Building a Culture of Health in NJ Conference : A Systems Approach To Promoting Population Health

December 3, 2017 Trenton 365

When I consider that NJ is the most densely populated state in the country it leads me to consider how this reflects throughout the nation.

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-densely-populated-u-s-states.html

Recently I visited a Health Conference in Edison NJ.

The conference was co-sponsored by the New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids, New Jersey Department of Health, Rutgers University Family & Community Health Sciences, Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, American Academy of Pediatrics—NJ Chapter, Atlantic Health System, Family Health Initiatives, Mental Health Association in New Jersey, Inc., New Jersey Health Initiatives, New Jersey Hospital Association, New Jersey YMCA State Alliance, Partners for Health Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Salem Health & Wellness Foundation.

Several years ago I was introduced to NJ Partnership for Healthy Kids via programming in Trenton NJ. Have a listen to a recent chat with Project Manager Marissa Davis and State Program Director Dr. Darrin Anderson captured during the event.

https://soundcloud.com/trenton365/marissa-davis-greenwood-ave

https://soundcloud.com/trenton365/darrin-anderson-ph-d-st-prog

Building a Culture of Health in NJ Conference Promoted Best Practices for Healthy Communities

Largest NJ Public Health Conference Featured Physician & Social Media Maven Dr. Mike and four-time Olympian, NJ Hall of Fame Inductee Joetta Clark Diggs

Edison, NJ –November 29, 2017 – More than 500 public health professionals, social workers, educators, dieticians, and community leaders from across the state came together for the Building a Culture of Health in New Jersey: A Systems Approach to Promoting Population Health Conference on Wednesday, November 29 at the Pines Manor in Edison, N.J from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm.

Local experts led 12 exciting morning and afternoon workshops on a variety of public health topics including: youth and mental health, social-emotional learning, the healthcare needs of the underserved immigrant and LGBTQIA populations, the Opiate epidemic and advancing policies to create a Culture of Health. For a complete conference agenda, click here.

“Our goal is to help communities create policy and environmental changes that address social determinants of health and improve overall health outcomes for New Jersey families,“ stated Dr. Darrin Anderson, State Program Director, New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids (NJPHK).

The daylong conference also featured two nationally recognized dynamic keynote speakers –social media maven Dr. Mikhail (Mike) Varshavski D.O. and four-time Olympic runner and New Jersey native Joetta Clark Diggs.

Better known as ‘Doctor Mike,’ Dr. Varshavski is a family medicine physician and philanthropist based out of New York and has a massive following of 3.5 million on social networks including 2.6 million on Instagram. Doctor Mike uses his platform to encourage medical students and to educate people on important primary healthcare topics. He has appeared on television programs such as The Doctors and Dr. Oz and has also contributed to multiple popular online publications (Shape, Women’s Health, Livestrong).

Clark Diggs is a four-time Olympian, Motivational Extraordinaire and NJ Hall of Fame Inductee who had a successful 24-year career as a competitive 800-meter and 1500-meter runner, winning many collegiate, national, and world championships. Along with her decorated running career, Clark Diggs is a physical health and wellness advocate for children and teens nationwide.

Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers also was recognized as this year’s Culture of Health Award recipient. The award acknowledged how the organization’s data-driven care and support services “hot spotting” model for Camden’s high utilizers of healthcare helped to reduce the average monthly hospital billing of $1.2 million to just over $500,000.

The late Dr. Mary Ann Schierer also was posthumously recognized for her work in evaluation, performance measures, research and other uses of data to help agencies improve outcomes.

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About New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids 

New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids (NJPHK) is a statewide program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with technical assistance and direction provided by the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance. The goal of the program is to convene, connect and empower community partnerships across the state to design and implement childhood obesity prevention strategies that support access to affordable healthy foods and increase opportunities for safe physical activity in the cities of Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Vineland. For more information, visit:  www.njhealthykids.org. Follow NJPHK on Twitter and Facebook. 

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the largest private foundation in New Jersey and the nation’s largest philanthropy working to improve the health and health care of all. The Foundation is striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. RWJF has invested more than $1.5 billion in New Jersey since 1972. For more information, visit http://www.rwjf.org/nj. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at http://www.rwjf.org/twitter or Facebook at http://www.rwjf.org/facebook.

A few images from my visit.