http://www.jacbe.comen http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/bringing-the-community-to-the-table Last winter, the people of New Brunswick, NJ came together to address a sobering truth: the city’s residents don’t have enough healthy food to eat.

It was the city’s first public forum where community leaders, local organizations and residents met to discuss what could be done to fix the problem. The event was a collaborative effort by Johnson & Johnson, Elijah’s Promise, and the New Brunswick Development Corporation (DEVCO), along with others. Bonnie Petrauskas, Director, Corporate Contributions, Johnson & Johnson was in attendance. “The local community came together in a big way for this event, creating necessary dialogue around this issue.” Petrauskas said.

A key problem, many New Brunswick residents pointed out, is that there are no supermarkets close by. “Most people in my community, they do not own cars.” New Brunswick resident, Agripino Santiago said. “So it’s very difficult to go to a good supermarket with none here, in New Brunswick.”

Awilda de Jesus and her husband own Daisy’s Food Market, a local convenience store. “Mostly families come here. They don’t have cars, so they walk. We try to sell everything a supermarket would, only we have less stuff. It’s all we can give, but we try to give our best.”

Healthy food and the wellbeing of their families is a top priority for Santiago and many other New Brunswick residents, like Shannon Pritchett. She says it takes her about three days to grocery-shop. “I go to about 20 different locations, and I drive as far as an hour away to get produce and other items that are cheaper in a different community—so I can make sure my kids have enough healthy food for the entire month.”

Keynote speaker at the forum, and author of Closing the Food Gap, Mark Winne talked about ways the city, and its leaders, can address “supermarket abandonment” so that those who can’t get to the suburbs aren’t stuck paying more for food. This is an issue that DEVCO has been working with the city, and other companies, on since March, and a project is currently underway.

New Brunswick resident Daniel Hakin says one of the reasons he moved to the city was so that he wouldn’t have to drive somewhere every time his family needed something. “We try to eat healthy, mostly organic, but we don’t always have access to that food.” Hakin said. “So I find myself getting into the car more than I’d like to.”

Community gardens, farmers markets and farm-to-table events (like the ones Elijah’s Promise has been recently hosting) are a few of the solutions discussed at the forum. “We have this community garden where we plant, grow and can collect food for the whole winter.” resident Rufina Ramos said. “We grow long beans, chiles, Mexican tomatoes, herbs and other plants we use throughout the season to cook so we don’t get sick.” Ramos said she’d like to see more community gardens so the children in her community would be able to eat healthier.

The forum also featured workshops on a range of food and health-related topics, including how to cook healthy food on a budget, and the impact a good diet has on nutrition and health. The sessions not only gave residents the opportunity to learn more about the issue, but also brainstorm possible solutions. “We heard that solutions exist and that there are working models in cities across America.” said Petrauskas. “The passion I saw in the local residents and community leaders at the forum assures me that the city will continue to work collectively toward creating a stronger food system, and lasting change in New Brunswick.”

See the videoabout the Learn, Grow, Share initiative in New Brunswick, NJ.

Want to get involved with food security programs in your community? Choose the ‘Community Development’ or ‘Homelessness & Hunger’ cause icons when building your &you widget and get all kinds of ways to help, all in one place. http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/bringing-the-community-to-the-table#C Wed, 13 Oct 2011 04:48:10 +0000 contentadmin 154 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/educating-parents-to-support-healthy-families Every day we learn more and more about the need to live healthier; we’re eating better, exercising more and paying more attention to public programs like Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move.” But even with our collective efforts to raise awareness of healthy, active lifestyles, there is growing concern that some Americans are still missing a key ingredient that will allow them to live a full, productive life.

Regardless of our attempts to live healthier, eat more vegetables and exercise more, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimates that more than 90 million American adults still lack basic health literacy. These adults struggle to understand medical instructions, take medicine properly, attend regular check-ups and secure an understandable, reliable health insurance policy. With these medical issues, it is hard to make informed health choices for their children.

When adults are Health Literate they are able to take better care of their family, resulting in fewer un-needed trips to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms and fewer missed days of work and school. Richard Carmona, a former U.S. Surgeon General, has said, “Health literacy can save lives, save money, and improve the lives and well-being of millions of Americans.”

Johnson & Johnson created the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute, which launched the national Head Start program in order to address this health literacy issue in the communities most in need, and have worked to develop health-training techniques based on academic research, helping families and communities improve their health.

