The Office of Research in the College of Nursing at UMass Amherst
Keeping you up-to-date with the latest in nursing research at UMass
This year’s National HIV Testing Day theme is “Knowing,” which highlights the importance of knowing your HIV status, knowing where you can get tested, and knowing how you can connect to care and treatment services if you test positive.
Approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. have HIV, but one in seven people with HIV are unaware they have it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Click here to learn more about National HIV Testing Day.
The World Health Organization has designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, highlighting how vital nurses and midwives are to the health and well-being of our global community. In honor of this, NINR would like your help in capturing what nursing research means to those who live it. They are gathering this information to learn more from our community and collectively begin describing the next frontiers in nursing science. Click here to offer your thoughts.
Resources for Healthcare Decision-Makers Responding to COVID-19 Workforce Concerns can be found at https://asprtracie.hhs.gov/Workforce-Virtual-Toolkit
This collection provides a curated set of resources and tools for decision-makers managing healthcare workforce challenges in response to the COVID-19 emergency.
Due to the critical importance of safe food handling, Baystate Health may only consider donations from restaurants. Food from other sources is not accepted. All restaurant food donations must be coordinated through Catherine Smith at Baystate Health at Catherine.Smith2@baystatehealth.org. Requests will then be triaged to the appropriate location. This process helps ensure food safety guidelines are met and that the work site is prepared to receive and enjoy the delivery.
For the latest information, please visit www.baystatehealth.org/covid19.
Massachusetts is updating information pertaining to COVID-19 daily here
The CDC is updating information here
Baystate Health and Cooley Dickinson Health Care have set up Covid-19 sections on their websites which include recent updates, information for the public and their most recent COVID-19 metrics.
Two community resources for people who are struggling with managing a new life situation are https://www.look4help.org/ and https://www.413cares.org/
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is providing its latest communications and a set of resources here
Massachusetts is updating information pertaining to COVID-19 daily here: https://www.mass.gov/resource/information-on-the-outbreak-of-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19
The CDC is also updating information as they have it here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently issued a Request for Information seeking public input on a framework for the 2021-2025 NIH-wide Strategic Plan. The new plan will build on the previous NIH-wide Strategic Plan to guide NIH’s research efforts over the next five years. The framework articulates NIH’s priorities in the following key areas:
In addition, the framework identifies several cross-cutting themes that span the scope of these priorities.
NIH invites you to review the framework in the Request for Information and to provide your feedback via the RFI submission site. The RFI will remain open through March 25. NIH is encouraging stakeholder organizations (e.g., patient advocacy groups, professional societies, etc.) to submit a single response reflective of the views of the organization/membership as a whole.
NIH will be hosting two webinars in March to describe the planning process and answer questions. Information about these webinars will be posted on the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan webpage as soon as information is available.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has launched a newly designed website, https://findtreatment.gov/, that will help connect those who are looking for substance abuse treatment with approximately 13,000 locations across the United States. Visitors can enter a ZIP Code to find nearby locations of state-licensed facilities, treatment options, payment and insurance information, and what to expect on the first call.
An estimated 40 million Americans—including 12.5 million children—struggle with food insecurity, meaning they can’t afford an adequate diet. Federal nutrition programs and charitable meals make up the first line of defense, but solving this challenge will require communities to go beyond food to disrupt the root causes of economic distress.
Researchers at the Urban Institute have created a report identifying the various factors that contribute to food insecurity, and this report also features an interactive map with county-level data on these risk factors. You can access these resources at https://apps.urban.org/features/disrupting-food-insecurity/index.html