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Services and Programs Related to: Infants / Children
Fewer complications during pregnancy, reduction in infant mortality, more positive birth results, healthy infant development, children with greater potential and fewer life-threatening challenges. Sound like a wish list? It’s not. These are the goals of the Queens Health Coalition (QHC). These are the areas our skilled team of professionals work to achieve the desired results—and do!
QHC’s multilingual staff provides educational services including workshops, focus groups and informative materials, plus one-on-one counseling, group presentations and referrals that help to give parents the know-how, support and advocacy that give infants and children a healthy start to healthy lifestyles.
For information and inquiries call: Rose Marie at 718-762-0346, extension 14, or Lorena at extension 12 or Gina at extension 11.
Download our literature for tips on healthy babies!
View the QHC Community Needs Assessment - Right Click Save As
Please Click Here To Download The CPPSN Spring/Summer 2010 Newsletter!
QHC Honored by Queens Smoke-Free Partnership
At a recent awards ceremony sponsored by the Queens Courier newspaper and TD Bank, Queens Smoke-free Partnership awarded community leaders for their efforts in promoting tobacco control, especially among vulnerable populations such as children. The honorees included New York State Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn for legislation she introduced to prohibit subjecting a child to second-hand smoke in an automobile; Laura Cadorette, who helped to make her Jackson Heights Co-op smoke- free; health care advocacy organizations, the Korean Community Services and the Queens Health Coalition (QHC)for their work in reaching at-risk people to educate and assist in smoking cessation, understanding the tobacco industry’s use of advertising to promote smoking, especially among children and to encourage retailers not to display tobacco products among family-oriented items such as baby formula.
In accepting the award for her organization, Phyllis Shafran, Executive Director of the Queens Health Coalition challenged the audience of 100 by saying: “I ask anyone here in this room to come up with one good thing to say about smoking. You can’t! It cost lives, it’s expensive, and it’s smelly. For an organization such as ours, which is dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles, it’s a no-brainer that we would get involved. I urge everyone to do the same. If ever there were something that has no redeeming qualities, smoking is it. Let’s continue to work with the Smoke-free Partnership to help ensure that all New Yorkers are convinced of this.”
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Pictured: Lorena Flores, QHC’s Senior Health Educator; Jessica Safier, Project Manager, Queens Smoke-free Partnership and Phyllis Shafran, Executive Director, QHC. |
QHC Hosts Cultural Sensitivity Training
The Queens Health Coalition (QHC) recently hosted a program of cultural sensitivity training, attended by more than 25 consumers and providers of health care and social services. Guest speakers included Anindita ChatteeBhaumik of CONNECT, a domestic violence watchdog organization focused on South Asian women, (pictured seated, left of presenter) and Barbara Serrano of Voces Latinas, which specializes in HIV/AIDS information and education for Hispanic families, (pictured during her power point presentation).
As Phyllis Shafran, (pictured second left of presenter), QHC’s Executive Director, noted in her welcoming remarks: “Being culturally sensitive has become the “In” topic these days: discussed by talk-show hosts to newspaper columnists. It’s very “Politically Correct”. But that’s not why we’re here today. We’re not concerned with being “PC”. We’re concerned with saving lives. In health care and social service, not understanding the ethnic nuances, the languages, traditions and taboos of the people we serve, keep them from seeking the help they need and can have a devastating outcome.”
QHC at QPF: Tackling The Diversity of Queens County
The Queens Health Coalition (QHC) recently participated in the annual Spring conference of the Queens Perinatal Forum, which QHC Co-chairs with Long Island Jewish Medical Center/Queens Regional Perinatal Center. The conference was held at Jamaica Hospital and attended by 75 health care providers and health-related community-based organizations. The conference theme was “Your Today Determines Your Tomorrow”. Guest speakers included Joyce Hall of the Federation of County Networks and David Jones of Visiting Nurses/Fathers’ Initiative.
Ms. Hall presented the results of the Community Needs Assessment Report, conducted on behalf of QHC, as a means of understanding the needs of women of child- bearing age. The report’s findings will be used to help promote positive birth outcomes in Queens. Mr. Jones discussed strives being made to understand the role that a father can have in the development of a child. He heads a program that works with dads— some as young as 14—into accepting parental responsibility and involvement, while also dealing with their own issues. Both speakers noted that Queens County presents numerous barriers to quality health and social services not endured by the other boroughs.
As Phyllis Shafran, Executive Director of QHC said: “Our borough has many unique features, of which we are proud, that set it apart from all of the others. But while we welcome and applaud the cultural richness that diversity brings— and the miles of beautiful beaches we possess— with these, come many challenges. We must find a way to successfully deal with a 70% birth rate by foreign born women, and a county that has a toll bridge within its own borders! In Queens, too many people are isolated from the care they need due to language and geography. We’re working to reduce the barriers. That’s why we’re here today. And that’s what the Queens Health Coalition is dedicated to, everyday.”
