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REPORT TO IAG
December 15, 2009We thank all of
you who planned to attend the December 9th Implementations Advisory meeting for your patience and understanding as we decided not to put you in harm's way of the storm and cancelled. The essential purpose of the meeting
was to inform you of progress that the Erna Yaffe Foundation has made on entrusting NECON to an independent, non-profit foundation that we discussed at our previous NECON Implementations Advisory Group (IAG) meeting. As you know, NECON is the outgrowth of the Erna Yaffe Foundation's Promoting Prevention Institute that was initiated in 1978 at Bristol Community College in Fall River. A major thrust in that evolution was
the New England regionwide conference at the Harvard School of Public Health on June 20 and 21 1985. NECON's history since then is documented on our website: www.NECONinfo.org and was driven by many of you.
The structure that we envision is an entity that includes both 1) a NECON Foundation Board of 21 members from the NECON IAG and 2) the entire IAG will become the NECON Advisory Council, an integral component to NECON's
mission. That mission is to shape a New England Prevention Movement measured by the level of health literacy attained in the region. We feel that in order to sustain NECON's momentum, enhance its growth, optimize its
impact, and realize its potential NECON should progress through its own 501-C-3 corporate structure. The process is already in progress as described in the letter from accountant Paul Lennon. So that we can get started immediately we are proposing a slate
of officers and a board selected from the IAG for the first year. At the end of 2010, I will step down as President and the autonomous NECON Foundation led by the board and the Advisory Council will be off and
running—"shaping a prevention movement in New England." We have defined a prevention movement as "a series of actions and events aligned with the principles and policies of health promotion and disease
prevention—all inspired by the proposition that optimal health is a moral and social imperative." If you will visualize the NECON schematic
as a moving continuum—which we believe it is—we have a prevention movement. The alignments are in place. Our trust is to sustain it. SHAPING THE PREVENTION MOVEMENT IN NEW ENGLAND
NECON Regional Health Trends Report (Health Literacy Indicator);
State Health Legislators Caucuses;
2010 Report and Recommendations to the New England Governors' Conference;
Publication of the NECON 2009 regionwide conference proceedings as a Prevention Manifesto;
Implementation of the NECON/Harvard School of Public Health Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of Overweight and Obesity in New England;
State Health Action Forums;
Annual regionwide health policymakers and advocates conference;
NECON Youth and Family Health Initiative (Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox);
Blog: Online Tool Kit for Prevention
A. THE NEW ENGLAND HEALTH TRENDS REPORT Among the over 60 recommendations in the NECON/HSPH Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of Overweight and Obesity in
New England (available on website), one that consistently resonates is in Chapter 8—"Data For Action, Action Items: Develop a biennial trends report of leading indicators related to chronic disease prevention and
control, integrated with ongoing DHHS Region I health monitoring activities and present data in a simple, timely and useful manner for immediate program purposes, including process implementation data." We shaped that
recommendation into a proposal that was funded by both the Centers for Disease Control and Region I of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. We assembled a Health Trends Report Formulation Group
to implement the proposal. The Trends Report has been attractive to both the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services because it augments the Objectives of the
Nation 2010. We believe that it will be even more attractive in the immediate future. The USDHHS includes health literacy as Objective #11-2, which defines "health literacy" as the "capacity to obtain, process, and
understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions." In context, this applies mostly to preventive medicine. We embrace that definition but elaborate to define:
"health literacy as the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to understand and to internalize the determinants of health." Because health literacy is not necessarily
correlative with levels of education, we do not have indicators that will reveal this. To respond to the current concerns about health costs and to address the epidemic of chronic diseases we need to continually measure
health status including health literacy. There are in New England and NECON the necessary expertise and capacity to develop this measure. The Trends Reports will be incorporated in our presentations to the
New England Governors' Conference, will be disseminated at all conferences, and will frame the dialogue for a series of state and regionwide Health Action Forums at which, working collaboratively with others, we can
aggressively address the challenges highlighted by the chronic disease risk factors that we have been following. This process will ensure the institutional memory necessary to sustain political will and serve as a
health improvement model for New England, other regions, and the nation. Once operable, the process will engage the region's health care infrastructure, policymakers, legislators, and advocates in a sustained prevention
dialogue. The New England Governors' Conference (NEGC), through Resolutions #51 and #68, has charged NECON to interact with health policymakers throughout New England and to submit recommendations
periodically for the improvement of the health status of the region. The Trends Report will be an important instrument for advancing the NECON prevention agenda. B. STATE HEALTH LEGISLATORS CAUCUSES Modeled on the U.S. Congressional Prevention Caucus, the New England State Legislators Prevention Caucuses will be bipartisan, bicameral groups of legislators whose goal will be to raise
the level of knowledge in the State Legislatures about disease prevention and health promotion. The Caucuses will identify, promote, and support strategies and evidence-based prevention programs that can lead to
healthier communities. This initiative will engage the states' health care infrastructures, policymakers, legislators and advocates in a sustained prevention education movement to facilitate: 1) measuring, monitoring,
and addressing chronic disease conditions including mental and oral health; 2) promoting primary care; and 3) expanding access to affordable health insurance. I. BLOG: ONLINE TOOL KIT FOR PREVENTION As part of our Online Tool Kit for Prevention, NECON will start a blog. The blog will enable interested parties to connect with others in this prevention project. Designated contributors
will post news and views pertinent to the project, updating blog visitors on new developments, information, and events. Visitors will be encouraged to participate in the blog by offering their feedback. Thus, the NECON
blog will open an ongoing dialogue that is dynamic and, hopefully, of great use to those wishing to help shape the New England prevention movement. Bert Yaffe |
