Erie Family Health Center

Erie Beats

Read more about Erie’s Oral Health Program in the August editions of the American Dental Association and National Network for Oral Health Access!

American Dental Association (ADA) page 2

Beats this week: 

1) Before you know it the kids are going to be back in school and you will be thinking: ‘where did the summer go?’ But before sending the kiddies off to school you should be sure to get them their required school physicals and vaccinations in honor of National Immunization Awareness Month, which is celebrated in August!  

2) This week an incredibly insightful study was released on the social and economic impact of long-term obesity. The study, which used national data for 5,000 high school students over two decades, found that those individuals that had been overweight in high school and continued at that weight were less likely to advance their education and more likely to live at lower income levels than their classmates who were a healthier weight at age 18.

3) Well blogosphere, it just got a little bit easier to access dental care in the state of Illinois. In the last few months Governor Quinn has signed three bills making dental care more accessible; one of the most recent bills allows 10-day permits to out of state dentists that wish to cross the border to volunteer at dental clinics. The Chicago Dental Society’s blog, Open Wide, has a great rundown of the bills here.

4) As the city of Chicago heats up, so has the violence throughout the city. Painting a gloomy picture, overall crime is down in the city but murder rates are up. Just this past week, nine people were shot while walking near a bus terminal on Chicago’s south side.

5) Good news for women who have previously had c-sections: if you have another child you may not be required to have another c-section. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released new guidelines this week that allow most women to forego having another c-section.

I had the pleasure of sitting down earlier this week with Erie’s Vice President of Oral Health Services, Dr. Gus Souri, to chat about his experiences in community dentistry, the continued need for more access and the 2010 Golden Toothbrush Awards Luncheon. Check out the video below!

Interview with Erie Family Health Center’s Dr. Souri DDS from Erie Family Health Center on Vimeo.

Earlier this week, Beats Per Minute took you into the world of a very important public health issue: health disparities in underserved communities. Cancer, diabetes and oral health – all of these issues hit very close to home for the communities served by Erie Family Health Center. For Erie, creating a healthier America begins at the community level, where care and prevention interventions are specifically designed to meet the needs of our patients and community members. Today, in honor of National Public Health Week, Beats Per Minute would like to give you the inside scoop on those Erie programs designed to reduce and eliminate health disparities experienced in our community.

Cancer

For the patients in Erie’s communities, early screening for breast and cervical cancer can be problematic, especially for those who are underinsured or uninsured and without the funds to pay for the procedures. Erie has a long-standing commitment to educating women on the importance of getting screened and working to provide better access for screening, either through Erie or external referrals. In early 2008, Erie became a lead agency for the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP). Through this program, Erie can provide either through our facilities or outside agencies free screening for breast and cervical cancers to women who qualify for the program. In the first half of this fiscal year alone, Erie enrolled nearly 400 women in the IBCCP program and provided culturally competent education about the importance of screening to nearly 12,000 people.

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The American Public Health Association has designated this week National Public Health Week. Since 1995, the United States has used this week to highlight the importance of public health and the need for improved health in our country. This year’s theme is ‘A Healthier America: One Community at a Time.’  This theme resonates with community-based health organizations, like Erie Family Health Center. For Erie, creating a healthier America begins at the community level, where care and prevention can be designed specifically for the needs of the local community.

For Erie and other public health advocates around the country, one of the most important health issues facing America today are the  health disparities that exist in medically underserved communities. That means that certain groups of people in our country—like those with lower incomes—experience health problems at greater rates than the general population.  At Beats Per Minute, we would like to highlight a few of the health disparities that hit home in the communities that Erie serves.

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Erie Beats

Erie Family Health Center is proud to announce the 2010 Golden Toothbrush Award Luncheon Keynote Speaker! June Thomas is the foreign editor of Slate, a daily Web magazine known for its analysis and commentary on news, politics and culture. Before joining the Slate in 1997, June  was the editor and foreign rights manager at Seal Press and managing editor of Women in Translation, a publishing company specializing in women’s writing from around the world. She was born and raised in Manchester, England.

June authored the American Way of Dentistry, a widely acclaimed seven part series in Slate, which provides an in-depth analysis of the state of oral health care in the United States. The seven topics covered in the series include:

The Story of My Teeth

The Disappearing Dentist

The Oral Cost Spiral

How Dentists Think

Why Poor Folks are Short on Teeth

Inside the Dental Safety Net

Healthy Teeth for All

Click here to read this series. You can also follow the series on Facebook.

Beats this week:

1) Over the weekend, patients began lining up before dawn at a dentist office in the Logan Square community of Chicago to receive free dental care. The annual event, which is hosted by Dentists With Heart, drew a line of several hundred people.

2) This week, the New York Times reported that after an extended quiet period, the U.S. is finally seeing a surge in medical schools. Could this be a response to the need for primary care providers? Beats Per Minute discussed this very issue last month.

3) Wondering why no one is talking about H1N1 anymore? The Centers for Disease Control is! The CDC says that H1N1 cases are down but reported that from April 2009 through January 2010, the U.S. saw 57 million possible cases, 257,000 hospitalizations and 11,690 deaths.

4) A study released this week found that over the last three decades chronic conditions have significantly increased in children. In fact, from 1994 to 2006 the percentage of children with chronic conditions, such as asthma, obesity and behavioral health issues, nearly doubled. The highest rates of chronic conditions were found in Latino and African American children.

5) It was announced this week that two Illinois universities will receive federal stimulus money to invest in electronic medical records technology. Last month, Erie Family Health Center completed the implementation of electronic health records at all of our nine sites. Read about it here!