Though the program was designed to educate parents on how to respond to basic childhood health needs, it has evolved into a comprehensive adult education program, teaching parents about proper nutrition and all aspects of healthy lifestyles. As parents go through the program they have been sharing newfound health knowledge with friends and family, improving the Health Literacy of their communities and reducing wasted hours in local doctor offices.

Yet these savings extend far beyond small towns; Medicaid, which pays for care for many families with low health literacy, can save more than $550 per family annually in direct costs related to clinic/ER visits. Thus, for every 10,000 families trained in the program, this represents a potential savings of $5.5 million. By training one million families, over half a billion dollars could be saved annually.

UCLA has continued to enhance the Head Start program since its creation, providing world class research and designing educational programs to better meet the needs of adults in regions still struggling to achieve Health Literacy. While training parents to better understand the health needs of their families, UCLA has educated graduate students to best support local health care systems, creating a cycle of shared information and healthier communities.

To learn more about this program, please visit the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute website. If you are interested in getting involved with local adult education, nutrition, or health programs, use your widget and add causes from the following tabs: Children & Families, Community Development, Education and Sports & Recreation. For those interested in learning even more about the program, please download a PDF on the program: click here.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/educating-parents-to-support-healthy-families#C Wed, 08 Aug 2011 12:39:08 +0000 contentadmin 152 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/playing-games-to-save-lives Each summer millions of American kids attend camp. With no homework to worry about, they make friends, play games and spend time outdoors, easily separating their education from the time spent having fun each summer. Yet in some other parts of the world, where children are forced to deal with serious issues at young ages, there is a growing need to combine recreational activities with education.

In Africa, the country of Namibia still faces devastating HIV transmission rates, yet conversation and knowledge about the disease remain limited. Young women are three times more at risk for HIV infection than young men, but rarely receive proper education for prevention. In communities where children face lifelong, lasting health choices so young, the need to combine education and fun becomes very important.

Realizing this need to deliver health education in a fun and effective manner, Grassroot Soccer and Johnson & Johnson partnered to create Girlz Got Skillz, a weeklong summit that combines young Namibian girls’ love for soccer with HIV/AIDS education programs. Targeted to girls ages 14 to 19, the summit builds upon the lessons needed to become a good soccer player and connects these skills with health education; providing increased confidence, knowledge of their surroundings and an ability to better communicate with family and friends. These lessons help to prepare the girls for some of the difficulties they may face, and has enabled Girlz Got Skillz to create a dialogue about HIV in communities where it had previously not existed, promoting healthy decision-making and building self-esteem among the girls who are most at risk for infection.

“In many homes, children are not even allowed to talk about HIV/AIDS, so they have little knowledge about the disease and how to protect themselves. We want to change that, and soccer is serving as an agent for change,” says George Ekandjo, the National Program Coordinator for Skillz Namibia.

“When you play football (soccer), you have to learn how to communicate with your team and handle problems,” noted Alina, a 19 year-old participant. “These skills are also important in life.”

The weeklong soccer summit has had incredible success, and remains part of a larger Johnson & Johnson initiative in Namibia to educate community members on the dangers of HIV/AIDS. Over the past three years, these programs have used interactive learning to reach more than 17,000 students.

Over the past decade, Grassroot Soccer has combined the African passion for soccer with critical HIV education programs, reaching thousands of children and dramatically changing local communities. If you would like to support, or get involved with Grassroot Soccer, please visit http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/what-you-can-do/ to learn about the many ways you can help.

To learn more about the ongoing Johnson & Johnson commitment to these programs, please watch this video. If you are interested in getting involved with local adult education, nutrition, or health programs, use your widget and add causes from the following tabs: Children & Families, International Relief, Education and Sports & Recreation. For those interested in learning even more about the program, please visit http://www.jnj.com/connect/caring/patient-stories/girlz-got-skillz-new.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/playing-games-to-save-lives#C Wed, 29 Jul 2011 04:27:07 +0000 contentadmin 151 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/onechildoneblanket Less than a year ago, a single storm took the lives of hundreds in Peru. Struck with record low temperatures in regions that had never experienced this kind of dangerous cold, the country declared a state of emergency.

"Over the past three or four years we have seen temperatures during the winter months get lower, and people are unable to survive this," said Silvia Noble, from Plan Peru, a nonprofit in Lima. "Children and elderly people are especially at risk as they are not physically strong enough to last month after month of sub-zero conditions."

Though the government worked to provide support to those in need, it was the steady commitment of individuals that helped make recovery possible. Understanding that no gesture is too small to make an impact, employees at Johnson & Johnson Peru took action.

