Dr. Regina Benjamin Confirmed as U.S. Surgeon General

Dr. Benjamin has been a trailblazer in the medical field for over two decades, and has devoted her career to ensuring that Americans receive the best possible health care, regardless of their financial situation. Regina M. Benjamin, MD, MBA, is Founder and CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. She is the Immediate Past-Chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, and previously served as Associate Dean for Rural Health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. In 2002, she became President of the Medical Association State of Alabama, making her the first African American woman to be president of a State Medical Society in the United States. She completed her residency in family medicine at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.  Dr. Benjamin received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights in 1998, and was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in 1995, making her the first physician under age 40 and the first African-American woman to be elected. 

New Public Service Announcements (PSAs)
HHS, the Ad Council and Warner Bros. Pictures teamed up to create a new series of PSAs as part of the Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention campaign launched in 2005.  Using characters from the classic children’s story, “Where the Wild Things Are,” the PSAs encourage kids to play every day.  To watch the PSAs, find great play ideas, and for tips for healthier eating, please visit www.smallstep.gov 

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Healthy People 2020 Public Comment Period
This is an invitation to:

• View proposed draft objectives for Healthy People 2020
• Comment on the proposed objectives
• Comment on the topic areas
• Suggest additional objectives
• Suggest topic areas that might be missing from the draft set

Establishing objectives and providing benchmarks to track progress motivates, guides, and focuses action. Comments will be accepted through December 31, 2009.  Please visit www.healthypeople.gov/hp2020.

Be Active Your Way Blog
The Be Active Your Way blog is designed to stimulate dialog among professionals who encourage Americans to get the physical activity they need according to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Each week bloggers share their experience and opinions on efforts related to the Guidelines. Please visit http://health.gov/paguidelines/blog/ 

Be Active Your WayPhysical Activity Widget
The Be Active Your Way widget is a quick quiz that instantly provides physical activity tips and recommendations tailored to user goals.  A widget is an online tool that can be easily added to any web site or blog. Just add the widget to your site, and the content will be updated automatically. Visit http://www.healthfinder.gov/widgets/Pafinder.aspx.  

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Strategies to Prevent Obesity in the United States
CDC’s first comprehensive set of recommended strategies and measures to help communities tackle the problem of overweight and obesity through environmental change and policies to promote physical activity and healthy eating.  To review the policies and strategies as they were reported in the July 24 Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report, please visit: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/
mmwrhtml/rr5807a1.htm

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
2003-2006 NHANES data identified the prevalence of obesity among adults aged 20 years and older ranged from 53.3% for non-Hispanic black women to 31.6% for non-Hispanic white women and 35% for non-Hispanic black men to 28.8% for Mexican-American men.  The Healthy People 2010 target is 15% for all population groups.  http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/
mm5838a6.htm?s_cid=mm5838a6_e

National Health Interview Survey
Updated stats on the percentage of adults aged 18 years and older who participate in leisure-time strengthening activities. Visit http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/
mm5834a6.htm?s_cid=mm5834a6_e

New Video
“Finding a Balance,” the newest video in the CDC-TV Health Matters series, provides expert perspectives on how to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, as well as personal stories from individuals who have made changes in their lives to achieve a healthy lifestyle. The video is also available as a podcast (http://www2a.cdc.gov/podcasts/player.asp?f=13303).
Go to www.cdc.gov and click on Finding Balance or go to www.cdc.gov/cdctv/.

Updated Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Data
The 2008 SMART BRFSS data and prevalence tables and BRFSS maps are now available.    Prevalence estimates for over 200 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas (MMSAs), as well as many counties within those areas are provided. http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/BRFSS-SMART/index.asp
 
In addition to stats on adult leisure time physical activity and exercise, the 2008 data showed that the proportion of U.S. adults who are obese increased to 26.1 percent in 2008 compared to 25.6 percent in 2007.  In six states – Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia – adult obesity prevalence was 30 percent or more.   Thirty-two states, including those six, had obesity prevalence of 25 percent or more.  Only one state, Colorado, had a prevalence of obesity less than 20 percent.  But no state showed a significant decrease in obesity prevalence from 2007 to 2008.
For more information on obesity trends, including an animated map, visit www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html.

