U-M Graham Institute awards CEHHS Assistant Professor grant for Health environmental justice project

Natalie Sampson, PhD

ANN ARBOR, MI - With a team of national partners, UM-Dearborn CEHHS Assistant Professor, Dr. Natalie Sampson, and CASL Assistant Professor, Dr. Carmel Price, were awarded with an eight-month Catalyst Grant from the U-M Graham Institute to fund their sustainability-related project "Climate changes health: ensuring environmental justice underlies public health's climate change work"

Dr. Sampson is the principal investigator of this interdisciplinary project that also includes experts from other universities and colleges, tribal agencies and non-governmental organizations.

This project will convene a summit preceding the 2017 American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting and draft a subsequent white paper. The event will bring together environmental justice leaders and professionals from multiple disciplines, academic institutions, and professional organizations. The approach is designed so that public health leaders can learn from leaders in frontline communities to better address climate-related health disparities in collaboration. The project also aims to increase the participation of historically underrepresented students.

“I have confidence that this will be a productive process. The team doing this work includes many new and longtime nationally renowned environmental justice activists and scholars. We hope to synthesize takeaways and resources, as well as compel new community and academic partnerships.”, said Dr. Sampson

For the Catalyst Grants, six proposals were submitted, involving 18 faculty members/researchers from eight units.

"We're very pleased to have received so many high-quality proposals from talented faculty across campus. Important sustainability work is taking place throughout the university, and we're happy to support it," said Drew Horning, the Graham Institute's interim director.

More about this project at http://graham.umich.edu/activity/40659

Dr. Sampson is an Assistant Professor at UM-Dearborn's College of
Education Health and Human Services

 

A healthy community grows at the College of Education, Health and Human Services

MHealthy, the University of Michigan's health and wellness program, provides resources designed to build healthy communities for employees and students.

To that end, Janine Janosky, Dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Services, is excited about the opportunity to provide CEHHS employees a Relaxation & Wellness Den, which includes a MHealthy grant-funded massage chair. Professors and staff will be able to enjoy it as it becomes available in the first quarter of 2016.

Please enjoy this brief video to learn more about this program as it is explained by the CEHHS MHealthy triad members: Dean Janine Janosky (supervisor); Professor Sharon Werner (MHealthy Champion) and Craig Kotajarvi (MHealthy Wellness Coordinator).




To learn about the programs implemented by other MHealthy triads, please watch the full MHealthy Triads video here.

CEHHS creates Center for Disparity Solutions and Equity

More Info Click here

The College of Education, Health, and Human Services (CEHHS) has a plan to create a change in reducing inequalities. The Center for Disparity Solutions and Equity, which started in fall 2015, is a focused center for studying, researching, disseminating and implementing promising evidence-based solutions to reduce inequalities. The goal of the Center for Disparity Solutions and Equity is to bridge the gap in education, health and human services by making connections for those with a need and those looking to assist in the movement toward equity.

Terri Laws, assistant professor of health and human services and African and African American studies, said she’s seen firsthand the inequities in healthcare. Laws said she’s been looking forward to see the center open because it is “the right project for Detroit and its metro region right now.”
“No matter what we look like and where we’ve come from, we are all in need of healthcare and education. Having access to these is a human right,” said Laws.

View full article in The Reporter

Center for Autism: CEHHS and Beaumont initiative awarded $750,000

The College of Education and Health and Human Services (CEHHS) was awarded $750,000 by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to assist in starting the Center for Autism, a University of Michigan-Dearborn and Beaumont Health System partnership.

CEHHS Dean Janine Janosky said that nearly 18,000 students were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in 2011 and there is an estimated of 50,000 Michigan residents with ASD. Educators with experience on this special need are in demand.

“If you look at the prevalence and incidence for diagnosis of the autism spectrum disorder in Michigan, you see there is an increase in both. You also see there is a gap between the number of individuals prepared to work in that profession and the individuals being diagnosed,” she said. “So the college is here to work to fill that gap.”

The goal is to train at least 225 registered behavior technicians. In addition, the center will educate 25 board certified assistant behavior analysts (BCaBA) through a certificate program.

The center—which will be housed in the building shared by UM-Dearborn’s Early Childhood Education Center and Beaumont’s Center for Exceptional Families (CEF)—is expected to open in Fall 2016.

View full article in The Reporter.

Center for Disparity Solutions and Equity

The new Center for Disparity Solutions and Equity of the University of Michigan-Dearborn College of Education, Health, and Human Services works on the implementation of solutions to eliminate disparities and promote equity in education, health, and human services.

 Contact:
  Dean Janine Janosky
  (313)593-5435
  jjanosky@umich.edu
  umdearborn.edu/cehhs

CEHHS working on the development of a new Autism center

FLINT, MI - The College of Education, Health and Human Services (CEHHS) in collaboration with Oakwood Center for Exceptional Families (CEF) is working on the development of a new Autism Center that will focus on comprehensive services along with family and trainee education.This was announced by UM-Dearborn's Chancellor Daniel Little Ph.D. on October 15, 2015.

Chancellor Little stated that a $750,000 grant was awarded to the College of Education, Health and Human Services from The State of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. These funds will be used to increase the number of registered behavior technicians and board certified assistant behavior analysts in Michigan. In addition, community-based seminars will be held at the Dearborn campus.