“One Child, One Blanket is a program that provides blankets to children in disaster affected areas,” said Leila Mueller, Humanitarian Assistance and Product Giving Specialist. “Employees knit, sew or purchase blankets, which are distributed to children in need following a disaster.

Through One Child, One Blanket, the Johnson & Johnson Peru team donated 500 blankets to children affected by the storm, an effort that the USA employees matched, bringing the total to 1,000 blankets.

“The One Child One Blanket program has created a path for our employees and the community to respond personally, something they have been asking for a long time,” says Mueller.

In 2009, its inaugural year, One Child, One Blanket distributed 1,500 blankets to children around the world. In 2010, they delivered over 3,000, thanks to the support of employees, family, friends, and local communities. The blankets not only reached the children of Peru, but also those affected by earthquakes in Chile, and to Mexico, Honduras and Colombia as part of flood relief efforts.


Through partnerships with disaster relief organizations like AmeriCares, Direct Relief International, Heart to Heart International, MAP International, Medical Teams International and the Surgical Implant Generation Network (S.I.G.N.), the blankets, along with much-needed first aid and health products, are airlifted to quickly assist the wounded and displaced in a disaster zone.

“We have a very robust disaster relief program,” says Mueller. “And with One Child, One Blanket, it’s the personal engagement of employees who are either knitting or crocheting or purchasing the blanket that embodies the sentiment of Johnson & Johnson.”

Mueller traveled to Peru in 2010 to help with the relief effort. On a Saturday afternoon in the community of Ventanilla, about an hour outside of Lima, she watched as one by one, children received their new blankets. The children were full of smiles as they clung to their blankets, and their parents told her how important this initiative was to them.

“This is such a forgotten community,” one mother said. “We are so glad that you are here.”

See the photo montage and video Leila Mueller put together from her trip to Peru.

Want to get involved with disaster relief efforts? Choose the ‘Crisis & Disaster Relief’ or ‘International’ cause icons when building your &you widget and get all kinds of ways to help, all in one place.

To learn more about One Child, One Blanket, please visit, http://www.jnj.com/connect/caring/patient-stories/One-Child-One-Blanket.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/onechildoneblanket#C Wed, 05 Jul 2011 05:29:07 +0000 contentadmin 149 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/meeting-africas-clean-water-challenge When Chris Courtin graduated from college in 2010, he knew he wanted to use his Engineering degree to do good in the world. What he probably didn’t know when he signed up for his first Engineering class at Princeton University was that his field of work would take him all the way to Kenya, where he would apply his knowledge to dramatically improve the quality of water for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Throughout college Chris explored many causes and displayed a passionate dedication to service, but he was concerned that he would not be able to connect his training as an Engineer with his goals to do good. Then Chris learned of the Princeton in Africa program, which provides service opportunities to recent graduates across the continent. As Chris researched the opportunities, he uncovered more about the water storage problems facing Kenya and other African nations. Clean water is a crucial resource for health and sanitation needs, and in Kenya access to clean water is a constant struggle; the country receives about 400 mm of average rainfall - New York averages about 1,200 mm.

In Nyumbani village, a self-sustaining community designed to house the “lost generation” of orphaned children left behind by the HIV pandemic, they lacked the infrastructure to collect this precious rain water and purify it for use. Chris felt that he could use his skills to be a catalyst for good in the Village, so he applied for the Nyumbani Village program, in hopes that he would have the opportunity to use his engineering skills to help design better water storage systems for the orphans and other residents of Nyumbani Village, 7,000 miles away from home.

When he first arrived in the Kenyan village, only a handful of the existing 80 housing units were connected to some type of rainwater retention system. Chris got to work immediately by redesigning the outdated and inefficient parts of the storage units, and in just seven months he had updated the tank design to incorporate water filtration systems. To date, he has built 38 new water collection units. “There is a language barrier and a need for continued water education, but I’m very proud of what we have been able to accomplish,” said Chris on a recent trip home. “This is something they want, something they use, and they are grateful for the work being done there.” Chris has worked with local contractors through the help of a dedicated translator, and despite the challenges of attaining the necessary supplies he remains unfazed by the difficulties of his task. In total, the storage units he has built represent an annual savings of more than 95,000 gallons of water, and have drastically changed the quality in the village. Chris has plans to finalize units for the 24 remaining houses before the end of the year.

Johnson & Johnson has been proudly supporting the work of the Nyumbani Children's Home and the Nyumbani Village for more than six years. The children receive holistic care, antiretroviral therapy, psychological counseling, academic help and spiritual support. Johnson & Johnson continues to look for innovative channels, like Princeton in Africa, to support the important, inspirational work being done in Nyumbani. To learn more about the Princeton in Africa program, go to their website, or check in on Chris and his work by reading his blog or watching this short video.

