Archive for » July 5th, 2012«

05 Jul 2012

Salt Lake VA adds five mental health staffers

One new psychotherapist began work at the Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Health Care System this week and four more new employees are being recruited, part of a nationwide surge to better treat veterans with mental health problems.

Nationally, the VA is hiring 1,600 mental health clinicians and 300 support staff to keep up with the demands of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post traumatic stress, depression, substance abuse and other challenges.

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The surge was announced this spring just before a blistering Inspector General’s report riled members of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.

That report concluded that the VA is much slower about getting veterans in for diagnosis and treatment than it claims. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., committee chairwoman, said the report showed the VA engaging in “rampant gaming of the system” with the way it tracks data.

The new hires come amid the VA’s ongoing review of its mental health operations.

The Salt Lake City VA system’s five new positions are its share of the national expansion, said Scott F. Hill, chief of mental health for the VA, which serves all but two counties in Utah, as well as areas of southeast Idaho and northeast Nevada.

“This was a nice start. I hope that more are coming,” said Hill, who has a request in for four more psychotherapists.

Besides the psychotherapist who began work this week, the VA is hiring a clinician to evaluate veterans for compensation and pension eligibility, an administrative support staffer and two registered nurse-case managers.

Psychologists or psychotherapists are most needed because there is an upswing in the number of veterans who “just need to talk to somebody,” Hill said.

“As complicated as Vietnam vets are to treat — and they have been complicated — these veterans are even more so,” he said. “They come with more issues.”

Often, there is traumatic brain injury or dependence on pain medication.

“This generation is much more impulsive,” he said, and that complicates treatment. They change their minds often and can make rash decisions.

Like Vietnam veterans, today’s veterans come home and want to be left alone.

“We don’t see them until there’s substance abuse or marital problems or legal issues,” he said. By then, their lives are like tangled balls of yarn, he said.

The number of veterans receiving mental health care through the Salt Lake VA system, including a number of community clinics, has risen 37 percent since 2008, and now totals 12,000 patients, he said. That’s nearly a fourth of all VA patients.

Some are receiving care at clinics in smaller cities throughout the region, and others are treated at tele-health clinics, where they talk with their therapists via cameras on computers.

The VA’s goal is to get new patients in for their first complete, diagnostic appointment within 14 days of their initial contact.

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Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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05 Jul 2012

HOW TO DONATE |

Individuals, groups and businesses in the Pikes Peak region have donated by the droves to support Waldo Canyon fire victims.

“A Community Rises,” a benefit concert Wednesday night at the World Arena raised $203,000 alone.

But even as firefighters near 100 percent containment,  there are many ways the community can share support for victims.

“We’ll be able to help these folks as long as they need,” said Shannon Coker, an official with Care and Share.

One million pounds of food have been donated to Care and Share, and the organization has fed 517,000 pounds of that food at sites such as evacuation centers and fire stations. 

Coker said donation sites include Walgreens, Wendy’s, the World Arena and many other places.

Care and Share especially needs non-perishable items including macaroni and cheese, soups, beef stew, ravioli and cereal.

Catherine Barde, an official with the Pikes Peak chapter of the American Red Cross, said donations and fundraisers for fire victims are always welcome.

But there’s another way to help: sign up to train to be a Red Cross volunteer.

Another major entity is the Pikes Peak United Way, which in conjunction with the El Pomar Foundation started the Waldo Canyon Fire Victims Assistance Program. The United Way was behind Wednesday’s benefit concert.

Looking for more options to help? Here are several others:

• McCloskey Motors is accepting donations for victims of the Waldo Canyon fire from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at its 6710 N. Academy Blvd. store. Cash, non-perishable food items, pet items and clothing are of the highest need.

• Student Council members from the three high schools in Falcon School District 49 will host a Benefit Bash Friday July 6 inside the air-conditioned Sand Creek High School gym. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday at Sand Creek High School, 7005 N. Carefree Drive. Falcon, Sand Creek and Vista Ridge high school students will collect monetary donations, and non-perishable food items, personal care products and bottled water for Care and Share. A station will be set up so people can create cards for firefighters and others who worked on the Waldo Canyon fire. Other activities include a bake sale, games and bounce house.

