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Voting & Health - There is a Connection
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It's election season, and voting is an important way for all of us to make our voices heard. Findings from a survey completed in 2019 by the Bipartisan Policy Center and the American Heart Association show that a vast majority of Americans - Democrats and Republicans alike - consider access to health care in rural communities to be an important issue. At the same time, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show those living in rural areas are at a greater risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory disease. These communities also face alarming rates of hospital closures, health care worker shortages, and geographic challenges to getting timely care compared to those living in rural areas. So, what does this have to do with voting? The decisions and actions of elected officials impact our health outcomes. Public policy shapes our health environment, influences access to care, secure housing, nutritious food, quality education, jobs with livable wages, and freedom from crime and discrimination. Candidates for public office at every level support specific issues, concerns, and policy areas, and understanding where their support lies is an important part of the voting process. If you aren't sure where to find that information, click here for a good place to start. Look up your elected officials, and then check out their websites for more information about them. Each county has its own Board of Elections, and on their websites, you can find information on early voting, absentee voting, and how to register to vote. This NY State county map provides you with a link to your Board of Elections website: just click on your county for more information. And if the information you need is hard to find, just call them, that's what they're there for! If you aren't sure if you are registered to vote, click this link and follow the instructions on the screen. Additional ResourcesThis website has links to find official voting information directly from each state's elections website, and is very easy to use! This page describes the benefits to voters for voicing their choice in making their communities, state and country a stronger place to live.
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Rural Cultural Competency Training
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Rural Health Network's Rural Cultural Competence training module is a broad overview of the determinants and disparities impacting rural individuals, families, and communities and an in-depth discussion about ways to evaluate programs and establish more culturally competent service delivery in rural areas.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN US on Friday, September 25th in this virtual training module designed to: enhance our understanding of common characteristics of rural individuals, families, and communities and our skills in service provision, communication, and successfully meeting the needs of the rural people we serve.
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COVID-19 Services Update |
Rural Health Network continues to address individual and community needs impacted by COVID-19. See our recent response for the period of May 15-August 15 below and an update to our initial report from March 15-May 15.
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In collaboration with Broome-Tioga BOCES Rock on Cafe, the Food and Health Network's Farm to School Program offers a range of activities and assistance in the region for Pre-K through 12th grade students in the classroom, cafeteria, or school garden. Please contact our team via this link to request land and garden-based education, school cafeteria support, and school garden consultations. We focus on building hands-on and social/emotional learning into all of our programs and projects. FaHN looks forward to working with you! |
Rural Health Service Corps
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Jabari Randolph Shares his Thoughts on Enrolling for a Second AmeriCorps Term
This past term with the Farm to School team at the Food and Health Network was an amazing and educational experience. I was given the opportunity to cultivate new skills in cooking and gardening for both myself and with others. I am also proud of my time within schools helping with taste tests, educational programming, and NY Thursdays. Thanks to the insightful tutelage of the Food and Health Network team I was able to make an impact.
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Jabari Randolph engages students in a gardening lesson prior to the pandemic.
Photo Credit: Julie Raway, Rock on Cafe
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Now I'm delighted to have the opportunity to continue that opportunity for another term! With COVID-19 there are new challenges to serving local school communities. We hope to not only react to the changing world, as fast as those changes come, but to be proactive in our programming and use this moment to be innovative, experimental, but most importantly caring.
Please visit our website to learn about full and part-time positions at various sites, including CHOW, United Way of Broome County, Cortland Area Communities That Care, GetThere, and more! AmeriCorps members receive a modest living allowance for everyday expenses, and an education award, which can be used to pay off any student loans or future education expenses.
Our work is more important than ever as the areas we serve face new challenges due to COVID. We look forward to bringing on a new cohort of members that will make a difference in their communities through national service! For more information, visit our website or contact Haley Desilet.
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Mindy Alexander, Community Health Worker with the Northern Broome CARES Program shared this recent client story.
On September 1st at about midnight one of our clients who is in her mid 90's had fallen. Thankfully, she was enrolled in our PERS unit program here at Northern Broome CARES. As a result of having pressed the fall alert button, her son was able to get to her within just 5 minutes of her falling. Living in such a rural area, it had taken emergency personnel 40 minutes to get to this client. She was OK, thankfully.
Her son reached out via email to express his many thanks. "Mindy, I want to thank you again for getting this set up. Being a weekday, I would not have checked on her till after work at 4pm and she would have been laying there all that time. If you could please pass on to your program and the fall alert service that I appreciate what they do and am very thankful that they can help. Again I would like to thank you for arranging this for us. Keep up all the good work you are doing for our community and for my Mom." -Mark
Assisting clients with PERS emergency alert devices is just one of many services Northern Broome CARES provides for adults age 60 and older in the Towns of Lisle and Triangle, and Village of Whitney Point. Contact the Northern Broome CARES staff at 607-352-4681 for information.
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Welcoming New Interns
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Northern Broome CARES welcomes two new interns from Binghamton University.
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Sarah Calderone
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Hello All! My name is Sarah Calderone and I just began my first year in the MSW program at Binghamton University. I have lived in the Endwell area since Summer of 2007, went to Maine-Endwell school district, completed my Associates Degree in Office Administration at Broome Community College, then took some time off to work. I continued my educational experience in the Fall of 2018 when I applied to Binghamton University's Human Development program. After finding a lot of my passion hidden in the material and more so in the people-helping field, I decided to carry on learning, so here I am, a Masters student! As known, the geriatric population goes unnoticed and unheard more times than not. What we have the ability to do is advocate for them and allow them to receive life's basics, and more. I am very excited to be interning with you all, and plan to make the best of it!
