May 2003	In this Issue:
	Making Health Communication Programs Work
	Washington Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity's Annual Meeting
	Mentor of the Month: Kay Sparks
	What's New in H.E.R.E. in WA
	Upcoming Training and Events
	H.E.R.E. in WA Forms
	Contact Us

Making Health Communication Programs Work

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has revised and expanded its classic publication “Making Health Communication Programs Work: A Planner's Guide.” This free 262-page resource for health communicators was first published in 1989 and is widely known as the "Pink Book."

This excellent text “can help make any communication program work, regardless of size, topic, geographic span, intended audience, or budget.” It covers the health communication process, research methods, planning and strategies, pre-testing messages, assessing effectiveness, and making refinements. The guidelines are clearly presented in an easy-to-read format. Each section includes case studies and recommendations for further reading. In the back are national sources for health information, including contact information and a glossary of health terms.

The “Pink Book” can be viewed online at www.cancer.gov/pinkbook. You can order print or CD copies by phoning 1-800-4-CANCER or by going online at http://cancer.gov/publications.

Washington Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity
Annual Meeting: Transforming Communities to
Encourage Physical Activity
June 4th, 2003
Group Health Conference Center, Tukwila, WA

Creating, building, and maintaining communities that encourage and promote physical activity has become a priority for many city planners, public health professionals, clinicians, school administrators, transportation professionals, and health educators.

Highlights of the conference include:

• Keynote speaker Richard E. Killingsworth, MPH.director of “Active Living by Design,” a program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that establishes and evaluates innovative approaches to increasing physical activity through community design, public policies and communications strategies (www.activelivingbydesign.org).
    
• Examples of programs in communities throughout Washington state aimed at increasing physical activity.
    
• Presentation by the National Governor's Association (NGA) on its “Leadership for Active Living Initiative” in Washington.
    
• Presentation of the Washington State Nutrition and Physical Activity Strategic Plan, which describes policy and environmental approaches to promoting physical activity.

Registration is $35.00. Space is limited and the registration deadline is May 27th. Visit www.beactive.org/register.html to register for the conference.

Please note: on June 5th, at the same location, The Washington State SAFE KIDS Coalition and the Washington Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity coalition are planning a WALK TO SCHOOL Networking Meeting from 10:00-2:00. To register contact Mary Borges by phone at 360-236-3606 or mary.borges@doh.wa.gov.

Mentor of the Month
Kay Sparks

Kay Sparks is the Assessment Coordinator for Chelan-Douglas Health District. She received her Bachelor of Nursing degree from the University of Michigan and her Masters and certification as Nurse Practitioner (Pediatrics) from Arizona State University. Kay began her career as an Army nurse in Vietnam. This was her first opportunity to see other cultures, especially when she observed medical outreach with the relocated Hmong population. One fond memory she has as a pediatric nurse practitioner was organizing and leading "Safari Tours" of the large clinic where she worked to children in kindergarten to 5th grade.

Kay’s first job in public health was with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department's Children with Special Health Care Needs and Pediatric Home Health programs. She was a clinical instructor for Gonzaga University in public health rotation at the Chelan-Douglas Health District when she first came in contact with public health in Wenatchee. Later, she became the Maternal-Child Health supervisor at Chelan-Douglas, then assumed then role of Assessment Coordinator during development of the Public Health Improvement Plan in the mid-90s. Currently, Kay coordinates the health district’s assessment activities and facilitates community input through local organizations like the United Way Community Assessment 2002, and the Collaborative Assessment of Youth Risk Factors 2003. She also shares assessment results with the community. She feels it is important for public health agencies to get accurate information out to the community in ways that people can understand, accept and act upon. “It is so important to really listen and hear community members when they express ideas, needs and solutions,” she said. She also advises, “You will learn as much, if not more, from what doesn't work as from what works.” Kay also coordinates the on-line community resource www.4people.org, which includes Chelan and Douglas counties as well as several neighboring counties. The immediate challenges Kay sees in public health are surviving budget cuts and being able to document and prove our worth to the powers that be.

Kay is available to consult on “working outside your comfort zone” (in terms of groups or agencies that are not your usual partners) and other aspects of community mobilization and change. On a personal note, she enjoys water aerobics and walking her dog (for physical health), quilting (for mental health), and studying scripture/spiritual wisdom (for spiritual health). Kay can be reached by phone at 509-886-6484 and by email at sparksk@health-chelan-douglas.wa.gov.

What's New

Community Projects
   

Materials Exchange
  

Training and Events

The Psychology of Crisis & Emergency Risk Communication - Satellite Broadcast, May 21, 2003
http://www3.doh.wa.gov/waphtn/broadcast.asp

Strategies for a Tumultuous Public Health Future: Getting It Right - Satellite Broadcast, May 22, 2003
http://www3.doh.wa.gov/waphtn/broadcast.asp

5th National Conference on Immunization Coalitions: An Oasis of Ideas in Arizona, Scottsdale, Arizona - May 28-30, 2003

Child Passenger Safety Classes (offered in Spanish), Tri-Cities - June 2, 2003

Pediatric Update: Assessment and Behavioral Management of Childhood Obesity - Satellite Broadcast, June 4, 2003
http://www3.doh.wa.gov/waphtn/broadcast.asp  

Click on these helpful forms

Do you have a community project to add? Submission Form -- Community Projects
Do you have health education materials to add? Submission Form -- Materials Exchange
Would you like to be added to H.E.R.E. in WA and receive this newsletter monthly?
Add Yourself to the H.E.R.E. Rolodex

H.E.R.E. in WA Team
Office of Health Promotion
Washington State Department of Health
Theresa Fuller, Don Martin, and Jennifer Livingston
PO Box 47833
Olympia, WA 98504-7833
(360) 236-3736
HERE@doh.wa.gov