Health Fundamentals Newsletter
An online newsletter published by the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund.
December 2008
General News
Health Fund announces new grant awards
The Health Fund is pleased to announce three new grants to Kansas organizations seeking to improve the health of Kansans.
A grant of $52,502 goes to the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City to inventory the availability of exercise venues and foods in twenty rural Kansas communities. Community information will be gathered by trained medical student research assistants participating in summer rotations for primary care. The project will conclude with meetings in each community to share results of the study and discuss strategies for supporting healthy food choices and physical activity on a community level.
A grant of $41,250 goes to Wichita State University's Regional Institute on Aging for a project to help prevent falls, a significant and preventable cause of death in older adults. Drawing from the expertise of several departments of the university as well as information from surveys and interviews, the project will result in a toolkit designed to assist small towns and rural communities in implementing programs to prevent falls among older residents. The toolkit will provide a step-by-step guide as well as information on available resources. Harvey County has been chosen as the pilot site for the program following development of the toolkit.
The Belle Plaine United Methodist Church has been awarded a $4,850 Healthy Congregations grant to help establish a Health & Wholeness ministry serving the congregation and surrounding community. Grant funding will be used for training, equipment, and other health ministry resources. The grant project director is Carol Middleton and the pastor of Belle Plaine UMC is Rev. Dr. Lisa Thompson.
Health Fund President receives oral health achievement award
Kim Moore, president of the Health Fund, had a pleasant surprise while attending the Oral Health Kansas annual conference in early November. He received the first Lifetime Achievement Award ever presented by the organization.
The inscription on the plaque, presented at the Overland Park gathering, describes Moore as "A True Dental Champion" and cites him "for believing and sharing your vision of what is possible."
Moore has headed the Health Fund since its inception in 1987. The Fund has awarded more than $9 million for oral health-related programs in Kansas, and was instrumental in the creation of Oral Health Kansas.
A statewide coalition of over 200 members, OHK is dedicated to helping the state become a national leader in oral health education, prevention, and treatment. Its annual Excellence in Oral Health awards recognize community leaders, clinicians, and organizations making a positive impact in Kansas oral health. However, the coalition had never before bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award until honoring Moore this year.
For more about the OHKs 2008 Excellence in Oral Health Awards, please see the related story in the oral health section below.
Kim Moore elected Vice-Chair of Grantmakers in Health Board
Health Fund President Kim Moore was recently elected Vice Chair of the Grantmakers In Health Board of Trustees, effective March 2009. Kim is currently serving as Secretary of the Board. Grantmakers In Health (GIH) is a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to helping foundations and corporate giving programs improve the health of all people. Its mission is to foster communication and collaboration among grantmakers and others, and to help strengthen the grantmaking community's knowledge, skills, and effectiveness. Kim has served as a member of the GIH Board since 2004.
Uplifting video program available for checkout
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Nonprofit organizations may check out the video free of charge by contacting the Health Fund at salexander@healthfund.org, 620-662-8586, or 800-369-7191. Availability is limited and subject to previous scheduling; please contact us well ahead of the requested viewing date.
Health Through Faith and Community study guide available
The Health Fund has a limited number of copies of the“Health
Through Faith and Community: A Study Resource for Christian Faith Communities
to Promote Personal and Social Well-Being” study guide available,
which we are offering to Kansans at no charge. 
To
request a copy, please use our simple online form or call 800-369-7191.
The curriculum contains eight study sessions which can be used independently or together as a multi-week class. The guide provides information and learning activities on the physical, mental, social, spiritual, and environmental aspects of health from an ecumenical Christian perspective.
The study guide is designed as an instructor resource, containing handouts and worksheets which may be copied and distributed to class participants. Participants do not need individual copies of the book.
The study guide was produced through a Health Fund grant and written by a team led by KU social work professor Ed Canda, Ph.D. Haworth Press is the publisher.
Supplemental materials to aid in teaching the curriculum are available at www.healthfaithstudy.info. The supplemental materials include electronic versions of the overheads and handouts contained in the book, and a special supplement available only online. Book ordering information for out-of-state persons or churches is also available on the supplemental website.