• The Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region asks anyone living mandatory evacuation areas who has seen any friendly, domestic stray cats to bring them to the shelter so they can be reconnected with their owners. The humane society has been receiving many calls about lost cats.

• Eastside Church of Christ at 5905 Flintridge Drive will be distributing supplies to victims 8 a.m. to noon Friday. The church has food kits with a 60-pound box of food, water bottles, cereal, chips, chili, stew and trash bags; cleaning kits with a bucket of cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, bleach and all-purpose cleaner; baby kits with diapers, baby food and wipes; hygiene and first aid kits; linen kits with pillows, blankets and flat sheets; and hardware supplies with brooms, mops, shovels, rakes, dust masks, work gloves and wheelbarrows.

• Brian Robinson, vice president of Rob-Kraft Inc., wrote in an email that as a Burger King franchise in the Colorado Springs area, the company has joined the Pikes Peak Chapter of the American Red Cross to collect donations. For each donated dollar, guests at Burger King will get a soft-serve ice cream cone.

• An online food auction is scheduled Sunday. Visit dinnersdishesanddesserts.com for more information.

• U.S. Bancorp Foundation is contributing $75,000 to local relief efforts of the American Red Cross. U.S. Bank also has a hardship program for customers that have been impacted by the Colorado wildfires.

• The Apartment Association of Southern Colorado has compiled a list of available apartment units and special offers to the evacuees. Those who need apartments should contact Apartments Etc., at 637-9449.

• Terra Verde will match any cash or check donation to the Red Cross, Humane Society, Care and Share or any other group supporting the Waldo Canyon fire effort that is dropped off at its store – up to $5,000.

• The Pikes Peak Community Foundation has created The Waldo Canyon Fire Fighters Fund to support the firefighters of El Paso and Teller counties. This fund will be used to provide resources for fire departments that are working on the Waldo fire and will continue working on it in the future. On Friday, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s Colorado Springs office will host a casual “dress-down” day to raise money for this fund, according to an email.

• American Medical Response and The Bob Telmosse Foundation are collecting donations of new, unwrapped toys and sporting gear to give to children who’ve lost toys. Donations will be accepted at American Medical Response, 2370 N. Powers Blvd., daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until July 13 and at Retrospect Dry Goods, 251 Front St., #8 in Monument until July 13.  Hours at the Monument donation site are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Monetary donations will be accepted by The Bob Telmosse Foundation in support of Save the Summer at www.santa-bob.org or at Bristol Brewing Company, 1647 S. Tejon St.

• LensCrafter’s in the Citadel Mall and and the Chapel Hills Mall will give any victim who lost their home or valuables a free pair of glasses. They have limited free exams, but victims with pre-existing prescriptions will be accepted. Evacuees do not qualify for this, but they are eligible for a higher discounted rate.

• Visit www.zazzle.com/reflectionsbyerika to order shirts, bumper stickers and more to support the Red Cross and firefighters.

• Colorado author Robert Liparulo and publisher Thomas Nelson have donated copies of his young adult thriller, “House of Dark Shadows,” to organizations that are requesting donated books.

• Allstate Insurance presented the Pikes Peak Community Foundation Waldo Canyon Firefighters Fund with a $10,000 check on Thursday.

• American Furniture Warehouse presented a $60,000 check to the American Red Cross-Mile High Region and a $60,000 check to The Salvation army this week. This money is specifically for fire victims.

 • On Thursday, JPMorgan Chase announced that it will donate $25,000 to the Colorado Chapters of the American Red Cross for the relief efforts for the fires in Colorado. Also, their 2,000 employees along the Front Range are donating money and time to help out local relief. Most employees have the eligibility to have donations matched by JPMorgan Chase.


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05 Jul 2012

Children’s charities warn number of troubled families will soar

The number of children living in troubled families in Britain will rise by 54,000 in the next four years as a result of government spending cuts, leading charities are warning.

Despite last month’s pledge by ministers to turn around the lives of 120,000 troubled families, who cost the state £9bn a year, the study shows the impact of cuts will mean such households lose £3,000 a year by 2015 with the poorest and most vulnerable households bearing the burden of austerity measures.

