by Lisabritt Solsky, NHPHA Membership Committee Co-Chair

It is well documented that mental health has suffered during the pandemic.  More recently, the extent of that impact on teens has been getting more attention, and rightly so.  Various studies have shown marked increases in teen emergency room trips for mental health distress during the pandemic.  Experts speculate that lockdowns and separation from friends, school, and routine hit teens especially hard.  Teens’ developmental stage predisposes them to want distance from parents and growing connections with peers, which were not optimal or always feasible during the worst months of the pandemic.  Additional stressors such as remote learning, loss of sports, fear of poor academic performance or “lost ground”, and family financial strain may have compounded these effects for some teens.

by Nicole Chute, Health Promotion & Communication Specialist, City of Nashua Division of Public Health & Community Services

Each July 4th, thousands of people, most often children and teens, are injured while using consumer fireworks. In New Hampshire, each town has its own firework laws. In some towns, fireworks cannot be set off without a permit, while others restrict use after certain hours or to particular days of the year, and a handful prohibit fireworks entirely. Public health officials advise individuals to enjoy fireworks safely by viewing them at public displays conducted by professionals, and not using fireworks at home. 

by Nicole Chute, Health Promotion and Communication Specialist at the City of Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services

It’s that time of year when the streets and trails begin to fill up with bicyclists. While bicycling is a great form of physical activity for all ages, it can also lead to unintentional injuries. In the United States, children and adolescents have the highest rates of nonfatal bicycle-related injuries, accounting for more than one-third of all bicycle-related injuries seen in emergency departments. The NHPHA invites our community to be street smart by gearing up and playing it safe before you move those pedals!

by Jess Barnett, NHPHA Communications Committee Co-Chair

by Tara Graham, NHPHA Immunization Coalition Coordinator

There are a lot of moving pieces and progress to report! First and foremost, we now have an official name: VaxWell NH, an Immunization Alliance. Coming up with this name was really a group effort by our Executive Steering Committee and our Consultants, and we are truly appreciative of their efforts and guidance. We also had a great introductory meeting on June 30th, where we learned a lot from our stakeholders in regards to what they’d like to see as this moves forward – thank you to all that attended!

by Trinidad Tellez, MD, Health Equity Strategist

The New Hampshire COVID-19 Equity Task Force convened in March of 2020 to address issues of equity arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and response and has met regularly since then - currently on the second and fourth Friday mornings of each month. 

by April Mottram, NHPHA Executive Director

NHPHA has received funding from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) to conduct a statewide public health workforce training needs assessment. The assessment will be used to determine the collective capacity and capability of the public health workforce and identify training gaps. The results of the assessment will be analyzed, and the information will be used to develop a public health workforce training series designed around cross-cutting skills and competencies to improve public health infrastructure, systems capacity, and performance.  

by April Mottram, NHPHA Executive Director

As we transition into summer at the New Hampshire Public Health Association (NHPHA), our activity level is not slowing down. NHPHA is in the midst of planning several activities, including a strategic planning session with our Board of Directors, summarizing our advocacy efforts from the legislative session, planning workforce development initiatives, and expanding our work related to the support of coalition development. NHPHA is excited to announce that we have signed an agreement with The Nature Conservancy to work with them and other partners to develop a new coalition promoting the interconnection between climate change and public health.  This work will include creating and promoting messaging that supports and describes the importance of this interconnection to the health and wellness of NH. Additional information will be forthcoming, but to learn more about the Nature Conservancy, go to www.Nature.org/newhampshire.

by Jayme Simoes,  President of Louis Karno & Company Communications and NHPHA Communications Committee Chair

As enrollment reaches new highs nationally, hear how the ACA helps New Hampshire residents get the care they need.

