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Florida Division of Emergency Management Information

Florida's Division of Emergency Management plans for and responds to both natural and man-made disasters, such as hurricanes. The division is the state's liaison with federal and local agencies on emergencies of all kinds. Click here to log on and learn more.

Miami-Dade County Storm Information

Miami-Dade County's Emergency Management Center has important information for residents regarding Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac.  Please click on this weblink for updates on evacuation orders (none issued at this time for Miami-Dade County) and Open/Close status of County services/facilities.

Are you ready for Isaac?

Isaac is lurking in the Caribbean Sea with a strong possibility that the storm will affect our community.  Please make sure you are doing what you need to do to help your family and neighbors be ready for the worse while we all hope for the best.  Please monitor local news outlets (radio, television, online) for important updates.

Harm Reduction and Organizing to Alter Paradigms & Perceptions

What If Drug Users Organized Like Unions?

A San Francisco coalition of drug users is out to change the way that people perceive them.

The name of the group was only meant to be a placeholder. Until the union’s rank-and-file could settle on a more permanent title, the organizers needed something to write on their grant applications and to give to community center staff when signing up for meeting space around the Tenderloin and the Mission. It was during one of those meetings in late 2009 that someone suggested San Francisco Drug Users’ Union. It wasn’t a name calculated to win the endorsement of a focus group, but then again, neither was the organization. 

Three years later, the name has stuck.

“It really says what we’re about unequivocally,” says Isaac Jackson, senior peer organizer and co-founder of San Francisco’s first drug user group. They could have gone with a more politically palatable designation, but the group wasn’t founded to be politically palatable, he says. The name is unapologetically self-descriptive because drug users shouldn’t feel the need to apologize. “Drug use in and of itself is not a negative. Having the name we have kind of ensures that the people who join are comfortable with their identity.”

Even in San Francisco, a city considered to be at the forefront of progressive (or, alternatively, permissive) drug policy in this country, the idea that drug use merits a union ― and not a stint in rehab or a prison sentence — is one that still raises eyebrows. But following in the tradition of other North American user groups which have sprouted up in cities like Vancouver, New York, and nearby Oakland, SFDUU members aren’t just interested in making drug laws less punitive, they want to change the way that people see users. As a philosophy, theirs is strikingly straightforward: people who use drugs are citizens too.

When the union finally moved into its permanent digs after spending its first year roving from community center to clinic to office space around the city, the landlord was happy to have them. With a rescue mission, an SRO and a windowless beer hall all within throwing distance of the space’s iron-gated entrance on Turk Street, it was the union’s willingness to sign a five-year lease and pay for new wooden flooring that most appealed to the owner of the railroad office suite.

The group’s charter and membership roster were of less concern to the neighborhood at large as well. In an area of the city long associated with poverty, substandard housing, homelessness, and crime, the sudden appearance of a scruffy union with a strange name was met by the surrounding tenants with shoulder-shrugging equanimity.

“We’re just a group of self-contained adults holding meetings,” Isaac says matter-of-factly. While a few local dealers dropped in at the first meet-ups, none have returned since, evidently satisfied that the union was neither a “narc group” nor a source of competition. Since then, says Jackson, there have been no complaints. “We’re good neighbors,” he says.

The union may not sound like a “typical” crowd of drug users, but as Jackson argues, there’s no such thing. Case in point: Isaac Jackson, Ph.D. Bespectacled, soft-spoken and sporting a bushy beard of more pepper than salt, 56-year-old Jackson looks more absent-minded professor than meth addict.

Asked about his early life, he describes none of the predictably tragic rites of passage one expects from a regular user. Growing up in New York City, he did not spend his childhood surrounded by addiction. As a teenager, he didn’t fall in with the wrong crowd. In his late-20s, he received his masters degree from a private college in Manhattan and in 1992, he was awarded a doctorate from MIT’s Media Lab. It wasn’t until he was in his mid-30s, freshly transplanted to San Francisco, that he first sampled what has since become his drug of choice.