Oral Health
Working to improve oral health through education, prevention, and access to care
Oral Health coalition recognizes outstanding oral health advocates
Oral Health Kansas, a statewide coalition of over 200 members dedicated to helping the state become a national leader in oral health education, prevention, and treatment presented its annual Excellence in Oral Health awards recognizing community leaders, clinicians, and organizations making a positive impact in Kansas oral health at the coalition's annual conference held in Overland Park in early November.
Dr. Kandee Klein, a general dentist in Garden City, was honored as an Outstanding Dental Clinician. Dr. Klein was nominated for being a driver of oral health access for the multicultural population of Southwest Kansas. Among her many contributions, Dr. Klein created a dental clinic, Lifetime Smiles, to serve children lacking access to dental services. The bilingual clinic staff targets economically disadvantaged children from birth to six years of age, as well as children with special needs. In 2000, Klein partnered with United Methodist Western Kansas Mexican-American Ministries (UMWKMAM), the Health Fund, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to implement a four-year, $600,000 program combining intensive one-on-one and community oral health education, oral health screening in area schools, preventive services, and dental care.
Lifetime Smiles also received an Outstanding Organization award in its own right from OHK. Part of UMWKMAM and based in Garden City, Lifetime Smiles currently provides dental screening and prevention services to children at 72 schools in 16 Southwest Kansas counties. Since the beginning of this school year, Lifetime Smiles has screened 12,300 students for oral disease. Only 32% of the students needed to be referred to a dentist. In 2000, Lifetime Smiles went to 19 schools and screened 659 students; 50% of the students needed to be referred to a dentist for care. Denise Maseman, President of Oral Health Kansas, noted "this is a remarkable demonstration of the hard work and perseverance of the staff and their partners from schools and area dental professionals." Lifetime Smiles was the Health Fund's 2005 Janet Sevier Gilbreath Special Project Recognition Award recipient, selected from among 164 grant-funded projects to exemplify the vision of a Christian health community.
Rebecca Scott was honored by OHK for her efforts to improve the oral health of young children. In 2003, Scott launched an early childhood oral health education program known as Tiny Teeth. She worked with the Legacy Regional Community Foundation in Winfield to design a grant-funded education, referral, and fluoride varnish program serving Cowley County. The result was that children visiting the Cowley County Health Department receive fluoride varnish treatments, toothbrushes, and oral health information. Rebecca also initiated a program enabling other areas to receive Tiny Teeth's educational materials. The program is now self-sustaining and is expanding to other communities. Scott receives OHK's 2008 Outstanding Community Leader award. Tiny Teeth has been supported by three Health Fund grants totaling over $95,000.
Health Fund President Kim Moore was also recognized at the conference with OHKs first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. See article above in "General News" for more details.
Healthy Lifestyles
Promoting healthy nutrition and physical activity to maintain and improve health
Register today! Self-Care Workshops series underway
The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund is underwriting a series of free workshops for Kansas clergy, clergy spouses, and church staff this winter and throughout 2009. Servant Leadership: Personal and Professional Self-Care provides a structured opportunity for individuals to examine their current choices within the areas of mental/emotional, physical, social, and spiritual health and to develop personalized plans for behavioral and environmental changes to improve their personal health.
We are constantly presented with choices that either enhance or detract from our overall health and well-being. When we are not healthy in body, mind, and spirit together, we are less than what God intended us to be and are less available to do the work to which God has called each of us in ministry. To deny interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit--or to shortchange any aspect of our lives--is to deny the fullness of what God has called each one of us to be. To recognize the inseparability of our complete nature and to operate from that center is to lead from the soul.
Workshop participants will explore the connections between spiritual, mental, social, and physical health; understand how servant leadership requires self-care; experience stress-management techniques; learn how to say "no"; self-assess current health behaviors and choices; and discuss current knowledge and recommendations for nutrition, physical activity, hydration, and sleep, and how to personally implement those recommendations.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have developed a structured self-care covenant for behavioral and environmental changes to improve personal health, and an accountability plan to help keep on track with the chosen self-care goals.
Mark your calendars and plan to attend one of these free events in your community. Pre-registration is required. Workshop details, dates, locations, and online pre-registration can be found on the Health Fund website www.healthfund.org/selfcare.php.