The research was commissioned by Action for Children, the NSPCC and the Children’s Society, which claim ministers have lost sight of children in their policies.

Once the government’s cuts programme is fully implemented by 2015 – only 12% have taken place so far – the study says the effect on the poor will be dramatic. The number of troubled families will rise to 150,000 by 2015 and the number of children in troubled families will jump to 365,000, up by more than 50,000.

The government’s troubled families unit is investing £448m in a scheme that aims to change the lives of 120,000 troubled families by 2015. However, its work focuses on cutting truancy, antisocial behaviour and ending worklessness.

Andrew Flanagan, chief executive of the NSPCC, said rhetoric used by ministers claimed that “it’s the adults who are feckless”. But he said: “Children did not get themselves into that situation [to be in a troubled family]. Maybe the government’s strategy might work a long way into the future. But, here and now, children are suffering the consequences.”

The research shows there were 130,000 troubled families in Britain in 2008 – those which had five or more of the seven indicators of “multiple disadvantage”: no parent in the family in work; living in overcrowded conditions; no parent with any qualifications; mother suffering from mental health problems; at least one parent with a long-standing illness or disability; an income below the poverty line; and an inability to afford a number of food and clothing items.

Dame Clare Tickell, the chief executive of Action for Children, said those suffering four disadvantages would amount to more than a million by 2015. Matthew Reed, the Children’s Society chief executive, said that would mean “three children in every classroom in the UK would be in households where parents were making choices between breakfast and dinner, heating the house or having shoes for schools”.

The analysis shows the most extremely troubled families, those with six or more disadvantages, carry the biggest burden of the budget cuts. Even with the government’s new universal credit, putatively designed so that no household is worse off, “extremely troubled” families lose 8% of their income a year.

Fewer than 50,000 children live in such households now, but the figure will almost double to 96,000 by 2015.

The report makes it clear that the poor rely to a far greater extent on the state than any other section of society and while the study recognises the government has introduced new measures, such as the pupil premium and extra childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds, “they do not fully compensate for the overall cuts in spending”.

The government said Labour had spent £150bn on benefits and tax credits, but “too many families have been systematically failed by the system”.

The Department of Work and Pensions said: “Only by reforming the welfare system and breaking the cycle of worklessness and dependency will we improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities. That is why we are introducing the universal credit which will simplify the complex myriad of benefits and lift 350,000 children and 550,000 adults out of poverty”.


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05 Jul 2012

Salt Lake VA adds five mental health staffers

One new psychotherapist began work at the Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Health Care System this week and four more new employees are being recruited, part of a nationwide surge to better treat veterans with mental health problems.

Nationally, the VA is hiring 1,600 mental health clinicians and 300 support staff to keep up with the demands of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post traumatic stress, depression, substance abuse and other challenges.

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The surge was announced this spring just before a blistering Inspector General’s report riled members of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.

That report concluded that the VA is much slower about getting veterans in for diagnosis and treatment than it claims. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., committee chairwoman, said the report showed the VA engaging in “rampant gaming of the system” with the way it tracks data.

The new hires come amid the VA’s ongoing review of its mental health operations.

The Salt Lake City VA system’s five new positions are its share of the national expansion, said Scott F. Hill, chief of mental health for the VA, which serves all but two counties in Utah, as well as areas of southeast Idaho and northeast Nevada.

“This was a nice start. I hope that more are coming,” said Hill, who has a request in for four more psychotherapists.

Besides the psychotherapist who began work this week, the VA is hiring a clinician to evaluate veterans for compensation and pension eligibility, an administrative support staffer and two registered nurse-case managers.

Psychologists or psychotherapists are most needed because there is an upswing in the number of veterans who “just need to talk to somebody,” Hill said.

“As complicated as Vietnam vets are to treat — and they have been complicated — these veterans are even more so,” he said. “They come with more issues.”

Often, there is traumatic brain injury or dependence on pain medication.

“This generation is much more impulsive,” he said, and that complicates treatment. They change their minds often and can make rash decisions.

Like Vietnam veterans, today’s veterans come home and want to be left alone.

“We don’t see them until there’s substance abuse or marital problems or legal issues,” he said. By then, their lives are like tangled balls of yarn, he said.

