February 2004

Health

Health Highlights

Staff: Evelyn Tomaszewski, ACSW
Senior Policy Associate, Health
Project Director, HIV/AIDS Spectrum Project

Partnerships

• NASW continues active participation in the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Most recently, NASW (JCAHO) attended the fall meeting of Professional Technical Advisory Committees (PTACs), where volunteer leaders and staff participated in the following PTAC Breakout Sessions: Behavioral Health Care; Long Term Care/Assisted Living; and Home Care.
• NASW participated in the second Training of Trainers for the Healthy Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) Students Project. NASW is in the fourth year of a collaborative effort with colleagues in the fields of psychology, counseling, and nursing, to bring training content to school-based social workers that focus on the health and mental needs and strengths of LBG students.
• The NASW HIV/AIDS Mental Health Training and Education Collaborative (MHTEC) Project was unveiled this fall. Funded through a sub-contract with the Mental Health HIV Services Collaborative (MHHSC ) Program, NASW HIV/AIDS MHTEC is tasked with developing curriculum content to address training, education, and technical assistance needs related to HIV/AIDS, substance use, and mental health services.
• Continuing in its role as Program Planning Committee member, NASW participated in the Peer Review Meeting for abstracts submitted for inclusion in the Annual National AIDS Update Conference (NAUC), co-sponsored by the Florida/Caribbean AIDS Education Training Center (AETC). The conference theme is “Unity of Purpose, Diversity of Action.”

Conferences and Presentations

• As part of the annual Domestic Violence Awareness Month events, NASW participated in a program at the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington , D.C. The program, “Domestic Violence – The Workplace Response,” included a keynote by Senior Policy Associate Evelyn Tomaszewski, who addressed how domestic violence affects us all and presented resources to help.
• NASW HIV/AIDS Spectrum Project staff continue to work with the Addiction Technology Transfer Center 's (ATTCs) National Office to identify opportunities to network with national and local ATTCs to provide social workers, allied health providers, and mental health care providers with information on HIV/AIDS and ATOD. Recently, NASW HIV/AIDS Spectrum Project staff were invited to speak at the annual ATTC Network Business Meeting, where the project director discussed “ NASW Initiative on HIV/AIDS, Mental Health and Substance Abuse.”
• NASW was invited to participate in a meeting convened by the National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) entitled, “Responding to HIV/AIDS in African American and Latino Communities.” The meeting convened experts from national public policy, advocacy, and leadership organizations representing Black/African American and Latino communities, and those with program activities relevant to communities of color. The purpose of the meeting was to identify common issues and potential areas of collaboration, and to develop working relationships with new and nontraditional partners, as well as with organizations that may not be directly involved in HIV/AIDS work.
• NASW offered an audio-conference entitled, “The Role of Social Work in Medication Adherence Treatment,” through collaborative continuing education efforts with NASW chapters, the Veteran's Administration, Addictions Technology Transfer Centers , and numerous other agencies and organizations.