This e-mail landed in my inbox touting the wonders of this new social security Web site and how it will let you see how the finances are accruing for you. Now, personally I don’t want to even get into this site because it’ll probably have me daydreaming about how I could one day use it to help me better plan my retirement. But then that “one day” would probably be the day the site–or whatever replaces the internet– will be “down” because social security is defunct, like “well we just ran out of money, sorry about.” (sigh) Well, it would be good to recommend to all the older retired people you know.  Enjoy!

Dear Colleague:

I am pleased to inform you that Social Security’s online Retirement Estimator, available at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator, can now be used to provide immediate and personalized benefit estimates to Medicare only beneficiaries.  This means that people who have enrolled in Medicare, but have not yet filed forSocial Security benefits, will no longer need to contact their local office to obtain an estimate of their retirement benefits.

In addition, Social Security’s Commissioner, Michael J. Astrue, has announced that next year the online Retirement Estimator will be the first online service in all of government to be made available in Spanish.

We ask that you share this important information with those parties who would find it of interest.

Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Cheri Arnott Parlaman

Associate Commissioner

for External Affairs

Today is officially the Great American Smokeout 2009 and I won’t tell you how I ran into the smokers on the way into work today. I think there were more than usual, maybe they were smoking in protest…  Anyway, we all know smoking is bad for you and your health and the people around you breathing in the secondhand (and now thirdhand) smoke. That’s why Nov. 19 is designated as a day of kicking the tobacco products to the curb, given their carcinogenic (cancer-causing) tendencies.  This release from the CDC shows that the smoking rates for adults have been pretty stagnant, which means we have a lot of work to do. I’ll be back with some links to resources that will encourage your friends and loved ones to quit.

The American Indian Institute has enough events planned to get you fit and well for 2010.

Here’s the contents of the e-mail I received about some really interesting events geared toward Native health for community workers and health professionals. Now, I really wanted to go to the social media one and see what that entails, but with only 25 slots and the likelihood of getting work to pay for a trip to Oklahoma–slim to none–I’m thinking I’ll have to get the details from an American Indian Institute insider.

All the events are for 2010– which is right around the corner!– so you might want to hurry up and register now. Then keep a look out for abstract opportunities and the call for papers. Enjoy!

EVENT REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

Introduction to Social Marketing
Register online: http://www.aii.ou.edu/SocialMarketing.htm
This training is designed for tribal health administrators and directors who are interested in the field of social marketing. The course will include an overview of social marketing, focus group research, program design, and implementation. This is the first course in a series of four: (1) Introduction to Social Marketing, (2) Advanced Social Marketing: for those who are in the process of implementing a project, (3) Program Evaluation, and (4) Focus Group Research.
January 26-29, 2010
La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa
Santa Fe, NM
*20 CEUs provided
Limited to 25 Participants (going very fast)

Native Fitness Training
Register online: http://www.aii.ou.edu/FitnessTrainings.htm
This training is designed for current exercise trainers and instructors who work in tribal communities. The topics covered during the training include anatomy and physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, exercise and weight management, instructional skills, class development, marketing, injury prevention and safety, special populations, choreography, and legal considerations.
March 25-27, 2010
Town & Country Resort
San Diego, CA
*CEUs provided
Limited to 50 Participants

Native Women & Men’s Wellness Conference:
Register online http://www.aii.ou.edu/9thAnnualNativeWomenMensWellnessConference.htm
We have merged our national conferences to form one large and comprehensive wellness conference. The Native Women & Men’s Wellness Conference will include topics on wellness and spirituality, diabetes prevention and care, gender-specific health issues, and formal panels to discuss promising health and prevention practices in Indian Country.
March 28-31, 2010
Town & Country Resort
San Diego, CA
*CEUs provided

Native Fitness Training
Register online: http://www.aii.ou.edu/FitnessTrainings.htm
This training is designed for current exercise trainers and instructors who work in tribal communities. The topics covered during the training include anatomy and physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, exercise and weight management, instructional skills, class development, marketing, injury prevention and safety, special populations, choreography, and legal considerations.
April 19-20, 2010
Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center
Norman, OK
CEUs provided
Limited to 50 Participants

Native American Prevention Services Conference
Register online: coming soon
This conference is designed for professionals and community members interested in the field of prevention. Topics will include alcohol and substance abuse prevention, mental health and well-being, chronic disease prevention, and panels to discuss traditional healing practices in Oklahoma.
April 21-22, 2010
Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center
Norman, OK
*CEUs provided

Call for Presenters for these events will open soon. Please visit our website (http://www.aii.ou.edu) this month and be the first to register!

