selected as one of 25 new Allan Rosenfield Global Health Fellows. Abiri will engage in an intensive one-year assignment with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and be based in Nigeria.

The purpose of the fellowship program is to enhance training of graduates of the schools of public health with an interest in global health and HIV/AIDS. The training offered through this program will expand the global health prevention workforce and provide fellows an opportunity to gain practical, firsthand experience on the front lines of international public health. Fellows will benefit from an opportunity to apply and translate academic knowledge of public health to real world situations.

The fellowship was established by the Association of Schools of Public Health with support from the CDC in 2003.

 
Contact Information

Rae Lynn Mitchell

rlmitchell@srph.tamhsc.edu  |  (979) 458-0773


The Texas A&M Health Science Center provides health education, outreach and research through its colleges and campuses in Bryan-College Station, Dallas, Temple, Houston, Round Rock, Kingsville, Corpus Christi and McAllen.

Dr. Sharkey awarded grant for border nutrition and obesity project

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Rae Lynn Mitchell
Joseph R. Sharkey, Ph.D., M.P.H., RD

Joseph R. Sharkey, Ph.D., M.P.H., RD

Joseph R. Sharkey, Ph.D., M.P.H., RD, professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) School of Rural Public Health and founding director of the Program for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, was recently awarded $140,000 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Prevention Research Center program for a two-year Texas Border Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network project (TxBNOPRE).

The TxBNOPRE will work with the larger Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN) to respond to issues related to the identification of policies that affect improved access and availability of health foods and beverages.

“Although obesity has risen at alarming rates among all segments of the population, prevalence is highest among Mexican-American children and continues to increase among the poor and near-poor,” Dr. Sharkey said. “Mexican-origin children and families in the colonias of the Lower Rio Grande Valley reside in areas that demonstrate high rates of childhood and adult obesity, poverty, food insecurity and geographic challenges associated with residence.”

The special initiative project is awarded competitively under the Prevention Research Center (PRC) funding program through Cooperative Agreement 5U48DP00192. Dr. Sharkey will act as principal investigator with Wesley R. Dean, Ph.D., as co-investigator. Additional collaborators include the larger NOPREN, South Texas community partners and South Texas colonias in an effort to examine aspects of policy change that seek to influence children’s access to healthy foods and beverages.

 
Contact Information

Rae Lynn Mitchell

rlmitchell@srph.tamhsc.edu  |  (979) 458-0773


The Texas A&M Health Science Center provides health education, outreach and research through its colleges and campuses in Bryan-College Station, Dallas, Temple, Houston, Round Rock, Kingsville, Corpus Christi and McAllen.

SRPH, UNC receive CDC funding for Policies, Programs, and Partners for Fall Prevention Project

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Rae Lynn Mitchell
Marcia Ory, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Marcia Ory, Ph.D., M.P.H.

The Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) School of Rural Public Health, in collaboration with the University of North Carolina schools of Medicine and Public Health, was recently awarded $800,000 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Prevention Research Center program for a two-year Policies, Programs, and Partners for Fall Prevention (PPPFP) project.

The project addresses the urgent need to identify more effective public health strategies for reducing falls, fall-related injuries and fall-related rates of emergency room visits among the growing population of seniors.

The principal investigators for the initiative are Marcia Ory, Ph.D., M.P.H., Regents Professor at the TAMHSC-School of Rural Public Health, and Tiffany E. Shubert, Ph.D., research scientist at the UNC Center for Aging and Health.

“Building on our current evaluation of CDC’s State Falls Prevention Program, this new project should lead to greater understanding of the barriers and facilitators to widespread community adoption of evidence-based prevention measures,” Dr. Ory said. “The goal of PPPFP is to expand program reach to vulnerable older adults through new training structures that will enhance the fall prevention skills of existing health professionals.”

In addition to examining falls-related policies, a critical aspect of PPPFP is the evaluation of a training program for physical therapists to understand and implement evidence-based fall prevention and to integrate these efforts with state and national fall prevention policies.

“This is an exciting and unique opportunity to disseminate and link fall prevention efforts between public health, health care providers and older adults, creating a needed continuum of fall prevention,” Dr. Shubert said.

The project also will develop strategies and train community health workers in Texas and North Carolina to help raise awareness about fall prevention and refer older adults to evidence-based programs.

An important partner in this effort is the National Council on Aging’s Falls Free© Initiative, led by (Bonita) Lynn Beattie, PT, MPT. This large national initiative – composed of 42 state coalitions – works collaboratively to increase awareness, bring education and training to providers, and increase investment in effective community interventions.

“Every 15 seconds, a senior is treated at an emergency room for a fall-related injury,” Beattie said. “Through effective risk management, falls are largely preventable, but it will take a community-wide effort to effect change.”

It is noteworthy the timing of this award is in advance of the Fifth Annual National Falls Prevention Awareness Day, Sept. 22. This unique campus-community partnership will accelerate national efforts to identify and promote effective, integrated practices and supportive policies that can make a difference in the lives of millions of seniors and their family members.

The special initiative project is awarded competitively under the Prevention Research Center (PRC) funding program through Cooperative Agreement 5U48DP00192 and will also benefit from involvement of the CDC-PRC Healthy Aging Research Network.

 
Contact Information

Rae Lynn Mitchell

rlmitchell@srph.tamhsc.edu  |  (979) 458-0773


The Texas A&M Health Science Center provides health education, outreach and research through its colleges and campuses in Bryan-College Station, Dallas, Temple, Houston, Round Rock, Kingsville, Corpus Christi and McAllen.

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