Health Trust Newsletter Spring 2009

Health Equity Summit is major success
Hundreds learn about health disparities
and pledge to particpate in policy solutions

Dr. Julie Gerberding, former Director of the CDC, used her keynote address to encourage an emphasis on prevention and measuring wellness, rather than disease, as strategies for reducing health disparities.

More than 300 community members attended the Health Equity Summit in February to hear nationally-recognized public health experts describe the health disparities that exist in the U.S. By the end of the day, conference attendees had augmented their increased knowledge with a pledge to advocate on behalf of institutional and policy solutions.

Keynote speaker Dr. Julie Gerberding, former Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a standing-room only crowd that America is far from being the healthiest nation in the world. The U.S. spends the most on health, but ranks 24th on national health status, 37th on health system performance and 72nd in overall health investment performance. Read full story

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"Wellness by Design" Symposium
showcases best practices

A symposium for professionals who work with seniors will be held Friday, March 27, by The Health Trust to showcase 10 best practices in physical activity programs for older adults. It is scheduled 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Santa Clara University.

Research has demonstrated that physical activity is critical to the prevention of chronic diseases, prevention of falls, maintenance of mobility, and promotion of social interaction as well as emotional and cognitive health. Integration of physical activity into programs and services for seniors promotes and supports a lifelong commitment to fitness and, ultimately, healthy aging. Read full story

Register for the symposium at www.healthtrust.org/wellnessbydesign
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Volunteers make holiday happy for
Meals On Wheels Clients

It was a happy holiday for almost 200 low income Meals On Wheels clients who not only enjoyed hot dinners delivered to their homes on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but received gifts donated by community members who volunteered to Adopt-ASenior for the season. Read full story
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Health Trust will offer workplace wellness programs

Long before the current economic crisis, owners and managers of small and medium size businesses knew they needed to do something to contain their expenditures and improve productivity. Taking action to help employees be healthier is a direct way to accomplish both.

Starting this year, The Health Trust will offer high quality, affordable wellness programs to organizations that want to experience the same benefits as large corporations with comprehensive workplace wellness programs – decreased health care costs, increased productivity, and better employee satisfaction. The services will be designed to meet the needs of employees and constituents of the individual organization, including businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, and faith-based groups. Read full story
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Grant provides "seed" money for school gardens

Five schools in the southern end of Santa Clara County will soon have school gardens, thanks to a $25,000 grant from The Health Trust to Conexions, a nonprofit organization that wants children to get excited about eating fresh fruits and vegetables.

Creating a garden helps children learn science, nutrition, math, art, music, language arts and social studies as well as having a better understanding of where food comes from. With a garden on the school campus they can watch the wonders of the growing process and enjoy the harvest of their efforts. Read full story
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A strategy for bringing more diversity
into the health professions

When you’re sick or injured, feeling stressed and vulnerable, you turn to health professionals for care and comfort. Having people around you who understand your language and culture can make a difference.

To help achieve more diversity among individuals working in the health professions in Santa Clara County, The Health Trust is investing in a "pipeline strategy” designed to recruit students from diverse backgrounds into health care fields. Read full story
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Chronic Disease Management workshops expanding

If President Barack Obama is up-to-date on his mail, he has read a letter from The Health Trust touting its Chronic Disease Management workshops and offering to share information
on how they are improving the health status and lowering health care utilization – saving costs – for people with chronic conditions.

“We are proud of this program and would like to help other communities develop a peer education model that is successful in reaching diverse populations,” said Frederick J.
Ferrer, CEO of The Health Trust. Read full story

Opening the eyes of the community to health disparities

I had the opportunity recently to speak to the Downtown San Jose Rotary Club about health disparities in Silicon Valley. This is an impressive group of people – more than 400 community leaders, many of them lifelong residents of the valley. I wondered if I had anything to tell them they didn’t already know about our region.

But from the questions that followed my presentation on health disparities, it was clear this may have been a new perspective on Silicon Valley for some.

When we at The Health Trust say “Let’s become the healthiest region in America!” a common response is – aren’t we already? We see the crowds at farmers markets at Santana Row, people walking the trails in Guadalupe River Park, and it seems like every corner has a gym or pilates studio. It’s easy to assume that we must be one of the healthiest communities in America.

Few people are aware of how much socioeconomic factors such as income, education, race and ethnicity impact health and life expectancy, even right here in Silicon Valley, a region known for its success, hope and quality of life.

We may have more than 70,000 millionaire households in Silicon Valley, but we have even more families living on very low incomes. We boast of our skilled workforce and world class universities, and yet 20 percent of our young people are dropping out of high school. We can be proud of relatively high rates of insurance coverage for our children, but 130,000
adults and 10,000 children and adolescents remain without a health plan.