Head’s Up: Concussion in Youth Sports
The following links direct you to short videos featuring the story of a mother and daughter who have dealt first hand with the impact of a concussion.
View Linda's video, "Keeping Quiet Can Keep You Out of the Game... a mother's story" at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO-ordcPWSU
View Tracy's video, "Keeping Quiet Can Keep You Out of the Game" at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIqZDbk3M40
You can read more about Tracy's story at: http://www.cdc.gov/ConcussionInYouthSports/
TracyStory.pdf 

LEAN Works
LEAN Works! is a free, web-based resource with interactive tools and evidence-based resources to help employers design effective worksite obesity prevention and control programs.  Visit www.cdc.gov/leanworks to learn more.

U.S. Task Force on Community Preventive Services
The Task Force updated its recommendations to include worksite programs intended to improve diet and/or physical activity behaviors and help employees lose weight.  Program strategies for achieving outcomes include informational and educational activities, behavioral and social strategies, and policy and environmental approaches.  To learn more about the review, please visit: http://www.thecommunityguide.org/obesity/
workprograms.html

National Institutes of Health
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
NIA announced the award of $29.5 million in grant support over the next two years to determine whether a specific physical activity program can stave off disability in older people. The funding will begin the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders - LIFE -- trial, the largest ever undertaken to prevent mobility disability among older people who are at risk of losing their ability to walk and to live independently in the community. The grant is being awarded to the University of Florida's Institute on Aging in Gainesville.

At eight sites around the country, LIFE will involve 1,600 people aged 70 to 89, who at the start of the study meet its criteria for risk of walking disability, defined as the inability to walk a quarter of a mile or four blocks. About 200 participants will be enrolled at each of the study sites, which include the University of Florida; the University of Pittsburgh; Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago; Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.; Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.; Yale University in New Haven, Conn.; Tufts University in Boston and Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. Wake Forest will also coordinate the data management and analysis. To learn more about NIA and its work, please visit http://www.nia.nih.gov/ 

And elsewhere….

Department of Transportation
Safe Routes to School—Making a Big Difference via Small Steps outlines the Safe Routes to School program and what communities nationwide are doing to promote bicycling and walking to school.  To read the article, please visit:  http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/09julaug/01.htm  

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Growing Smarter, Living Healthier: A Guide to Smart Growth and Active Aging is a new publication for older adults published by the EPA.  The guide details the importance of design and connectedness to healthy aging, how the places we live impact our health, and how to be involved in the decisions that determine what communities look like. The free guide is available on-line at http://www.epa.gov/aging/bhc/guide/index.html.

Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Feds Get Fit! is a new initiative spearheaded by OPM Director John Berry.  Director Berry launched the initiative on October 27 on the National Mall.  The goal is to help federal employees be more active and healthy.  Visit www.fedsgetfit.gov.

The OPM Work/Life Group released the report, “HealthierFeds Physical Activity Challenge: Results from the Twelve Month Follow-up Survey.”  The report details changes in attitudes and behaviors of participants in the 2007 HealthierFeds Physical Activity Challenge, an joint initiative of OPM, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.  To read the report, please visit: http://www.healthierfeds.gov/healthierfeds_initiative/
reports/HealthierFedsReport_3_9_09.pdf

USDA- Forest Service
“Favorite Activities for Spending Time Outdoors” is the fourth report in the IRIS series.  The focus is on the outdoor recreation activities of children ages 6-19 as reported by guardians or caregivers (ages 6-15) or the teenagers themselves (ages 16-19).  The survey identified the specific activities and the active or passive nature of those activities.  To read the report, please visit: http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/nrrt/nsre/
IRISRec/IRISRec14rpt.pdf

American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)
ACSM recently released the American Fitness Index Community Action Guide.  The guide is a companion piece to the American Fitness Index data report.  Its purpose is to help communities focus their efforts on physical activity and improve the health and well-being of residents.  To download a free PDF version of the Community Action Guide, please visit: http://www.americanfitnessindex.org/guide.htm  