The number of veterans receiving mental health care through the Salt Lake VA system, including a number of community clinics, has risen 37 percent since 2008, and now totals 12,000 patients, he said. That’s nearly a fourth of all VA patients.

Some are receiving care at clinics in smaller cities throughout the region, and others are treated at tele-health clinics, where they talk with their therapists via cameras on computers.

The VA’s goal is to get new patients in for their first complete, diagnostic appointment within 14 days of their initial contact.

Next Page

Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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05 Jul 2012

International Panel of Experts Issue the Toronto Charter for Mental Health and …


TORONTO, ONTARIO, Jul 05, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –
Policy makers and health professionals have their work cut out for
them when it comes to treating co-existing obesity and mental
illness, if an international group of opinion leaders has their way.

In response to a worldwide epidemic of obesity and mental health
disorders, the Canadian Obesity Network (CON-RCO) and the
International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) in
partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
organized a Hot Topic Conference on Obesity and Mental Health, in
Toronto, Canada June 26th-28th.

Although obesity and mental illness are major health issues that
affect millions of Canadians, the links between them are not well
understood. Excess weight, beyond its adverse physiological
consequences, also affects self-esteem, body image and eating
behaviours while promoting depression and anxiety. The opposite is
also true – a disproportionate number of patients living with mental
health challenges struggle with obesity, diabetes, heart disease and
premature mortality, all of which are interrelated. Both illnesses
are associated with significant bias and discrimination.

As part of the event, hundreds of participants ratified the Toronto
Charter for Mental Health and Obesity, a detailed call to action for
health system funders, researchers and health practitioners to deal
with this emerging issue. The Charter lists specific calls to action
for governments and health providers to reduce the global burden of
obesity and mental illness, chief among them:


        --  Mandatory education for health professionals on how to treat obesity and
            co-morbid mental illness.
        --  Immediate affirmative action by policy makers and funders to prioritize
            research and mandatory evaluation of interventions.
        --  Conducting a cost-analysis of mental illness co-morbid with obesity
        --  Compiling standards for responsible media coverage of obesity management
            and healthy body image.

The full Toronto Charter for Mental Health and Obesity can be viewed
and downloaded here
(
http://www.obesitynetwork.ca/page.aspx?page=2899app=182cat1=457tp=12lk=nomenu=37 ).

“Separately, mental illness and obesity are understood to be huge
health challenges, and it’s an uphill battle for health systems to
keep up with patients’ needs,” says Dr. Arya M. Sharma, scientific
director for CON-RCO. “But taken together, the issue is greater than
even the sum of its parts. The Charter was conceived as a discussion
starter among stakeholders, and the first step towards real action.”

“The fields of obesity and mental health are intimately linked, of
enormous public and personal health importance but both remain
under-recognized, under-resourced and under-researched,” Professor
Nick Finer, chair of the IASO’s Education and Management Task Force,
said. “It is our hope that the Charter begins to change all of that.”

About the Canadian Obesity Network – Reseau canadien en obesite
(CON-RCO)

CON-RCO was founded in 2006 to link the research, policy and practice
communities to advance the development and delivery of effective
obesity prevention and treatment solutions. The network’s core
strategies focus on addressing the stigma associated with excess
weight, changing the way policy makers and health professionals
approach obesity, and improving access to prevention and treatment
resources. Currently, more than 7,000 professionals in Canada are
members of the network. CON-RCO is hosted by the University of
Alberta, and is based at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton,
AB.
www.obesitynetwork.ca .


        Contacts:
        For more information on CON-RCO,
        or for assistance with obesity related stories, contact:
        Canadian Obesity Network
        Dr. Arya M. Sharma, Scientific Director
        780-863-1619
        sharma@obesitynetwork.ca

SOURCE: The Canadian Obesity Network


        mailto:sharma@obesitynetwork.ca

Copyright 2012 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.


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05 Jul 2012

Big Donations for Museum of the History of Polish Jews


By Marynia Kruk


Czarek Sokolowski/AP
A worker polishes a recently restored monument to the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which stands across from the nearly finished Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, on July 4, 2012.

The Museum of the History of Polish Jews, now under construction in the Muranow district of Warsaw, moved closer towards its completion this week thanks to some high profile donations from Jan Kulczyk, one of Poland’s richest men, and from U.S.-based foundations.