For information call 718-762-0346 and ask for Lorena at extension 12.
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| Phyllis Shafran, QHC Executive Director and Lorena Flores, Senior Health Educator of the Comprenshive Prenatal/Perinatal Services Network, a program of the Queens Health Coalition. |
OMG! TEXT4BABY
The Queens Health Coalition (QHC) is a proud partner of text4baby, which is the largest national mobile health initiative to date, launched by an unprecedented group of public and private partners, including the White House, the Health and Human Services, Johnson and Johnson, Voxiva and CTIA Wireless Foundation.
Each year in the US, over 500,000 babies are born prematurely and an estimated 28,000 children die before their first birthday, signifying a national public health crisis. Text4baby is a free mobile text message information service designed to help women in having safe and healthy pregnancies by providing them with information they need to give their babies the best possible start in life. Text4baby is an educational program of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB). Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY to 511411 (or BEBE for Spanish) will receive three free SMS messages each week timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth. These messages focus on a variety of topics critical to maternal and child health: birth defects prevention, immunization, nutrition, seasonal flu, mental health, oral health, and safe sleep among others.
With over 1 trillion SMS text messages sent in the U.S. last year and texting use disproportionately higher among women of childbearing age and minority populations, text messaging represents an enormous and as yet untapped channel for delivering this vital health information to those who need it most. The goal of text4baby is to address a critical national health priority through the use of mobile health technology and demonstrate a new model for reaching and engaging underserved populations and promoting healthy behavior
For additional information or to find out how to become involved with this initiative, please contact Rose at the Queens Health Coalition, 718-762-0346x14, rdorvily@qhcnyc.org or visit the text4baby website: www.nyc.gov/health/pregnancy.
Please Click Here To Download The CPPSN Fall 2009 Newsletter!
BABIES ON BOARD!
QHC HOSTS BABY SHOWER
The Queens Health Coalition (QHC) recently held its annual community baby shower for Queens moms-to-be and for women with children under four years of age. This year, the festivities featured a maternity fashion show sponsored by Pea In The Pod in which several pregnant audience members had a chance to model for the nearly 150 guests.
Phyllis Shafran, Executive Director of QHC said: "Many of these young women would not have had a baby shower of their own, so we're delighted to give them one. They need support and encouragement at this important time in their lives, which goes a long way toward helping to promote healthy birth outcomes and infant development. We thought that along with dinner, prizes, and some "motherly" advice, the chance to strut the "run way" would help these ladies-in-waiting have a greater sense of their own beauty-in and out."
For more information concerning women and men of child-bearing age, call Queen Health Coalition at 718-762-0346.
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| QHC's Sweet Welcome |
QHC TEAM: Moona Syed, Phyllis Shafran, Lorena Flores, Gina Porras, Rose Marie Dorvily, Karin Lamhaouar, Surinder Sandal |
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| Pea In The Pod enables "model" audience members to hit the run way with lovely maternity fashions. |
Crowds enjoy food, fun and fashions at the annual baby shower |
FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW
QUEENS PERINATAL FORUM CONVENES
A group of 75 health care professionals recently gathered to discuss adolescent health issues at a conference entitled: " Your Today Determines Your Tomorrow" hosted by the Queens Perinatal Forum. The Forum is a collaborative effort of Queens health providers and community-based organizations specializing in care related to youth and adults of child-bearing age. It is chaired by the Queens Health Coalition (QHC) and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Queens Regional Perinatal Center.
Phyllis Shafran, Executive Director of QHC noted: "We are here to discuss ways we can advise and assist teens so that they can look forward to a brighter tomorrow. Faced with so much peer pressure as well as economic and educational hurdles to navigate, surely wise health and social choices are vital to setting young people on the right path for the rest of their lives. What they need to know and how we can best communicate this information to them is the underlining theme of our program in general, and today's conference, in specific." For more information call Rose at QHC: 718-762-0346x14.
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| QHC's Rose Marie Dorvily, Project Director, Comprehensive Prenatal Perinatal Services Network (CPPSN); Lorena Flores, Senior Health Educator, CPPSN; CONNECT's Anindita ChatterjeeBhaumik; QHC's Executive Director, Phyllis Shafran and Peer Educator, Karin Lamhaouar. |
Join QHC in a Baby Shower!
Please Click Here To Download The CPPSN Fall 2009 Newsletter!
