NPHIC News - February 2014 - Vol. 25, No. 1 Page 3

Immunization Awareness Month; Houston's Porfirio Villarreal,
who put his Spanish skills to work in leading a Binational Health
Week media training webinar; and Suleima Sulgada and Brian
Williams, who joined Porfirio in manning the exhibit booth and
participating in our impromptu live webcast during the NCHCMM.
Additionally, I'd like to salute my fellow Credentialing Committee
members, Bill Furney, Bret Atkins, Monique Davis, and Sabrina
Marzouka for their dedication and engagement.

I want to welcome the four new members to the Executive Board
and to thank our departing Board members for their service and
dedication. Congratulations to Stacy Eberl and Bill Furney for their
successful elections to Treasurer and Vice President, respectively,
on the NPHIC Board of Directors.

My goal for NPHIC for the next 12 months is to continue to work

to increase our "brand recognition." We need others, not just
members, to know who we are and what we do so they can
realize the value of NPHIC as much as we do. I challenge all of you
to contribute to this aim: follow us on Facebook, retweet an entry
on our Twitter feed, tell a colleague about NPHIC and encourage
them to join, write an article about something going on in your
jurisdiction for the newsletter, or ask a staff or board member how
you can help.

Lastly, I want to leave you with this thought from Nelson Mandela,
who passed away in 2013, "There is no passion to be found
playing small--in settling for a life that is less than the one you
are capable of living."

Nicola Whitley

President's Message, continued from page 1

Cancer Cluster, continued from page 2

concerned about their risk of cancer. The guidance in the toolkit
is grounded in health communication and risk communication
theory.

The toolkit is available on the NPHIC website, at

http://

cancercluster.nphic.org

. When you check out the toolkit, we

encourage you to click on the discussion board link, where you
can offer your comments about the toolkit. For more information
about the toolkit, please contact

jstieger@nphic.org

The Affordable Care Act and Public Health

While the political battles over the health insurance components
of the Affordable Care Act rage on, not much has been said about
what the act means for public health. Until the American Public
Health Association weighed in with this excellent summary:

The Affordable Care Act includes:

Prevention & Public Health Fund.

Funding for state and local

prevention efforts that will bolster public health capacity and
prevention research and tracking.

Community transformation grants.

Funding for community-

level efforts that will help address preventable chronic conditions.

Public education campaigns.

Funding for large-scale outreach

activities focused on nutrition and exercise, tobacco cessation, oral
health and more.

Community health needs assessments.

Requires tax-exempt

hospitals to assess and address community needs and include
public health stakeholders in the process.

Nutritional labeling requirements.

Requires chain restaurants

and vending machines to display nutritional information.