The museum, scheduled to open in late 2013, celebrated the donations by publishing a visualization of some of its exhibits, including a colorful, intricately ornamented ceiling, which will be a 85%-scale replica from a destroyed 17th-century wooden synagogue in Gwozdziec, as well as other spaces evocative of Jewish life in Poland, such as a forest, and a “bustling inter-war street” from the early 20th century, with shops, theaters and cafes, the museum said.

Mr. Kulczyk donated 20 million zlotys ($5.93 million), which will go towards the main exhibition and the museum’s auditorium.

The Koret Foundation and the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture donated a $7 million grant towards the creation of the museum’s core exhibition, which will occupy eight rooms covering 4,000 square meters, and will present a thousand years of Jewish life in Poland.

The key difference between the Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington or Yad Vashem in Jerusalem will be the breadth its historical narrative.

It will extend “beyond the Holocaust to encompass an epic Jewish heritage–from which the majority of world Jewry descends and that, even today, shapes contemporary Jewish life all across the globe,” the museum said.


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05 Jul 2012

Charities take up croquet in hunt for funding

Dressed in a blue and white pinstriped shirt and tan dress pants, which were paired with a matching brown belt and shoes, Joe Hackett had the look of a banker.

And, normally, he is a banker, serving as vice president and senior private banking advisor for Peoples Bank.

But on a recent Wednesday evening, he traded his office for the front lawn of the bank’s corporate headquarters along Leader Heights Road.

There, he swung a mallet like a pendulum, ushering croquet balls through a nine-wicket course, as he helped nonprofit leaders learn how to play the game in preparation for the first-ever County Cup.

Nine York County rotary clubs, along with volunteers from participating nonprofits, are hosting the County

Cup — a croquet tournament fundraiser — on Saturday, Sept. 22, at Sovereign Bank Stadium.

More than 90 organizations are scheduled to compete in the event, which will raise more than $52,000 for local charities.

The incentive: Three championship teams and six semifinalists will win cash prizes, ranging from $15,000 to $1,000.

The desire for those much-needed dollars is why many nonprofit leaders showed up on a Codorus Valley Corporate Center lawn.

“State funding has been cut so much. Winning this money would help us offset some of that loss,” said Suzanne Geaney, who, along with her husband John Nickey, is playing for the Hanover Area Council of Churches.

Her organization helps the homeless and people who need transitional housing. It represents more than 20 churches and feeds the hungry every day, she said.

The Veterans Memorial Gold Star Healing and Peace Garden also needs money.

“We’re still trying to pay off the garden,” said Cindy Hochhalter, secretary and treasurer of the garden.

She took swings last week, inching closer to both the next wicket and prize money.

And Colleen Gemmill, a wish granter with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, also showed up to help raise money for her organization’s cause.

“It would be a real boost to our privately-funded foundation. On average, each wish costs $3,900. Winning the money would definitely help us get some wishes granted,” she said.

How it started: The stories of those organizations, along with many others, inspired the event, according to Kacey French, chairwoman of the County Cup.

“This is a real chance for them to fundraise and get back some of the money they’ve lost,” she said.

In addition to prize money, nonprofits will get to sell $10 tickets to the event and keep the proceeds, and they will also be able to set up booths outside on the Brooks Robinson Plaza, she said.

The Rotaries will not make any money, as the event is funded through a diamond grant provided by the York County Industrial Development Authority, which owns the stadium.

“All money generated is going to the charities. It’s all about helping our local nonprofits, and the County Cup is a fun way to do that,” Hackett said.

Warm up your mallets: The County Cup, a croquet tournament fundraiser benefitting 90 local charities, is set for Saturday, Sept. 22, at Sovereign Bank Stadium in York City. For information about rules and registration, visit www.thecountycup.org.

—First Friday, downtown York; July 6 at 4:30 p.m.

The County Cup committee will set up AstroTurf and a croquet court in the parking lot of The White Rose Bar Grill, demonstrate how to play and promote the fundraiser.

Contact Genevieve Ray at genray@comcast.net for details.

