Monday, March 17, 2008
Hospitals
Asked to Double-check Nomination List
OHA has received 74 nominations for its 2008 Albert E. Dyckes Health
Care Worker of the Year Award. To ensure all nominees are accounted
for, hospitals are encouraged to review a
list of hospitals that have submitted a nomination. If your
hospital submitted a nomination and is not reflected on the list,
please contact
Tiffany Himmelreich at 614.221.7614 ASAP. OHA will send a
congratulations packet, with registration information for the OHA
Recognition Dinner, to all nominees at the end of April. Watch
www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/Awards/ for updated and additional
information about the OHA Recognition Dinner on June 9. (Tiffany
Himmelreich)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
WOSU Invites Live Audience to Taping of Columbus Health Care
Discussion
WOSU invites the
public to attend a live taping of
The Columbus Collaborative,
an event hosted by 10TV’s Angela Pace and Columbus City Health
Commissioner Dr. Teresa Long to discuss the root causes of bad
health in Columbus, including poverty, race, housing and jobs. The
event will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27 at WOSU@COSI (333 W.
Broad St.). Guest panel members will include: John Tolbert, Columbus
Public Health; Charleta B. Tavares, Columbus City Council; Cheryl A.
Boyce, Ohio Commission on Minority Health; Josue Vicente, Ohio
Hispanic Coalition; and Rebecca Nelson, Multicultural Center, OSU.
The program
will air at noon Sunday, April 6 on WOSU TV and at 9 p.m. on
Friday, April 4, 11, 18 and 25 on WOSU-Plus (digital TV). To be
part of the live audience, RSVP at 614.645.6450. View a
flyer with more information.
Central Ohio Hospitals: Recognize a Health Care Hero
Columbus Business First
is
seeking
nominations for its central Ohio Health Care Heroes Awards in
the following areas: Employer Award, Innovator Award, Manager
Award, Care for the Underserved Award, Community Outreach Award
and Provider Award. Nominations are due April 11.
To be eligible, nominees must work within Delaware,
Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Pickaway or Union
counties. Past selections and nominees are available for
nomination again in 2008.
Submit a nomination
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
National Healthcare Decisions Day Approaches, April 16
OHA urges hospitals and other members of the medical community to
participate in National Healthcare Decisions Day April 16, an effort to
help the public understand and use advance directives to make
end-of-life health care decisions known. While hospitals and others work
to educate their communities every day, this one-day initiative will
promote a focused outreach to health care workers, community groups and
others. Visit
www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org for suggested activities and
promotional resources.
Also mark the
calendar for this year’s Living Wills and Advance Directives Week
Oct. 12-18. OHA is again joining with the Ohio Hospice and
Palliative Care Organization and other organizations for this
week-long opportunity to educate Ohioans about advance
directives—particularly living wills, health care powers of
attorney—and to aid them in completing these documents. Visit OHA’s
End of Life Care and Advance Directives Web site for more
information as the event draws closer as well as other related
resources. (Rick
Sites)
OHA Notifies Member
Hospitals of Lobbying Expenditure
OHA this week sent hospital chief financial officers notification of
the percentage of membership dues related to lobbying activities
that, depending on an institution’s tax status, would be
non-deductible under the law. OHA is required to supply this
notification under the Lobbying Expenditure Law. View a copy of the
notification letter from OHA at
http://www.ohanet.org/lobbying_expend.pdf. (John
Callender)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
New Report Offers Info on Aging Ohio Workforce
The Ohio
Department of Job and Family Services, Bureau of Labor Market
Information, issued Ohio’s Graying
Labor Force: Aging Through 2016, a report that compares the
current demographic and economic situation with a similar report issued
in 2004. The report notes that the aging of the baby boomers will
represent one of the largest public policy issues Ohio and the U.S. will
face in the next 10 years – especially considering nearly a quarter of
the state population is 55 or older and this number will continue to
grow.
With
health care practitioners among the occupational groups with the
highest proportion of older workers, Ohio’s hospitals are working
now to ensure an adequate supply of caregivers for the future. Among
other efforts, hospitals are taking on initiatives to:
►bring high school students and adults seeking second careers into
the hospital for tours and other programs; ►collaborate with
educational institutions to fund and supply additional educators;
►allow current health care workers funding and flexible work
environments to pursue advanced degrees
►establish work cultures that continue to set them apart as quality
employers.
View
the complete report at
http://lmi.state.oh.us/research/graying2008.pdf and learn more
about Ohio’s hospital workforce at
http://www.ohanet.org/workforce/. (Jean
Scholz)
Friday,
March 21, 2008
New
Federal Bill Focused on Workforce Development
U.S. Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) introduced legislation aimed at
creating new jobs by increasing the flexibility regions have in spending
federal dollars to implement regional workforce and economic development
programs. The Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development Act
of 2008 (WIRED Act) will establish a framework to help regions 1)
identify assets, opportunities and risks; 2) establish regional economic
goals; and 3) develop workforce and economic development strategies that
will help achieve the goals.
The WIRED Act amends the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, which
was passed by Congress to authorize service and training for youths,
adults and laid-off or dislocated workers to give states and regional
greater flexibility in their use of federal workforce development
dollars. The act:
► Authorizes states and regions to work with a governor to submit WIRED
plans for approval by the Secretary of Labor, allowing states to combine
various federal workforce and economic development funds.
► Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to award supplementary grants to
assist in implementing a WIRED plan or other workforce development
activities.
►Authorizes the use of formula funds available to states and areas under
WIA for workforce development activities without requiring the full
WIRED approval process (to help ensure funding unused due to the
inflexibility of the WIA program will be accessible).
View a
news release for more information on WIRED or visit
http://www.ohanet.org/workforce/ to learn more about Ohio’s hospital
workforce. (Jean
Scholz)