Jackson says he doesn’t like to talk about his educational background. “People” -- and by people, he certainly means reporters -- “always want to talk about how I went to MIT,” he says. But while a Ph.D. with a crank habit might strike some as a novelty, he says his current place in life owes more to his work with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Jackson went to work with the organization after losing his high-paying tech job in the dot-com crash, falling into a prolonged depression and quickly letting his self-medication slip “out of control.” After a few run-ins with SFAF outreach workers, Jackson scored himself a job passing out syringes, condoms and racy but informational zines targeting gay speed users. It was during those years that Jackson taught himself to use “responsibly” — to set schedules for himself and to put certain obligations over the pressing desire to get high.

It was also during this period that he became versed in the philosophy of harm reduction.

Coined in the 1980s by British public health specialists working to control the spread of HIV/AIDS among intravenous drug users, the term “harm reduction” has since become shorthand for any policy that puts the welfare of someone who engages in victimless illegal behavior over the need to penalize that behavior. In drug policy, this might mean establishing needle exchanges or simply ensuring that users can access health and other social services.

But when Jackson started to seriously consider forming a users’ union in late 2007, it was with one considerably more radical initiative in mind.

That year, the San Francisco Public Health Department sponsored a symposium on supervised (or, safe) injection sites — facilities where intravenous drug users are invited to shoot up under the watch of medically trained staff. While such services have existed for decades in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, the symposium was largely inspired by the success story of Vancouver-based “Insite,” the first legal SIS to open in North America.

Looking at the available data, it’s hard to argue that Insite is anything but a success story. Since opening its doors in 2003, the project has been credited by dozens of studies with reducing needle sharing and the transmission of bloodborne disease, while acting as a one-stop-shop of other health, rehab and other social services, for an otherwise difficult-to-reach demographic. Maybe most importantly, of the nearly 500 overdoses that occurred at Insite during its first year of operation, thanks to the two trained nurses on staff, none resulted in death.

Jackson calls that symposium the union’s “catalyst moment.” Before attending the event, Jackson had watched a documentary about the role the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users had played in pushing their city’s government towards its uniquely progressive stance on drug policy. Now, with a specific goal in mind, Jackson turned a colleague, Ned Howey, who in turn recruited a local housing activist named Alexandra Goldman. In 2008, the three started holding meetings. The following year, the group applied to the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) for seed money.

Three grant cycles later, both Howey and Goldman have left their leadership roles, but Jackson is as determined as ever to achieve his “big goal.” This summer the union hosted a design exhibit, inviting a handful of California designers to create their own model sites, based on the preferences of union members.

To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink.

Caribbean Youth Get Help in Fight Against HIV-Stigma

New Media Campaign Targeting Hiv-Related Stigma & Discrimination In Caribbean Youth

PANCAP’s Caribbean Regional Social Marketing Project (CARISMA) will be rolling out a new media campaign in five English speaking Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana and Saint Lucia) on July 25, 2012. The campaign aims to generate more compassion and respect for individuals living with HIV. Funded by KfW (The German Development Bank), the campaign will target young people between the ages of 16-24, and will build on past Regional efforts by increasing awareness of how HIV-related stigma and discrimination is perpetuated. It will provide young people with knowledge and skills to challenge harmful social norms linked to the issue.

The multimedia campaign will include television spots, a music video, radio, print and social media that communicate the campaign's key messages: True Friends Don’t Discriminate and “I will stand up for friends with HIV and stand against Stigma and Discrimination!” Following the launch of the campaign, youth will be able to access media material and linkages to resources in their respective countries on a dedicated website www.facebook.com/truefrenz4life

The campaign was developed by Howard Delafield International (HDI) and their Guyana-based creative partner AstroArts International Marketing and their regional media placement partner, REACH Caribbean. The team was selected through a competitive bidding process led by PANCAP and the CARISMA Management partner, Options Consultancy. An assessment of the campaign’s impact will be undertaken at its conclusion in October 2012.

The PANCAP CARISMA Project was established in 2005 to support social marketing initiatives in 13 countries in the region. The second phase of the project, ending in December 2012, seeks to address stigma and discrimination in the region and targets those groups most vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS, including young people.

