Cathy's Corner - June 2008

Greetings all.

This month let’s talk about items you should be planning for even now. The first, of course, is the National CHR Educational conference to be held July 29-31, 2008 at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. CHR Leadership & Headquarters’ CHR Program have scheduled this national meeting (historically the CHR Triennial) to an every-other-year event rather than once-every-three-years. Reasons include increased opportunities for training, creating a more frequent venue for input & discussion on national CHR issues, and to approximate similarities with other professions which have annual meetings. We believe this will facilitate increased communication & networking among tribal CHR Programs, and provide a forum for CHRs to define what’s important to them & their Tribes. It should also help identify opportunities for collaboration with outside entities, especially in regard to the national Community Health Worker movement across the nation & internationally.

There will be new approaches to the national meeting this year we think you’ll enjoy. The Board has been planning for several months, and the Agenda is taking shape nicely in response to requests CHRs made at the 2006 Triennial and subsequent input. I would strongly encourage you to plan now to attend. Go to www.nachr.net/conferences/2008 for more information & early registration.

I’d also like to announce that the IHS CHR Headquarters Program will sponsor 30 scholarships for CHRs from Tribes which have left their IHS CHR HQ shares. Applications have been received and CHR scholarship recipients have been selected and notified.

I know I sound like a broken record, but CHR Supervisors, please be sure to sign up two people from your Program for access to the web-based CHR data tracking application. If you need the application form, please contact your CHR Area Office Coordinator (AOC). We’ve included several new enhancements which supervisors will especially be happy to use. There are six reports which can be generated covering services provided, along with health problems by age & gender; a file tracker to help identify gaps between dates in exports which you can use with IT staff to check on exports; and an Area Program list which identifies all the CHR PCC records for each Area over a 5-year time span, along with individual Tribal data which can be seen only by that local Program. The reports are presented in easy to use & read color graphic chart and table formats that can be downloaded to a Microsoft Word document in one click! You can then use them for Health Department or Tribal Council reports, or for grant justification purposes. Once you see its functionality, you may wish you’d signed up earlier!

Finally, thank you for all you do in Indian Country. More and more CHRs are being recognized for the value & services you provide – continue living up to the rich tradition and history of this needed Health Program.

Wado! Thank you, CHRs!

Cathy Stueckemann, JD, MPA
Public Health Advisor / National Director,
Community Health Representative Program