Child Care Training workshops and grants offered to church-based programs
A promising Kansas project aimed at integrating more physical activity and quality nutrition into child care programs is being made available through training by the Kansas Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (KACCRRA) and its seven resource and referral district offices. Healthy Kansas Kids has been developed through a grant from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. According to an evaluation conducted over the last two years, Healthy Kansas Kids is helping child care providers significantly improve nutrition and physical activity policies and practices.
Training workshops are offered statewide to all child care professionals. Approximately 100 child care providers are selected each year to participate in a more intensive coaching and professional development program called Excellent Care for Early Learning or EXCEL. These child care providers receive follow-up support and coaching on implementing practices taught in the training workshops. EXCEL participants are also eligible to receive a $500 grant upon meeting participation eligibility requirements.
KACCRRA has agreed to make this program available to child care programs provided by Kansas United Methodist Churches. With grant support from the Health Fund, church-sponsored child care programs would be eligible to participate in the EXCEL program which will include the $500 grants.
"This is an excellent opportunity to make a program that has demonstrated positive results available to our United Methodist churches," said Health Fund President Kim Moore. "We know there is a lot of interest in doing something about preventing obesity among children. Healthy Kansas Kids shows how evidence-based practices can be integrated into an established child care curriculum."
If your church might be interested in participating, please fill out an online interest form on our website. We'll follow up as more information becomes available.
Natural Play Environments workshop scheduled for March 6, 2009
The Kansas Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (KACCRRA) is presenting a Natural Play Environments Workshop March 6 at the Hesston Community Center, Hesston, KS. The one-day professional development event focuses on designing outdoor play spaces for young children. The event is designed for anyone interested in creating beautiful, engaging outdoor environments for young children including family child care professionals, child care center staffs, parents, park directors, landscape designers and architects, school principals, teachers, nature center directors, health and safety inspectors, college professors, students, and writers.
The workshop includes principles outlined in the book Natural Playscapes by Rusty Keeler. The book, which may be ordered on the workshop registration form, is available for preview at www.exchangepress.com. Pre-registration is required by February 25. For more information about the workshop, visit KACCRRA's website at www.kaccrra.org or email tracie@kaccrra.org.
The workshop is supported by a portion of the Health Fund's Healthy Kansas Kids grant to KACCRRA. Healthy Kansas Kids targets development and promotion of best practices for physical activity and nutrition in early childhood education.
Healthy Congregations
Working together with local United Methodist churches for a healthier Kansas
New Healthy Congregations Covenant aims to support and grow health ministries
For 12 years, the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund has supported health ministries through Healthy Congregations grants, annual retreats, and a recognition program. For 2009, the Health Fund is enthusiastically continuing its commitment to Healthy Congregations with a simplified, new approach to foster greater participation and results. With the new approach, we hope more churches will find it easier, and more rewarding, to participate.
The new Healthy Congregations program is designed around the tenets of a Covenant -- a Covenant between your congregation, represented by the pastor and health ministry coordinator, and the Health Fund. This new program offers two Covenant choices to fit churches at different stages of health ministry development and commitment, with corresponding grant amounts.
We are placing an emphasis on training, and will conduct a series of regional training sessions. Training sessions will be available for both what we consider "core courses" as well as a variety of "electives" covering a wide range of health-oriented topics. In addition, the Health Fund will have an online resource library with recommended programs and practices, referrals, references, user forums, and other electronic tools.
For the first year of this new Healthy Congregations program, there are three options for participation. After this year, the only way to participate in Healthy Congregations will be through a Covenant.
- Covenant of Participation - Level One - $100
- Covenant of Action - Level Two - $1000
- Standalone Healthy Congregations Report (this year only) - $100
To help guide your congregation in choosing the most appropriate level of participation, this decision tree may be helpful. If you have any questions about the Covenant program, please contact Matt Kuzma via email or by calling 620-662-8586 / 800-369-7191. The Covenant Agreement form is available here.
Covenant of Participation - Level One
This is designed for churches either just starting their involvement with health ministry or, for whatever reason, not yet ready to make the fuller commitment encompassed by the Level Two Covenant.