For further details, contact: Valerie Beach Horne, Strategic Information and Communication Officer vbeachhorne@caricom.org or pancap@caricom.org

caricompublicinfo@gmail.com

www.caricom.org

www.pancap.org/en/

To read the entire bulletin and learn more, please click on this urlink.

Providers Have New Depression Treatment Tool

Tool Kit Helps Providers Treat Patients with Depression

Many service members and veterans experiencing symptoms of depression will receive most or all of their care through their primary care physician. If you’re a primary care provider and unfamiliar with the “Major Depressive Disorder Toolkit,” it’s important you download it or request a hard copy today.

Developed by Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE), U.S. Army Medical Command and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the tool kit provides clear, comprehensive descriptions of critical decision points that help providers screen for major depressive disorder (MDD). The tool kit guides diagnosis, management of symptoms and referral of patients to mental health specialists.

This all-encompassing, user-friendly guidance tool features evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and recommendations from the Defense Department and VA. The guidelines cover all aspects of care for MDD from screening and assessment to follow-up and monitoring. The tool kit also includes a variety of reliable tools, questions and simple reference material for providers, patients and their families. It can be used in its entirety or in sections depending on patient needs.

To further assist providers using the tool kit, DCoE created the Major Depressive Disorder Toolkit: Key Concepts for Primary Providers, which offers brief background information on the clinical practice guidelines for MDD and an overview of how the materials included in the tool kit can be used to efficiently diagnose, assess and treat depression. A training manual for instructors educating mental health professionals on MDD and a one-pager for quick reference to treatments for MDD are also available.

Benefits of using these tools include decreased practice variation, effective decision-making and improved patient outcomes.

To download a copy of the “Major Depressive Disorder Toolkit” or to order a hard copy, visit dcoe.health.mil/MDDToolkit. For more clinical resources related to psychological health or traumatic brain injury prevention and care, visit the Health Professionals and Resources sections of the DCoE website.

To read all of this posting, please click on urlink.

Earlier Retirement = Longer Life?

Do those who retire early live longer?

It's often said that early retirement lengthens your life, but is it true? And do some professions have a shorter life expectancy?

If a statistical claim is repeated often enough it can become accepted as a universal truth, even if it has no basis in fact.

There's the suggestion that 93% of communication is non-verbal (not true) or the oft-repeated suggestion that there are more people alive today than have ever lived (not true either).

Here's another - the later you retire, the earlier you will die. A variation on this theme is the "fact" that, in some jobs, average life expectancy after retirement is just 18 months. We've seen it said of teachers, prison officers, surgeons and others.

The implication is that people in these kinds of demanding jobs are working themselves into their graves - and should probably be cut some slack. But is there any evidence for it?

Some evidence does at first glance appear to exist to support the first claim - that people who work longer die younger than those who retire early.

A paper attributed to the aircraft-maker Boeing shows that employees who retire at 55 live to, on average, 83. But those who retire at 65 only last, on average, another 18 months.

The "Boeing study" has been quoted by newspapers, magazines and pundits. It's circulated on the internet for years. The problem with it is that Boeing itself says it's simply not true.

Putting Boeing to one side, then, is there any other evidence which might support the idea that retiring early prolongs life? Surprisingly, perhaps, the truth may be the precise opposite: the later you retire, the longer you live.

Epidemiologists at the oil firm Shell carried out a study of past employees in the US, which found that mortality was slightly earlier - on average - for staff who retired at 55, than for those who continued working to 65.

But the actuary Dave Grimshaw says we need to be very careful about what conclusions we draw from the Shell data. The statistical waters, he says, are muddied by the fact that people retire at different ages for different reasons.

"You will have a group who are forced to retire [early] as a result of ill health and that may impact on their life expectancy," he says.

"In contrast there will be other people that choose to retire at 55, as more of a lifestyle decision. They may well be more affluent people. And they will also probably be in good health."

To read this entire article, please click on this urlink.

Paperless SocSec benefits, more plastic fees?