CPPSN NEWS SPRING '09
A Message From Us:
Did you know that one in three teen age girls in America will probably get pregnant before she reaches the age of 20? And, while this situation may present many challenges for the girl, teen fathers have their challenges too. By law, they are financially responsible for their children until they turn 18. In addition, of the more than 65 million Americans with a sexually transmitted disease that can not be cured with medication, 50% infected are teens or young adults AND teenage girls are the more easily infected in this group. With the national average of live births per 1000, 72.2 were from teens moms ages 15-19; and in New York State, the average is 61.3 teen births per 1000, perhaps most troubling is that our borough recorded 72.9 teen births per 1000 last year, with many Queens communities far exceeding the national norm. In light of these facts, our CPPSN program, while dedicated to increasing positive birth outcomes for all women, will aggressively outreach and recruit sexually active teens to educate them about healthy lifestyles and their social options. And, of course, to the pregnant teen, we will offer the support, advice and referrals we provide all women of child-bearing to help them know what to expect when they are expecting and to provide their child with the best chances for a healthy life.
Health Focus - Obesity
Obesity among Americans has reached epidemic proportions. According to The National Center for Health Statistics more than 60 million persons over 20 years old are obese. Perhaps even more troubling is that childhood obesity has tripled in the last two decades, with a 30% at-risk rate for developing diet-related diabetes. Obesity adds additional risk factors for the mother during pregnancy and at birth including blood clots, hypertension, gestational diabetes and anesthetic complications. Children of obese women also have an increased risk of being born with congenital heart and neural tube defects. Despite these alarming facts, 50% of child-bearing age women are still overweight. Considering that 90% of the food buying and eating decisions are made by the woman of the house, steps to help ease this problem begin at home.
There are many health-related reasons to want to fight the obesity crisis in America. Indeed, over 300, 000 deaths each year are linked to being overweight. Added to that is the annual cost to our society of an estimated $100 billion associated with obesity. The National Action Against Obesity places women on the frontline in the obesity battle, offering some useful tips on ways they can help put obesity on a diet: *Postpone pregnancy until your body weight is healthy*Breastfeed your child exclusively for 6 months*Introduce your child to fresh vegetables at an early age*Make fruit a "treat"*N ever make food a bribe or a reward. We also recommend replacing time watching TV or other sedentary routines with exercise; read labels on food you purchase to see calorie and fat content; substitute highly salty processed foods for fresh fruits, veggies, fish and poultry; drink 8 glasses of water daily.
QHC OPEN HOUSE - SAVE THE DATE!
September 15, 2009
CLICK TO VIEW FLYER!
QHC Convenes Meeting of Community Advisors
The Queens Health Coalition (QHC), convened a meeting of its Community Advisory Support Program (CASP). The CASP is made up of community-based organizations as well as other service providers who counsel QHC on ways to best meet the health care and social needs of Queens residents. QHC, a non-profit organization started 15 years ago, provides vital links between those in need of care and those who provide it. With an emphasis on the hard-to-reach, at-risk populations of the borough who may not know what types of affordable health and social services exist—or how to access them—QHC has a multi-lingual staff of professionals who specialize in educating, advising or referring individuals who suffer from barriers to care due to factors such as economics, education, age and cultural diversity. The CASP is a means of strategizing the ways to help insure that the challenges of serving the underserved are met. The focus of the recent CASP meeting was on an upcoming annual event, the Community Baby Shower, a project of QHC’s Comprehensive Prenatal/Perinatal Services Network (CPPSN), which is a New York State Department of Health funded program dedicated to promoting positive birth outcomes. The baby shower, a huge success last year with more than 100 in attendance, is free and open to Queens moms with children under the age of 4 and mothers-to-be and their families. This year it is planned for December 11.
As Phyllis Shafran, Executive Director of QHC explained: “Our meeting in June to talk about December is indicative of our desire to help make this event even bigger and better than the last one. This meeting also underscores the need to give help and hope to pregnant women and their children. We let them know there are services that will give their babies the best chances for a bright future. We are grateful to CASP members for providing insight and advice on the problems and the solutions that assist the most vulnerable segments of our population lead healthier lives.”
If you are interested in joining the CASP or in attending the baby shower call Rose Marie Dorvily, CPPSN Program Director at 718-762-0346 x14.
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Joyce Hall, Executive Director, Federation of County Networks;
Phyllis Shafran, Executive Director, QHC; Lorena Flores, Health Educator,
QHC; Charlene Gordon, NYC Department of Health and Mental; Anindita
ChatterjeeBhaumik, CONNECT; Gina Porras, Peer Educator, QHC; Giovanna
Gilliotti, The Icla Da Silva Foundation and Rose Marie Dorvily, Program
Director, Comprehensive Prenatal/Perinatal Systems Network, a project of
QHC. |
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