Category: Health Facts

$225 Million in Training Grants Awarded Today; American Rescue Plan Investments for Community Health Workforce Total Over $1.1 Billion

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is awards $225 million in American Rescue Plan funds to train over 13,000 Community Health Workers (CHWs). In response to the acute need to expand the health care workforce and address pandemic-related burnout, the American Rescue Plan provided historic investments. Among these investments, President Biden’s American Rescue Plan provided a total of over $1.1 billion for community health, outreach, and health education workers—the largest ever one-time investment in the nation’s community health workforce. These investments are expected to deploy over 40,000 people in community health, outreach, and health education roles over the coming years. This investment will build on the roughly 50,000 CHWs who were already working in American communities before the pandemic.

CHWs are an evidence-based, cost-effective public health workforce to improve population health and

Flu season is right around the corner, which means it’s time to get your flu shot. So last Thursday, Mary and I both got our 2023 flu shot in one arm and our NEW Covid booster for both “original” Covid AND Omicron in the other arm. A little afternoon but not bad at all!

With COVID-19 and other potentially serious respiratory illnesses, like RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), circulating at the same time as the flu, getting your shot is as important as ever. And with so many misconceptions about the flu and flu vaccine, it’s a fitting time of year to review some new or typical myths and address them with some facts.

Since the advent of preventive measures to protect against COVID-19, some think wearing a mask, washing their hands and keeping distance from others will be enough to protect against the flu.

It’s true that these precautions we

Today, in his address to the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. announced over $2.9 billion in new assistance from the US Government to address global food insecurity. President Biden’s announcement builds on the $6.9 billion in US government assistance to support global food security already committed this year.

The compounding impacts of the pandemic, the deepening climate crisis, rising energy and fertilizer costs, and protracted conflicts – including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – have disrupted global supply chains and dramatically increased global food prices. A multi-year drought in the Horn of Africa has created a direct humanitarian emergency, with parts of Somalia at risk of famine for the second time in just over a decade. This new announcement of $2.9 billion will save lives through emergency interventions and invest in medium to long term food security assistance in order to protect the

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is now the subject of social media posts and a video that misrepresents facts about the care the Medical Center provides to transgender patients.

VUMC began its Transgender Health Clinic because transgender individuals are a high-risk population for mental and physical health issues and have been consistently underserved by the US health system.

We have been and will continue to be committed to providing family-centered care to all adolescents in compliance with state law and in line with professional practice standards and guidance established by medical specialty societies.

VUMC requires parental consent to treat a minor patient who is to be seen for issues related to transgender care, and never refuses parental involvement in the care of transgender youth who are under age 18.

Our policies allow employees to decline to participate in care they find morally objectionable, and do not permit discrimination against employees who