As Social Security benefits go paperless, beware debit card fees

The paper Social Security check will go the way of the Pink Princess rotary-dial phone, the typewriter and yes, sadly, Elvis in roughly seven months. Nearly 6 million people throughout the country -- including 179,000 in Michigan -- still need to decide how they're going to get their money.

People can sign up for direct deposit to a bank or credit union account; or they could opt to have money deposited electronically via the Direct Express Debit MasterCard.

But if they end up with the government-issued debit card, they must watch where they withdraw that money to avoid getting hit by a string of fees. Hint: It could cost you more than you'd imagine by going to an ATM at some huge national banks.

Not surprisingly, the Treasury is touting the popularity of its Direct Express debit card, launched four years ago. The card is an option for receiving Social Security benefits, especially for those who don't have regular bank accounts for direct deposit.

A study released last week showed that 95% of cardholders are satisfied with the Direct Express card. About 93% would recommend the card to someone else. More than 2 million active cardholders receive Social Security retirement benefits and Supplemental Security Income benefits, as well as other benefits.

Thankfully, the government's debit card does not have the outrageous fees of other prepaid debit-card plastic that you might pick up off the shelf at the store.

But it doesn't mean consumers are completely off the hook.

One free ATM withdrawal is allowed each month on the Direct Express Debit MasterCard. Additional ATM withdrawals are 90 cents.

To get one free ATM withdrawal, consumers must go to one of about 60,000 ATMs in the network. That network includes ATMs at Comerica Bank, Charter One, PNC Bank, Privileged Status, Alliance One, the MasterCard ATM Alliance and MoneyPass.

Plenty of bank names, though, aren't in the network. And it could cost up to $3 or so a pop to get access to your Social Security money at some ATMs -- no free withdrawals -- if you go out of the network.

At Chase, for example, it costs $3 for a non-customer withdrawal from a Chase ATM. The $3 fee is the same at Bank of America for non-customers to use ATMs in its banking centers.

Walt Henderson, director of the electronic funds transfer strategy division for the U.S. Treasury, said Treasury is looking for opportunities to expand the network.

An ATM locator is at the bottom of www.usdirectexpress.com, where cardholders can locate the surcharge-free ATMs by ZIP code.

To read this entire article, please click on this urlink.

Talking to children about the tragedy in Colorado

This article offers insights and tips from mental health professionals on discussing tragedies like the unthinkable mass-shooting with children at different stages of development. Please be sure to click on the urlink below access and read the entire article. - IWN Blog

Talking to kids -- of all ages -- about the Colo. movie shooting

By Kathy Ehrich Dowd, iVillage.com

The Aurora, Colo. movie theater shooting on Friday that killed at least 12 people and injured dozens more -- with a reported six victims being taken to an area children's hospital -- is a somber reminder that no matter how hard we try to keep our kids out of danger, we can't protect them all the time. Although it's understandable to want to avoid talking about a tragedy with your kids, it's important if they're old enough to have heard about it. Here's how to talk about a shooting with your kids, age by age.

*To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink.

Report: More Educated Expectant Moms More Likely to Drink

Older, more educated pregnant women are most likely to drink

Older, more educated pregnant women are much more likely than other pregnant women to drink alcohol, despite warnings that any amount of drinking might be harmful, a new study shows. Overall, nearly 8% of pregnant women admitted to a least one drink in the month before the survey, says the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While some studies have failed to find harm from light drinking, U.S. public health officials strongly discourage it. "Any drinking is going to put your child at risk," a CDC researcher tells Reuters.

To read this in its entirety, please click on this urlink.

Wellness News Bulletins

Prostate cancer surgery: Surgery does not appear to make any difference

Prostate cancer surgery does not appear to make any difference in survival for men with early-stage prostate cancer, a new study shows. The findings suggest that men who choose "watchful waiting" -- and avoid the risks of surgery, including incontinence and impotence, unless their cancer progresses -- are no more likely to die. Doubts about treatment already have led the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to recommend against regular screening for prostate cancer -- a recommendation opposed by some physician groups.