—Croquet Party with Family-Child Resources Inc. and Cooper Tools; 3990 E. Market St.; Tuesday, July 10, time to be determined

The County Cup committee will set up two to four croquet courts in the front yard of downtown businesses to demonstrate the sport and begin selecting teams.

Contact Elizabeth Wolf at elizabeth.wolf@wellsfargoadvisors.com or thewolfs21@comcast.net for details.

—Croquet 101, 105 Leader Heights Road; Wednesday, July 11 at 6 p.m.

The County Cup committee will set up two croquet courts and teach guests how to play the game. For details, contact Kacey French at kacey@correlltech.com.

– Candy Woodall can also be reached at cwoodall@yorkdispatch.com.


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05 Jul 2012

International Panel of Experts Issue the Toronto Charter for Mental Health and Obesity

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire -07/05/12)-
Policy makers and health professionals have their work cut out for them when it comes to treating co-existing obesity and mental illness, if an international group of opinion leaders has their way.

In response to a worldwide epidemic of obesity and mental health disorders, the Canadian Obesity Network (CON-RCO) and the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) in partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) organized a Hot Topic Conference on Obesity and Mental Health, in Toronto, Canada June 26th-28th.

Although obesity and mental illness are major health issues that affect millions of Canadians, the links between them are not well understood. Excess weight, beyond its adverse physiological consequences, also affects self-esteem, body image and eating behaviours while promoting depression and anxiety. The opposite is also true – a disproportionate number of patients living with mental health challenges struggle with obesity, diabetes, heart disease and premature mortality, all of which are interrelated. Both illnesses are associated with significant bias and discrimination.

As part of the event, hundreds of participants ratified the Toronto Charter for Mental Health and Obesity, a detailed call to action for health system funders, researchers and health practitioners to deal with this emerging issue. The Charter lists specific calls to action for governments and health providers to reduce the global burden of obesity and mental illness, chief among them: 

 

--  Mandatory education for health professionals on how to treat obesity and
    co-morbid mental illness.
--  Immediate affirmative action by policy makers and funders to prioritize
    research and mandatory evaluation of interventions.
--  Conducting a cost-analysis of mental illness co-morbid with obesity
--  Compiling standards for responsible media coverage of obesity management
    and healthy body image.

The full Toronto Charter for Mental Health and Obesity can be viewed and downloaded here (http://www.obesitynetwork.ca/page.aspx?page=2899app=182cat1=457tp=12lk=nomenu=37).

“Separately, mental illness and obesity are understood to be huge health challenges, and it’s an uphill battle for health systems to keep up with patients’ needs,” says Dr. Arya M. Sharma, scientific director for CON-RCO. “But taken together, the issue is greater than even the sum of its parts. The Charter was conceived as a discussion starter among stakeholders, and the first step towards real action.”

“The fields of obesity and mental health are intimately linked, of enormous public and personal health importance but both remain under-recognized, under-resourced and under-researched,” Professor Nick Finer, chair of the IASO’s Education and Management Task Force, said. “It is our hope that the Charter begins to change all of that.”

About the Canadian Obesity Network – Reseau canadien en obesite (CON-RCO)

CON-RCO was founded in 2006 to link the research, policy and practice communities to advance the development and delivery of effective obesity prevention and treatment solutions. The network’s core strategies focus on addressing the stigma associated with excess weight, changing the way policy makers and health professionals approach obesity, and improving access to prevention and treatment resources. Currently, more than 7,000 professionals in Canada are members of the network. CON-RCO is hosted by the University of Alberta, and is based at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, AB. www.obesitynetwork.ca.

For more information on CON-RCO,
or for assistance with obesity related stories, contact:
Canadian Obesity Network
Dr. Arya M. Sharma, Scientific Director
780-863-1619
sharma@obesitynetwork.ca


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05 Jul 2012

Spanking carries health risk

<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 10
–>

Children who are spanked, hit, or pushed as a means of discipline may be at an increased risk of mental problems in adulthood — from mood and anxiety disorders to drug and alcohol abuse, new research suggests.

Although it is well established that physical and sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and other severe forms of maltreatment in childhood are associated with mental illness, this is one of the first studies to show a link between non-abusive physical punishment and several different types of mental disorders, says epidemiologist Tracie Afifi, lead author of the study in today’s Pediatrics.