Nyumbani Village currently stands on one thousand acres of land donated by the Kitui District County Council, located three hours East of Nairobi. The site is within the poorest division in the Kitui District and has a high incidence of HIV and a high number of HIV orphans. When complete, the Village will accommodate approximately 1,000 orphans and 100 grandparents living in 100 dwelling units with a grandparent and 8-10 children per unit. Nyumbani Village welcomes financial support. If you would like to donate, add them to your &you widget. &you partner Network for Good can help facilitate your contribution.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/meeting-africas-clean-water-challenge#C Wed, 21 Jun 2011 09:40:06 +0000 contentadmin 144 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/eliminating-the-pain-and-stigma-of-fistula Stories of epidemic, violence and struggle dominate the portrayal of Africa in the West. But some of Africa’s most important and difficult stories remain untold, especially stories about the diseases and health conditions which have already been eradicated in the Western world but continue to plague people across the African continent. Yet as these untold stories of struggle begin to emerge, so too will new stories of medical success in the developing world.

Obstetric fistula is one such ailment, both under-reported in the western world but with emerging stories of hope and medical triumph. Fistula is an injury to women which results from several days of obstructed labor, a condition has been all but eradicated in most of the world and can be easily prevented with modern medical knowledge and practices. But in Ethiopia, due to the remoteness of many smaller communities, fistula is a regular challenge which still threatens many mothers and young women.

Women with fistula emerge from pregnancy with lasting physical and emotional challenges, chronic incontinence, and often are excluded by their communities and their families. Embarrassed and ashamed, they may end up living alone, watching their children grow up and unable to participate in their lives.

While Fistula can be corrected in many cases with a surgical procedure, prevention is the best option. The best way to prevent a fistula is to provide pregnant women access to quality health care services. At Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the only health care facility in Ethiopia dedicated to helping victims of fistula, Johnson & Johnson is supporting the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in The Hamlin College of Midwifery. Here, graduates lead outreach efforts to educate women in remote areas about the importance of quality prenatal and obstetrics care and serve them during deliveries.

With global support, Johnson & Johnson and the UNFPA are working to eradicate this painful condition, and to support women throughout the world to have successful pregnancies and healthy children.

To get involved, or to learn more about Fistula, please visit http://www.endfistula.org or create your own widget to support the elimination of fistula.

Support for fistula treatment has enabled improvement of emergency transport services and training of a midwife for community outreach. Additionally, with the support of Johnson & Johnson, the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital treats more than 1,000 women each year. For more information, please visit http://www.jnj.com/connect/caring/corporate-giving/saving-lives/simple-surgery
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/eliminating-the-pain-and-stigma-of-fistula#C Wed, 10 Jun 2011 02:39:06 +0000 contentadmin 138 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/investing-in-health-empowering-women-1 A few years ago, a family in Niquinohomo, Masaya, Nicaragua was forced to shut down their chicken farm – a business that had been their livelihood for as long as Cintya Torrentes could remember. The farm belonged to Cintya's parents and it wasn't producing enough to support their family of five.

"I thought I was going to have to leave my family and find work someplace else, maybe even in a different country," Cintya said.

Jobs are scarce in Nicaragua, where nearly 50 percent of its residents live in poverty. Organizations like the Asociación de Consultores para el Desarrollo de la Pequeña (ACODEP) help women like Cintya stay and work in the country by offering business training and microfinancing to female entrepreneurs.

Microfinance, also known as microcredit, was developed thirty years ago by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. It’s a system of small loans lent to those previously considered "unbankable." The idea is that the loans, often as little as $2, will be repaid slowly with minimal interest, creating a banking structure where none had existed, and giving people access to services they’ve never had before.

Johnson & Johnson has been working with The Resource Foundation, a US nonprofit that partners with organizations like ACODEP to design programs that help entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean. And in addition to supporting the microfinance effort, they also support healthcare training – since microcredit institutions have started to notice the effect that health problems have on their programming.

“There’s a strong link between health and hygiene and the productivity of employees,” says Silvia Velazquez, an ACODEP staff member who works with these new entrepreneurs. “When we train microentrepreneurs, we teach them business management skills as well as good health practices, like hygiene, disease prevention and reproductive health.”

“When we visited the microentrepreneurs, we found they were able to provide food, clothing and housing for their families. Plus, they had improved the overall health of their families.” says Rick Martinez of Johnson & Johnson. The results have been “terrific.”

