HRSA Awards $2 Million to Maternal Mortality Program

image of a pregnant woman overlaid on a map of the world

August 1 - HRSA today awarded $2 million to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality through the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM).

“The rate of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States has more than doubled over the last two decades, and for every death, about 100 women suffer severe complications,” said HRSA Administrator George Sigounas, MS, Ph.D. “Today’s award is a clear example of HRSA’s leadership in addressing these serious public health issues.”

Read the news release.

National Health Center Week 2018: August 12 – 18

clip art of a health center with doctors and a nurse

Join us in celebrating National Health Center Week on August 12–18.

For more than 50 years, community health centers have delivered comprehensive, high-quality preventive and primary health care to patients regardless of their ability to pay. Today, there are nearly 1,400 HRSA-funded health centers that serve approximately 1 in 12 people in the United States.

Learn more about the Health Center Program.

National Minority Donor Awareness Week 2018:
August 1 – 7

it takes us all to make a match - photo of shoes of varying colors

In 1996, Dr. Clive Callender founded National Minority Donor Awareness Day to honor minority donors and encourage everyone of any race or ethnicity to sign up as donors. Since then, this special event has grown into a week-long observance, from August 1–7.

Watch and learn more about minority donation.

Learn who can donate.

Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program

photo of a woman cradling her sleeping infant

HRSA's Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program has released its national program brief and state fact sheets.

The MIECHV Program supports voluntary, evidence-based home visiting services for at-risk pregnant women and parents with young children up to kindergarten entry.

Home visiting helps prevent child abuse and neglect, supports positive parenting, improves maternal and child health, and promotes child development and school readiness.

The program brief includes an overview of MIECHV Program administration, research and evaluation and FY 2017 participant and performance measurement data. The state fact sheets highlight how the MIECHV Program is helping at-risk families in U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia, including home visits made, parents, children and communities served, and evidence-based models used.

You can read the full program brief and access the state fact sheets.

Telehealth: The Future is Now

HRSA Administrator Dr. George Sigounas applauded the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) at a recent all-hands meeting for leading agency-wide efforts to promote telehealth, making it increasingly possible "to treat a variety of patient populations, no matter where they are located."

In 1988, FORHP launched HRSA's first telehealth programs. Four years later, the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth was formally established. Today, it's a $23 million enterprise supporting projects in all 50 states and 8 territories. Technologies include Internet-based technical assistance, provider-to-provider (and patient-to-provider) videoconferencing, "store-and-forward" diagnostic imaging, streaming media and closed-circuit communications.

Learn more about telehealth.

Working Together to Eradicate Pediatric Obesity

Wednesday, August 8, 2–3 p.m. EDT

photo of a child getting a checkup at a doctor's office

HRSA is hosting a free webinar featuring experts from the University of Kansas Medical Center that have developed treatment recommendations for pediatric obesity. During this webinar, you will hear about the prevalence of pediatric obesity and the use of telehealth for the treatment of pediatric obesity.

This webinar is part of HRSA’s Telehealth Learning Webinar Series. The series’ goal is to highlight successful projects/best practices as well as resources to promote and further the use of telehealth technologies for health care delivery, education, and health information services.

Hemmed-in Kids Hobbled by Obesity

sign for the heart attack cafe featuring deep fried butter and chocolate covered bacon

Acclaimed active lifestyle expert Jim Sallis – emeritus professor at the University of California, San Diego – says a thicket of factors obstruct childhood fitness. But many Americans continue to blame bad personal habits. He spoke at a June summit in Kansas City, Mo. hosted by HRSA's Office of Regional Operations.

Glaring examples abound of America's in-your-face food culture, said Sallis. Since the 1970s, the number of fast food restaurants in the U.S. has more than doubled -- as the rate of obesity among children ages 6 to 11 quadrupled. But Sallis said cardiac burgers only partly explain why 8 out of 10 kids nationwide fail to meet basic fitness standards.