Institute of Medicine
Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity provides a set of immediate actions local governments can take to address childhood obesity through improvements to eating and physical activity habits.  Targeted strategies can be implemented outside of the school day, are within the jurisdiction of local governments, and directly affect children.  To read the report brief, please visit: http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/72/800/
local%20govts%20obesity%20report%20
brief%20FINAL%20for%20web.pdf

National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA)
A recent study published by NATA found that during play, high school football players sustain greater head accelerations after impact (through contact with another player or the ground) than do college-level football players. These head accelerations may lead to concussions and serious cervical spine injuries. The report, "Head Impacts During High School Football: A Biomechanical Assessment," urges coaches to teach proper tackling techniques in order to reduce the risk of head and neck injuries among high-school athletes. To read the article, please visit http://www.nata.org/jat/readers/archives/44.4/attr-44-04-342.pdf.

NATA teamed up with the National Academy of Neuropsychology on a new concussion awareness and safety campaign. A 12-minute educational video, "Concussions in Hockey: Signs, Symptoms, and Playing Safe," is a centerpiece of this campaign. The video is sponsored by the National Hockey League and NHL Players' Association and is available for viewing online at www.nanonline.org, www.nata.org, www.nhl.com, and www.nhlpa.com.

National Center for Safe Routes to Schools (NCSRTS)
Engaging Middle School Students in Safe Routes to School Programs is a new tip sheet designed to help address the challenges of organizing walking and bicycling programs at middle schools. The ideas offered on the tip sheet build upon typical attributes of middle school students, such as their desire for self-expression and self-determination and their expanded awareness of social, cultural, and environmental issues. The tip sheet is available as a PDF.  To download, please visit: http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/resources/collateral/
tips_for_engaging_middle_school_students.pdf

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
Shaping a Healthier Nation: Successful State Strategies to Prevent Childhood Obesity discusses strategies in child care and educational settings, communities, and health care settings.  Strategies include actions that address screen time, increasing physical activity, fitness assessments, safe routes to school, transit-oriented development, and physician counseling to name a few.  To view the report, please visit http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/
0909HEALTHIERGENERATION.PDF.

National Physical Activity Plan
The first national meeting on the National Physical Activity Plan was held on July 1st and 2nd in Washington, DC.  Some of the presentations from the meeting are available on-line.  Please visit: http://www.physicalactivityplan.org/
conference2009/slides.htm.

National Public Radio (NPR)
A study looking at the dramatic rise (150% in 11 years) in emergency room visits due to injuries sustained while in physical education class was the topic of an August “Tell Me More” program.  The study, published in Pediatrics, was conducted by The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.  Visit the following link to listen to the segment: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=111770012  

New Mexico Department of Health Diabetes Prevention and Control Program (DPCP)
“Prescription Trails” is an initiative to encourage physical activity among Santa Fe and Albuquerque residents.  Health care providers receive blank prescription pads to prescribe physical activity given the patient’s health status.   A walking guide with information on local trails, parks, and walking routes within the community is provided along with the prescription.  The implementation of the program in Santa Fe follows a successful pilot program in Albuquerque.  A PDF provides a brief overview:  http://www.diabetesnm.org/programs/
documents/RxTrailswebpage.pdf. The DPCP Web site also features a Powerpoint presentation for provider trainings, www.diabetesnm.org.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – Active Living Research
“Active Education: Physical education, physical activity and academic performance” is a summary or peer-reviewed research on the relationship between physical activity and academic performance. To read the research brief, please visit: http://www.nccor.org/downloads/
2009_October_Publications_2.pdf

Center for Public Health and Nutrition
The Center recently released 3 issue briefs targeting child care professionals, policymakers, and the general public.  The issue briefs address strategies and best practices for nutrition, physical activity, and screen media time in the child care setting; the role of child care in obesity prevention; and the role of policymakers at the local, state, and federal level. To download a copy of the briefs, please visit http://depts.washington.edu/uwcphn/work/
child/childcare.html.

Center of Excellence in Training and Research Translation
The Childhood Obesity Prevention training provides practitioners with evidence for intervention strategies to address childhood obesity.  This module is the third in a series that includes Nutrition and Health and Physical Activity and Health. To access the modules, please visit http://www.center-trt.org/ and click on Training. Users are asked to create an account with a user name and password in order to access the trainings.