“There is a significant link between the two,” says Afifi, an assistant professor of epidemiology in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Canada. “Individuals who are physically punished have an increased likelihood of having mental health disorders.” Approximately 2 percent to 7 percent of mental disorders in the study were linked to physical punishment, she says.

The study’s findings add evidence to the argument that “physical punishment should not be used on any child, at any age,” she says.

Parents’ right to use physical punishment has been abolished in more than 30 nations, but not in the United States or Canada, says the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment.

For the study, Afifi and colleagues analyzed data from a government survey of 35,000 non-institutionalized adults in the U.S., collected between 2004 and 2005.

About 1,300 of the respondents, all over age 20, were considered to have experienced physical punishment as children. They reported that they had, sometimes or more often, been “pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped or hit by your parents or any adult living in your house.”

But some family researchers argue that spanking, used properly, can be appropriate discipline.

“Certainly, overly severe physical punishment is going to have adverse effects on children,” says psychologist Robert Larzelere, of Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. “But for younger kids, if spanking is used in the most appropriate way and the child perceives it as being motivated by concern for their behavior and welfare, then I don’t think it has a detrimental effect.”

While the new study rules out the most severe cases of physically lashing out at children, “it does nothing to move beyond correlations to figure out what is actually causing the mental health problems,” says Larzelere. He criticized the study’s reliance on memories of events from years earlier, and says it’s not clear when punishment occurred. “The motivation that the child perceives and when and how and why the parent uses (spanking) makes a big difference. All of that is more important than whether it was used or not.”


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05 Jul 2012

Fundraising effort targets donations from non-military families – Austin American


By Pauline Jelinek

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — If you have military-age children who have not served in this decade’s wars, then you owe a debt meaning money to those who did. That’s the premise of a new fundraising effort by three wealthy American families who want to help U.S. veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Every non-military family should give something, they said. The affluent should give large sums. No one should think of it as charity, but rather a moral obligation, an alternative way to serve, perhaps the price of being spared the anxiety that comes with having a loved one in a war zone.

“We have three able-bodied, wonderful, wonderful children, all of whom are devoted to doing very, very good things around social justice; and we could not be more proud of them,” said Philip Green, a local businessman who devised the fundraising idea. “We’re also delighted that none of them had to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan.”

Green said he and his wife came to see that as unfair.

Green, president of health care consultancy PDG Consulting, and his wife Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs, head of geriatrics at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, teamed with two other couples to start the fundraising effort. Together, they donated a total of $1.1 million.

They hope to raise $30 million for five organizations they say are among the best at providing medical, financial and other help to veterans, active duty troops and their families. With the Fourth of July celebration approaching, they held a news conference with one of the five organizations, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

The issue of unequal national sacrifice has been a recurring theme during current and past conflicts and it always touches on at least two questions: Who serves in America and who doesn’t? What’s the responsibility of those who don’t?

Most people aren’t interested in joining the military. A recent Pentagon survey shows only 18 percent of American youths say they’ll definitely or probably join, very low compared with decades ago. The culture surrounding service was transformed in part by the end of conscription and mandatory service.

The military also doesn’t want most Americans. It says 75 percent of the target recruit-age population of 17-24 year-olds is unqualified due to health problems (mostly related to obesity), drug or alcohol histories, or too little education (no high school diploma).

But there’s also widespread support shown for today’s troops and vets, especially compared with the vitriol heaped on those in uniform during Vietnam. Thousands of support groups now have sprung up around the nation — one study estimates there are some 40,000.

Officials and military families fear that as more troops arrive home from the ongoing drawdown in Afghanistan, Americans will lose interest or consider the problem solved.

“The veteran space (in giving) is kind of similar to the AIDS space 35 years ago,” said Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantryman who served in Iraq and founded the IAVA. “You have an explosion of public health need that’s impacting a small percentage of the population that most Americans don’t feel.”

The new fundraising aims not only to attract large donations, but recast the giving as a moral obligation rather than an option.

“It’s not a question of, ‘Is there money out there,’ ” Green said. “And it’s not a question of whether people should give the money. It’s only a question of finding them and convincing them to give it.”


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