The success of our Health Equity Summit is a great first step in openingthe eyes of more people in our community to the disparities that exist in Silicon Valley. It is not a lack of compassion, but lack of awareness, that has kept health inequities off of our radar. I have great optimism that the five policy action work groups from the Summit will be successful in both raising awareness of health disparities, and advocating for institutional and
policy changes that will be effective in achieving health equity.

The test of a healthy region is when the poorest among us, the most vulnerable, enjoy the same health and wellness as the rest of the community. When their health is good, all of our health is good.

When health is absent
Wisdom cannot reveal itself
Art cannot become manifest
Strength cannot be exerted
Wealth becomes useless
And reason becomes powerless.

Herophilus figured out in 300 BC that health is the key to releasing the creativity, innovation and energy that makes Silicon Valley a global leader. Over 2000 years later, we now realize that we need to be concerned not only with our own health and that of our family, but with every person in our community. Only when we accept the challenges and create a prevention and environmental culture to address the social determinants of health, can we enjoy optimum health and wellness. Only then will we be able to say that Silicon Valley is the healthiest region in America.
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Jan Buzbee, Human Resource Specialist, was honored bySchool Health Clinics of Santa Clara County for her service to that nonprofit organization.

Frederick J. Ferrer, CEO of The Health Trust, was honored by People Acting in Community Together (PACT) as an outstanding Community Builder. His inspirational acceptance speech can be viewed on YouTube to the left.
View in full screen

Health Trust newsletter reader Mary Ann Donegan won a crate of organic fruit from Fruitguys for entering her name to receive the newsletter online. Thank you, Mary Ann, for helping us go green! To receive email updates including our e-newsletter, click here.

The Health Trust awarded a $25,000 grant to Stanford Hospital and Clinics to support the work of its Methamphetamine Task Force in reducing the use of the drug in
Santa Clara County and to prevent the spread of HIV through methamphetamine abuse.

Nine Health Trust employees were recently honored by their colleagues for their years
of service. Celebrating 10 years of service were Ernest Bean, Peggy Edge and MyLan
Tran. Recognition for 5 years of service went to Cynthia Barboza, Miguel Costilla, Jr.,
Veronica Gallegos, Judy Lu, Robert Smart, and Jose Mario Tercero.

Oral health in Silicon Valley

will improve with fluoridated water

Fluoridation of drinking water is one of the 10 greatest public health breakthroughs of the 20th century, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is an effective, safe and inexpensive way to prevent tooth decay.

And yet, Silicon Valley is the only major metropolitan area in the U.S. where most residents do not have a fluoridated water supply.

Under the leadership of Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department to encourage local water retailers to improve community health by supplementing the amount of fluoride that naturally occurs in water to achieve the optimal level that will prevent tooth decay in children and root cavities in adults. The Health Trust is supporting these efforts.

“Why would we allow our children to experience pain, infection, tooth loss and missed school days if it can be avoided,” said Frederick J. Ferrer, CEO of The Health Trust. “All leading medical and public health experts including the last five surgeons general, the American Medical Association, and the American Dental Association agree that water should be fluoridated.”

Santa Clara County has a complex water delivery system that involves multiple wholesale sources of water such as Santa Clara Valley Water District and Hetch Hetchy, local wells, and multiple retailers.

Some cities have municipal water utilities; in other communities water is supplied by independent companies. Designing a fluoridation system to make sure that every drop of water that flows from a faucet in the county is fluoridated will be an extensive engineering project.

The price tag for this upgrade is still to be determined, according to Ferrer, but he adds “no matter what it costs we can’t afford not to do it.” The CDC estimates that the approximate cost of fluoridation is 72 cents per person per year. Compare that to the average $146 cost of one filling.

"Today, I am asking The Health Trust, the Public Health Department, and the Health Advisory Commission to work together with the retail water systems to improve the oral health of the county by fluoridating the entire county within five years."

Liz Kniss, President
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors 2009 "State of the County" Address

“The Health Trust has invested close to $6 million in the six years in oral health education and dental services including the Children’s Dental Center,” said Ferrer. “We are committed to continuing to provide these services, but these are not an upstream solution that will prevent tooth decay. Fluoridation is. It’s a proven, safe way to make a positive difference in our community’s health.”

Frequently-asked questions and answers about fluoridation and its benefits to oral health are posted at www.healthtrust.org/oralhealth.
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In Memory: Jacob John Krafty

The Health Trust announces with sadness the passing of Jacob John “Jake” Krafty, a long-time Meals On Wheels driver. “We extend our heartfelt sympathy to his family,” said Frederick J. Ferrer, CEO of The Health Trust. “Jake was part of The Health Trust family, and the services he provided to our clients and our community were invaluable. He will be missed.”
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Jacob John Krafty
1940-2009