The Biden administration announced that a record 31 million people now have coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act, including 44,228 New Hampshirites enrolled in ACA marketplace coverage and 69,814 New Hampshirites enrolled in Medicaid expansion. Of those enrolled in a marketplace plan, 5,425 enrolled between February 15 and May 31, 2021, nearly double the number of Granite Staters who enrolled during the same period in 2020.

by April Mottram, NHPHA Executive Director

NHPHA hosted our year end celebration event for the 2020-2021 Public Health Mentoring Program on May 13th.  Mentors and mentees participating in the program convened virtually to celebrate and reflect what they learned as a result of participating in the program.  The event was used as an opportunity to gather feedback about the program.  This feedback will be reviewed, and the input will help guide the programming for the next cohort which will start in the fall of 2021.  Additional details about this cohort will be shared as soon as the details are finalized.  

by Trinidad Tellez,  MD, Health Equity Strategist

The New Hampshire COVID-19 Equity Task Force was convened in March of 2020 to address issues of equity arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and response and has met regularly since then with close to 60 individuals consistently participating, and new participants joining regularly. Members include individual community members and leaders, local community-based organizations, non-profit and advocacy organizations, as well as state and municipal government staff.  

by: Gail T. Brown, JD, MSW, Director NH Oral Health Coalition 

NOW is an exciting time in oral health as we see increased visibility, awareness, and support on the importance of equitable access to oral health and dental services on both the state and federal levels. The passage of updated policy aimed at reducing barriers to oral health access is critical.  

by Gail Tudor, NHPHA Board President

I am one month into my year as president of NHPHA and writing my first newsletter article. It is difficult to know what to focus on as we are working on so much, such as advocacy work, creating and partnering with coalitions, planning the Team Up Take Action (TUTA) conference for fall 2021, training new board members, overseeing interns, creating and updating policies, grant writing, planning workforce development opportunities, and more. Given that our accomplishments are directly dependent on the person-hours we have available to us, I have decided to focus on the worth of volunteering.  

By Jess Barnett, NHPHA Communications Committee Co-Chair

by Jayme Simoes, NHPHA Communications Committee Co-Chair

If you’ve had trouble paying for prescription medicine for yourself or family members -- regardless if you are insured or not -- you aren’t alone. Americans pay three times more for medications than people in other countries. As the cost of lifesaving medications like insulin skyrocket, Granite Staters face impossible tradeoffs, like deciding whether to pay rent or to purchase the medications that keep them alive. 

by Nicole Chute, Health Promotion & Communication Specialist, City of Nashua Division of Public Health & Community Services

Preparing for New Hampshire’s beautiful summer months is an exciting time, but there are also potential outdoor hazards that can be prevented. To help relieve stress and keep yourself, your family, and your community safe, we encourage practicing the following summer safety tips.

by Tiffany Dodier, Food Access Coalition Coordinator

A lot is going on in the world of child hunger and nutrition legislation both at the federal level and at the state level. The Child Nutrition Reauthorization is well underway whereby Congress makes amendments to existing child nutrition statutes and authorizations for appropriations to programs that are not permanently authorized. Listed below is legislation introduced that make amendments to these programs:

NHPHA joins the NH Medical Society and other organizations across the state to urge continued mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic

As we turn the corner on COVID-19, we urge all individuals, communities, schools, and businesses to continue to follow the Centers for Disease Control and NH Division of Public Health Services guidelines that include wearing masks in conjunction with other prevention measures to slow the community transmission of COVID-19 in our state.  These prevention measures should be followed until COVID-19 vaccination levels reach a NH-wide immunity of at least 70%; and community spread of COVID-19 continues at a "minimal" community transmission level which is less than 50 new infections per 100,000 population over the prior 14 days, along with 7-Day PCR test positivity levels below 5%.

by Lisa Vasquez, NHPHA Communications Committee Member, NHPHA HR/Nominating Committee Member

The tenth anniversary of National Prevention Week (NPW) takes place on May 9th through May 15^th this year. The purpose of the weeklong event is to involve communities to raise awareness of substance misuse and mental health issues, to increase collaborations and partnerships between agencies to improve public health, and to promote substance use prevention and mental health resources and services.