Additional information regarding the grant will follow soon.

Dean Janosky as Keynote Speaker at the Doctors for America 2015 National Leadership Conference

WASHINGTON, DC - Dr. Janine Janosky participated as keynote speaker at the Doctors for America 2015 National Leadership Conference held at the Grand Hyatt in the nation's capital on October 10-11, 2015.

Dr. Janosky was part of the panel of experts during the opening plenary session in which the social impacts on health were discussed.

The panel held a dialogue about the challenges of providing basic resources to patients, enabling them to take care of their own health, particularly those in poverty.

Dr. Janosky, who implemented the Accountable Care Community in Akron, OH, said, "We must move from Accountable Organizations to Accountable Communities".



About Doctors for America:
Doctors for America is a group of 16,000 physicians and medical students in all 50 states.  They work in private practices, academic centers, community health centers, and government-run systems like the Veteran's Affairs and the Indian Health Service.  Their mission is to improve the health of the nation and to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, high quality health care.

Dean Janosky Highlights the Convergence of Employer-Educator Partnerships in Crain's Detroit Business News

To read full article on Crain's Detroit Business website click here

Increasing competitiveness in Detroit and Michigan requires multifaceted approaches that include educating and training a labor force for the technically advanced jobs of the future. Created through the intersection or convergence of disciples, integrated education and training programs, as well as employer-educator partnerships, can meet labor force demands while tackling problems otherwise deemed intractable.

The convergence of not only resources, including those of educational institutions and employers, but also disciplines within educational institutions, has tremendous potential to prepare the local and state labor force for current high-skilled, high-paying jobs as well as ensure an adequate pipeline of skilled workers for future jobs.

This proactive approach is also taking the form of employer-educator partnerships, such as those facilitated by the Aspen Institute's Skills for America's Future program, which fosters connections between community colleges and employers. More often, employer-educator partnerships have been initiated by employers in their local communities; for example, partnerships between the Boeing Co. and educational institutions, which range from pre-kindergarten to college levels, have informed curricula to align with their current and future labor force needs. 

Educational institutions have started to evolve to meet labor market needs in the public health sector. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care and social assistance jobs in December 2014 accounted for 17 percent of the total job openings, up from 14 percent the previous year. 

In addition, employment of health educators and community workers is projected to grow 21 percent from 2012-22, faster than the average for all occupations. 

Further development in this area could be advantageous for Detroit and Michigan. As an example, integrative education and training programs focusing on community health have the potential to dramatically impact competitiveness and productivity, especially given that the economic vitality of a community is highly dependent on the health of the citizens. 

In addition to simply having adequate numbers of healthy individuals to contribute to the labor force, businesses increasingly consider the health of the population prior to moving to or expanding within a particular geographical location due in large part to the impact of preventable, chronic disease (e.g., obesity and Type 2 diabetes) in terms of health care costs and lost productivity through absenteeism and presenteeism. 

Preparing our workers for these technically advanced jobs of the future requires that educational institutions design new, innovative programs at the intersection of disciplines, as recommended by the U.S. Council on Competitiveness. Through the convergence of disciplines as well as partnerships between employers-educators, the available and ready labor force within Detroit and Michigan could be strengthened, resulting in increased competitiveness.

Student Highlight: Why You Should Consider Public Health or Community Health Education...

Hello! My name is Raymond Lynem and I am a senior at UM-Dearborn in the Health Policy Studies Program in the College of Arts, Sciences, & Letters. Throughout my time here I have developed an interest in the interdependent relationship of health systems and the overall health of populations. Whether it is studying the social determinants of health (e.g. income, environment, education) or comparing the outcomes of different segments of the population, these are all issues that call for the proper management of population health.

My journey to the HPS program was somewhat indirect but has helped to give me a much better perspective on health care delivery and the current system utilized by the United States. Just a few years ago my intentions were to pursue a nursing degree with the hopes of becoming a nurse anesthetist. After a few science courses and gaining some very necessary experience within health care, my interests quickly shifted. Since starting my undergraduate degree, I have been privileged to work as a nursing assistant, perform research at the UM Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, and learn the importance of pathology in health care delivery as a lab assistant on California’s central coast. This past summer I also had the opportunity to intern at CHE Trinity Health in Livonia as a student in the University of Michigan Summer Enrichment Program (SEP).SEP provides students with the experience of a lifetime and I would recommend it to anyone interested in a career in public health. Each of these experiences have given me a unique perspective on the health care system and I hope to continue to build upon this moving forward.

UM-Dearborn, and the HPS program in particular, provides students with an opportunity to grow and expand upon a desire to help others through health care but on a broader level. The policies that government enacts have a large impact on the nation and it’s communities. One of the most recent examples of this is the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which aims to create access to health care for millions of Americans that is both affordable and of good quality. With the ACA and the many other changes it will produce, the need for policy experts and health administrators cannot be overstated.

As we move forward, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on these issues with a unique focus on health inequities and population health. I hope to shed light on different aspects of health care and any new experiences I may have. I will also be writing about the activities of the Public Health Student Society (PHSS), a student club that all health students should consider joining as well as UM-Dearborn’s new Health and Human Services programs, Public Health and Community Health Education, while being joined by other student bloggers interested in spreading the word about public health!