BluePrint for Health New Mexico is a multi-stakeholder, collaborative planning and design effort to develop a statewide plan to successfully implement the ACA with the long-term goal of improving the health of New Mexico’s children and families. The project was funded by the Kellogg Foundation.

Successful implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) could directly improve the health of children and families.

Key elements of implementation (see the Executive Summary or the full Implementation Report for more):

• Establishment of a Health Insurance Exchange in 2014 could increase access to affordable, high quality health coverage for thousands of children and their parents who are currently uninsured.
• Expansion of Medicaid eligibility to include all adults up to 133% of the federal poverty level could provide many thousands of New Mexicans with the peace of mind that accompanies the knowledge that paying for critically needed health care services will not be weighed against the need to pay for food, gas, or housing.
• Emphasis on accountability for quality and effectiveness could result in a health care system that is responsive to the needs of children and families and promotes the elimination of the health disparities that plague them.
• The new law provides many opportunities for communities to develop and implement health promotion, prevention, and wellness programs to improve the health of children and families in underserved communities across the state.

Download the Executive Summary                                Download the Implementation Report

 Special thanks to the members of the BluePrint for Health New Mexico Advisory Network and others who contributed their time and expertise to this process and report.

The first edition is only available electrically for now, and the following monthly editions will be paper copies. ECHO is listed as a sponsor, as they have been providing meeting space for the last several months. Please forward to anyone you know, or if you have an interest in submitting an article, please contact Venice Ceballos CHW, Project ECHO CHW Initiatives.

“Community-based action and participation in environmental decision-making are critical to building healthy and sustainable communities,” said Lisa Garcia, EPA’s senior advisor to the administrator for environmental justice. “By supporting local environmental justice projects in under-served communities, we are expanding the conversation on environmentalism and advancing environmental justice in communities across the nation.”

Download an application package.

    CON ALMA HEALTH FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES

                               Statewide Community Forums

CON ALMA HEALTH FOUNDATION, the largest foundation in New Mexico dedicated to health, invites the general public, representatives of nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, and businesses concerned with health issues in New Mexico to attend a Community Forum. “One of the Foundation’s core values is a commitment to community involvement, collaboration, and partnership. We value and encourage input from community members on how we can best serve the people of New Mexico,” said Dolores E. Roybal, Executive Director.

The Forums will be held in five locations throughout the state to gain views, comments, and suggestions on the Foundations new strategic plan by asking, “Beyond grantmaking, what should be Con Alma Health Foundation’s major priorities in the next 1-3 years within the scope of its mission and core values?”

Come share your voice! All community members welcome.

Dates and locations for the Community Forums:

Monday, February 6^th, 10:00a – 12:00p:  Albuquerque  Center for Non Profit Excellence, 2340 Alamo Ave. SE, 2^nd Floor

Thursday, February 9^th, 3:00p – 5:00p: Las Cruces  Dona Ana County Health & Human Services Department, 845 N. Motel Blvd., Room 113

 Tuesday, February 14^th, 3:00p – 5:00p: Grants  Future Foundations Family Center, 551 Washington Ave.

Thursday, February 16^th, 5:45p – 7:45p: Roswell  Maternal Child Health Building, 809 W. Alameda

Wednesday, February 22nd, 4:00p-6:00p: Santa Fe Santa Fe Community Foundation, 501 Halona Street

To RSVP please click here indicating your Name, Contact Number and Forum you would like to attend.

For questions, contact Michelle Gutierrez, Program Officer at (505) 438-0776 x6.

The case challenged the constitutionality of the statute that kept roughly 10,000 workers from receiving benefits if they are injured on the job.

Gail Evans, legal director for the Center on Law and Poverty (which represented the workers in the suit,) said the ruling is “a step toward ending discrimination in our farms, ranches and dairies. Now we can enjoy our green chile with a clearer conscience.”

ABQJournal Online » Workers’ Comp For Farmers

This one-day training can provide 6 CEU’s in Ethics, Diversity and Supervision. It is our hope that this event will be fun and enlightening, in addition to providing CEU’s that can be difficult and/or tedious to secure. For detailed workshop descriptions, visit: http://www.wholeheartedskytrainings.com/nm_CEUS_social_work_counseling.html

Early Bird deadline is January 15th, 2012, so register soon!

Perli has accepted the Executive Director position at the Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences, a nonprofit Expeditionary Learning school for students Pre-K to 8th grade.  Click here and at www.santafeschool.org for more information. Her last day at Con Alma was Friday, December 9, 2011.

Perli had this to say about her time at CAHF:

“I am grateful to have had this opportunity to work with some of the smartest and most dedicated people in the state.  Con Alma Health Foundation brings people together because this organization truly has heart and soul.  I will miss seeing Con Alma folks on a regular basis, but I have a strong notion that our paths will cross again.  Like Dolores says, in NM, we have only one and a half degrees of separation.”

Con Alma Health Foundation thanks Perli for her years of service and contributions to the Foundation and in extending her our best wishes in her new endeavors.