More Adults Not Seeing their Dentists

Four out of ten adults have gone at least a year without seeing a dentist, a new survey shows. Cost is the biggest reason for skipping check-ups. Second biggest reason: fear. More than 20% of Medicaid recipients in the survey had not had a dental visit in five years.

Death of Child Catalyst for Reform

A New York City hospital has changed its procedures for discharging emergency department patients, in response to the death of 12-year-old Rory Staunton. As the New York Times reported recently, Rory died of septic shock after a bacterial infection spread from a cut on his arm -- and after he was sent home from the New York University's Langone Medical Center with what his parents were told was a routine stomach bug.

Obesity is Global

Great Britain, host of the upcoming Olympic games, already has won one competition, but it's a dubious distinction. As the Washington Post reports, a new survey shows Britons are among the most sedentary people in the world, with more than 63% deemed 'inactive' — compared with 40.5% in the United States and 32.5% percent in France. But we Americans have our own dubious distinction: we're still number one in obesity among major nations.

To read these bulletins in their entirety, please click on this urlink.

Report: Sedentary Lifestyles are Lethal

Inactivity 'killing as many as smoking'

A lack of exercise is now causing as many deaths as smoking across the world, a study suggests.

The report, published in the Lancet to coincide with the build-up to the Olympics, estimates that about a third of adults are not doing enough physical activity, causing 5.3m deaths a year.

That equates to about one in 10 deaths from diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and breast and colon cancer.

Researchers said the problem was now so bad it should be treated as a pandemic.

And they said tackling it required a new way of thinking, suggesting the public needed to be warned about the dangers of inactivity rather than just reminded of the benefits of being active.

The team of 33 researchers drawn from centers across the world also said governments needed to look at ways to make physical activity more convenient, affordable and safer.

It is recommended that adults do 150 minutes of moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, cycling or gardening, each week.

The Lancet study found people in higher income countries were the least active with those in the UK among the worst, as nearly two-thirds of adults were judged not to be doing enough.

The researchers admitted comparisons between countries were difficult because the way activity was estimated may have differed from place to place.

Nonetheless, they said they remained confident that their overall conclusion was valid.

Pedro Hallal, one of the lead researchers, said: "With the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games, sport and physical activity will attract tremendous worldwide attention.

"Although the world will be watching elite athletes from many countries compete in sporting events... most spectators will be quite inactive.

"The global challenge is clear - make physical activity a public health priority throughout the world to improve health and reduce the burden of disease."

Prof Lindsey Davies, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, agreed.

"We need to do all we can to make it easy for people to look after their health and get active as part of their daily lives," she said.

"Our environment has a significant part to play. For example, people who feel unsafe in their local park will be less likely to use it."

But others questioned equating smoking with inactivity.

While smoking and inactivity kill a similar number of people, smoking rates are much lower than the number of inactive people, making smoking more risky to the individual.

Dr Claire Knight, of Cancer Research UK, said: "When it comes to preventing cancer, stopping smoking is by far the most important thing you can do."

To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink.

Back to School events in Little Haiti/Wynwood and Miami Lakes/Opa-locka

The first day of school is almost one month away for students in Dade County.  If you are looking for help getting ready, the 54th Street and 154th Street Medical Plazas are hosting their annual Back to School Extravaganzas on consecutive weekends (see below).  School supplies will be given away to children in community as long as supplies last (first-come, first-served).

54th Street Medical Plaza Back to School Extravaganza
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM  Saturday, July 21, 2012 
Location:  5385 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami 33137 (Sabal Palm Shopping Center)

154th Street Medical Plaza Back to School Extravaganza
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM  Saturday, July 28, 2012 Location:  5801 Miami Lakes Drive East, Miami Lakes, FL 33014

For more information, please telephone Vanessa at the 54th & 154th Street Medical Plazas - (305) 756-9977.

Summer Street Soiree in the Shores

Locally-owned boutique bakery Enchanting Creations is hosting a family-friendly street fair in downtown Miami Shores to get your weekend started right.   

Please come out and enjoy yourselves with music, art, and activities for people of all ages.


For more information, please call Karen at (305) 978-2828 or email her at karen@enchantingcreations.net.


See you there!