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Cristina Bruno
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My name is Cristina Bruno. I am 21 years
old and from Long Island. This past May, I graduated from Hartwick College with a bachelor's degree in Psychology. I decided to further my education and obtain my Masters in Social Work at Binghamton University about a year ago. I knew I wanted to be in the social work field from my passion to help others and give back to the community. I love being connected with other people and making sure each and every individual is the best version of themselves that they could be. I am excited to be interning with Northern Broome CARES and cannot wait to see what the future holds from here!
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Getthere: More than Just a Ride
What is the impact of Getthere's nearly decade long transportation education and assistance program? What does it mean to help someone get to where they need to go?
It's easy to think of Getthere as simply covering the cost of transportation to and from an appointment or job, but Getthere is so much more than that. Dedicated staff make connections with callers, offer education and help troubleshoot difficult transportation scenarios, and teach community members how to navigate transit in order to gain greater independence. The average caller has at least two to three conversations with Getthere staff, which has totaled over thirty-three thousand minutes in the first seven months of this year alone.
No two Getthere cases, or interactions, are alike and can result in transportation support; assistance with Medicaid's transportation system, Medical Answering Service (MAS); or a referral to an agency better suited to that individual's needs; among other things. In addition to transportation assistance, staff, perhaps unintentionally, provide an important social connection for callers, particularly older adults that may be isolated from friends, family members, or peers.
Getthere has had a meteoric rise tripling the number of callers in five short years and doubling its staff to meet the demand. It's easy to tout Getthere's numbers. With an impressive 2,187 travel assistance cases this year alone, it's hard not to. But it's what lies beneath the numbers that really matters.
At the heart of Getthere's mission is the older woman stressed and unsure of how she'll get to appointments to manage her chronic disease or the individual concerned that they'll have to turn down yet another job located off of the bus route due to the cost of transportation. There is the middle age father raising children and trying to care for an elderly parent at a distance. Getthere can provide him with the peace of mind that there is an organization able to assist with transportation.
If you have the privilege to own and operate a vehicle, the next time you hop in your car, take a minute to think about the independence and convenience it affords you. Getthere works to alleviate stress and increase autonomy through transportation support and assistance.
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Transportation Workshop and Info Session for Non-Profits and Service Agencies in Chenango County
The Chenango County Planning Department is partnering with Getthere Mobility Management to host a Transportation Workshop and Information Session for Non-Profits and Other Service Agencies. This program is for service providers that work with individuals that may have transportation as a barrier.
We will provide a tutorial on how to use Getthere's Trip Planner, provide an overview of available Getthere Programs, and have a discussion on what transportation needs are still lacking in Chenango County. At the end of the workshop, we hope you will be able to assist your clients experiencing transportation barriers find transportation options best suitable for their needs.
To register, call the number shown below or contact Getthere Program Director William Wagner.
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Image provided by Chenango County Department of Planning and Development
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Additional Transportation Workshops will be scheduled for Broome, Delaware, Otsego, and Tioga counties in the near future. |
Medicare Enrollment Decisions
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Our Community Health Services team recommends September as a good time to complete your annual Medicare plan review if you are 65 or older, blind, or disabled.
This document asks some key questions to guide your decisions and contains resources for additional information if you reside in Broome, Delaware, or Tioga County.
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Capital Campaign Update
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As we reported last month, thanks to the generosity of foundations, corporations, small businesses, and individual donors, we have gifts or pledges for 85% of the capital campaign goal of $525,000.
We have updated our campaign materials to reflect changes to the renovation plans and budget and future use of the learning center to support telehealth education and services.
COVID-19 had an impact on our planned campaign efforts for the spring and summer months which has affected our progress in reaching the campaign goal. If you are able to make a gift or share our campaign materials with others, please visit our donor page or click Donate on our website. |
Save the Date and Sign the Pledge
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Join us in celebrating National Rural Health Day and pledge to support collaboration, education, communication and innovation to improve health in small towns around the country. Next month, we'll share how Rural Health Network will be celebrating National Rural Health Day this November.
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News You Can Use
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Chenango Health Network Hosting Youth Mental Health First Aid Workshops
Youth Mental Health Workshops will be offered 3 times next month. This NO COST* course teaches participants the risk factors and warning signs of a variety of mental health challenges common among adolescents, including anxiety, depression, psychosis, eating disorders, ADHD, disruptive behavior disorders, and substance use disorders.
Helping Children Thrive: The COVID-19 Pandemic's Impact on Health and Well-being
The National Institute For Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation presents this infographic which explores the challenges facing children and families and provides actionable guidance to nurture resilience and support caregivers and parents.
American Journal of Public Health
AJPH published A Public Health Lens on Rural Health in their September issue.
New York Public Health Association to Host Lunchtime Workshops
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To support our work at Rural Health Network, please visit our donation page.
The 2020 State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA) Campaign has begun. If you are a state employee participating in the campaign, please consider listing Rural Health Network as a beneficiary of your donation. Our SEFA Charity Code is 999-01075. Pledge here.
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Advancing the health and well-being of rural people and communities.
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