Level One churches will receive a $100 grant following completion of the Healthy Congregations report. No further reporting will be required.
Covenant of Action - Level Two
Each church that commits to completing the capacity-building modules -- core courses -- of the training, and includes an activities plan with its Healthy Congregations report, will be awarded a $1,000 grant for program support.
Once a church has completed the core courses, it qualifies for a $1,000 grant each subsequent year by submitting a health ministry activities plan with its report. Churches which previously participated in the Healthy Congregations in Action pilot project are considered to have already completed the core courses and are eligible for the $1,000 grant each year they submit a report and plan.
Expectations of Level Two churches:
- Completion of a Congregational Health Assessment to evaluate the current level of health ministry involvement
- Core courses completed by a team of at least three persons from the congregation
- Annual submission of both a Healthy Congregations Report for the prior year and a Healthy Congregations Plan for the upcoming year
- Use of the communications material specifically developed by the Health Fund to focus more attention on health and promote interest in your Healthy Congregations activities.
With participation at either Covenant level, it is expected that the pastor will strive to visibly support the church's congregational health ministry and model healthy behaviors for the congregation.
New Healthy Congregations Report
The new Healthy Congregations Report is a greatly simplified version of the long-standing HC reports of years past. Completing an annual HC Report fulfills the reporting requirements of the Covenant agreements. Those of you who have participated in Healthy Congregations Recognition in the past will appreciate the streamlined reporting process. It will now focus on your 3 to 5 most effective health ministry activities. We are especially interested in knowing about new and innovative programs so we can share that information with other congregations.
Healthy Congregations Annual Retreats will still be a highlight each spring, still welcome all United Methodists interested in health ministry, and still be free. Room and board is provided for all by the Health Fund. The Retreat will be integral to the Covenant program, serving as the venue for a number of the offered training sessions. More information about the new program is available on the Health Fund website using the links below. The deadline for report and plan submission is March 1, 2009.
Download the Healthy Congregations Covenant Brochure [pdf file]
Download the Healthy Congregations Covenant official overview [pdf file]
Download the new HC Report Forms and HC Planning Forms [pdf files] (note: these forms are provided as examples only; submit actual reports and plans using the online forms)
Use the following links if you're ready to start a 2008 HC Report, 2009 HC Plan, or enter into an HC Covenant Agreement.
Find out why you should attend the Healthy Congregations Retreat May 1-2, 2009
The 2009 Healthy Congregations Annual Retreat for
United Methodists will be held May 1-2, 2009. Mark your calendars and look forward to enjoying two days of relaxation, interesting sessions, and networking with friends and peers in the beautiful and peaceful natural setting of Rock Springs
4-H Center, a scenic 735-acre conference site located in the Flint Hills. The
retreat is provided free of charge by the Health Fund.
Visit our website to see videos and read comments from participants at this year's retreat as they describe the retreat experience in their own words and encourage others not to miss out on this "best-kept secret."
The Rev. Fred D. Smith, Ph. D. is one of the scheduled keynote speakers for the 2009 Retreat. Smith is the Associate Professor of Urban Ministry and Associate Director of the Practice of Ministry and Mission at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC. Smith presented at last year's annual National Congregational Health Ministries Conference, "Empowering Ministries of Health," sponsored by the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries and the UM General Board of Pension and Health Benefits and is again scheduled at this year's national conference in September.
The event brings together United Methodists with shared interests in congregational health ministries and the promotion of holistic health and healthy lifestyles. The retreat features a variety of sessions covering the spiritual, mental, physical, and social components of health.
Who should attend the retreat?
- United Methodist parish nurses, local pastors, and other laity who are actively involved in congregational health ministries
- All who want to initiate new health and wellness ministries in their United Methodist congregations
- United Methodist church teams of two or three persons are encouraged to attend for mutual support after returning home
A $25/person refundable deposit is required for registration; the uncashed deposit check will be returned during check-in.
More event information and online registration is available at www.healthfund.org/hcar.php. Retreat sessions are still being finalized; additional details will be posted as they become available.
C 2008 United Methodist Health Ministry Fund
www.healthfund.org – healthfund@healthfund.org – 620.662.8586 – 800.369.7191