The Good News

The deadline to submit comments and suggestions for the National HIV/AIDS strategy has been extended until Nov. 23 (next Monday) so there is still time to submit your thoughts. I think they should leave the comments section open until after all the town halls have been completed –the last one is in Puerto Rico Dec. 14–but I am not in charge, so we’ll just have to wait and see if they extend the deadline again.

And now…

The Bad News

This Post article has me more than halfway appalled. Apparently this taskforce is saying it’s not really necessary to have women under age 50 receive annual mammograms. And apparently it’s not even necessary for us to do breast self exams now. This one I’m taking a little personal, which is not necessary, but I’d like to diversify this taskforce a little with some BC survivors and see what the consensus is then. I mean, given the mortality rates of black women with aggressive forms of breast cancer, it’s hard for me to believe that comments like this would even be verbalized.

Apparently the suggestions were made based on data from the U.S., Britain and Sweden, because there were too many false alarms. Hmm, so it seems we’d rather risk women’s lives than get some false alarms. And while we’re at it, maybe we should forget about changing the batteries in the smoke alarms cuz God knows we hate those false alarms when we burn stuff in the kitchen.

Now, I thought we wanted to take a stance that encouraged prevention. And whatever happened to better safe then sorry? To me, this seems ridiculous. If the methods aren’t accurate then maybe we should look at increasing the accuracy of the test, instead of telling women to drop prevention methods. I love [please note the sarcasm] how people will give you recommendations to save a dime (5 billion), but when it comes to their life hanging in the balance, it’s all about survival mode at all costs. Sad, man. Nothing but sad. If this is what our Preventive Services Task Force is coming up with, I feel like we should be concerned.

• Breast Self Exam
• Breast Health FAQs
• Cancer Stats

The deadline to contribute to the White House’s national HIV strategy has been extended to this coming Monday, so there’s still time to submit your thoughts online. Also, there’s a national conference call coming up this Friday at 3:30 p.m. EST. The call will focus on informing Hispancs/Latinos abot the contributions they can make toward the national strategy. Info about this is on the OMHRC spotlight.
I’ll post more on that later cuz I can only type for so long using my thumbs.

Just ran across this release from University of Cincinnati about funding going toward a study to find the effects of BPA on the heart and reproductive system, so I guess we should prepare ourselves now for the news.

So maybe I should have said this before, but there was a slight change in the OMH URL and instead of typing in www.omhrc.gov the new address is minorityhealth.hhs.gov sans www. If you type in the old address, you’ll be rerouted, so no worries. Either way you’ll still get to all that free info.

Here’s some info about an opportunity for college students to get some hands-on experience in the health field before it’s too late to turn around. Joking… somewhat.

To help lessen health disparities by encouraging more state students to consider medical and dental fields, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is sponsoring the Summer Medical and Dental Education. College freshmen and sophomores have until March 1, 2010, to apply for the free, six-week program. Those accepted into SMDEP will have a basic science curriculum, career-development activities, one-on-one time with doctors and financial planning workshops. Tuition, meals and housing are provided. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is devoted to health and health care, both nationally and in medically under-served states. Applications are at www.smdep.org .

The CDC has gotten a little bit closer to answering the question I always have whenever study results are released. They hit on the “why” factor. The “what-cause-that” factor. The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics released findings showing that the high rates of infant mortality in the United States are fueled by premature birth rates of one in eight children. So for every eight babies born in the good ‘ol US of A, one is born premature (37 weeks or younger) and that has caused our rates to land us behind 29 other nations, when it comes to infant mortality rates.

I just wanted to pass this one along because keeping a health journal seemed like such a brilliant idea—I wish I had come up with this one by myself. Lately I’ve started writing down all the details that I need to remember when going for my doctor’s appointments, but only recently I thought about keeping all that info in one place for my own personal medical file. Now they’re suggesting that you write down everything, which would be beneficial, but that has me wondering about record accessibility and how many people collect their own copies of their medical history as they visit doctors.