Thanks to the program, Cintya’s farm is thriving. It’s one of 50 female-owned Central American businesses that have benefited from microfinancing programs in recent years. They’ve even expanded the business to sell fruits and vegetables too.

“People from the community come to the farm to buy our eggs, and we sell them in local markets,” Cintya says. “We’re providing the community with a healthy food source. I’m so thankful for this opportunity. I get to provide for my family, be with my family and keep my farm.”


Add our microcredit partners to your widget to support these campaigns, or to learn more about microfinance. Our current partners include: Freedom from Hunger, Microcredit Summit, Pro Mujer, Water.org, Fonkoze, VisionSpring, with others joining regularly.

Microfinance Plus works with the Johnson & Johnson global network to provide solutions based on specific local needs. To see how the program has worked in the past, please visit: http://www.jnj.com/connect/caring/corporate-giving/saving-lives/social-gap http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/investing-in-health-empowering-women-1#C Wed, 06 Jun 2011 12:04:06 +0000 contentadmin 135 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/preventing-premature-births-supporting-healthy-babies Preterm birth is currently the leading cause of neonatal mortality in the United States. Even though the U.S. has one of the most advanced medical systems in the world, nearly one out of every eight babies born in the United States is premature. Premature babies who do manage to survive face an increased risk of disease throughout their childhood.

To further complicate healthy deliveries, late preterm births (34-37 weeks) are also on the rise in the U.S. New research shows that babies born even a few weeks early require more medical and nursing care, longer hospital stays and more readmissions than babies born at full term. Yet while one in eight infants in the U.S. is still born prematurely, preventative care and education are the available and existing keys to addressing this challenge.

Specifically, pregnant women should ensure that they get early prenatal care, stop smoking and do everything they can to reduce maternal stress. Additionally, mothers and doctors should not schedule delivery before 39 weeks unless medically necessary.

The Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute, L.L.C. partnered with the March of Dimes and the Kentucky Department for Public Health on the initial phase of Healthy Babies Are Worth the Wait. This program is a three-year initiative with the goal of demonstrating a reduction in preventable preterm births in targeted geographies in Kentucky.

The Healthy Babies Are Worth the Wait program is a collaboration between health care providers and local health departments to promote evidence-based interventions, which include screening and referral for treatable, preventable conditions; consistent care before, during and between pregnancies; professional education; education for mothers about the steps that they can take to reduce their risk; and public awareness campaigns to help families and communities understand the long-term effects of preterm birth.

For more information, or to get involved with the Healthy Babies Are Worth the Wait, please visit http://www.prematurityprevention.org/.

Johnson & Johnson will support the second initiation of Healthy Babies Are Worth the Wait in 2011, which will be located in New Jersey.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/preventing-premature-births-supporting-healthy-babies#C Wed, 13 May 2011 03:20:05 +0000 contentadmin 129 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/japan-support-and-relief-delivering-aid-to-those-who-need-it-most When a global disaster strikes, stakeholders such as organizations, corporations, and individuals come together to help with the relief effort. On March 11, 2011, a tsunami and earthquake hit Japan, destroying communities and lives across the nation. As in previous disasters, communities around the world have united to provide relief, supplies and support to the individuals who need it most.

Since the earthquake struck, Johnson & Johnson committed $8 million in relief funds as well as considerable product donations of medical supplies and consumer hygiene products to aid in the relief and recovery of Japan.

While numerous Johnson & Johnson partners continue to assist in long term relief efforts in Japan and throughout the world, lasting relationships with organizations such as Save The Children and Direct Relief International prove critical in moments of crisis. As an independent organization focused on creating lasting change in the lives of children, Save The Children partners with organizations, governments, and non-profits to alleviate the struggles of poverty, hunger and disease, while providing access to health care professionals and programs to help children cope with the stress and emotional strain following a disaster. Their work provides relief to those who need it most.

Another important partner in Johnson & Johnson's ongoing relief efforts in Japan is Direct Relief International. Focused on financing health services and providing support structures in developing countries, few global organizations are equally capable of providing rapid disaster response and relief. This organization of health professionals working in underserved communities represents a crucial part of the global health care infrastructure and has saved lives in disaster zones throughout the world.

Johnson & Johnson has worked with Save The Children and Direct Relief International for more than two decades, with a continued commitment to providing financial support and health resources. These partnerships have assisted through multiple disasters, reaching individuals in need throughout the world.

To provide support, or learn more about these programs, please visit http://www.directrelief.org or www.savethechildren.org or create your own widget to support disaster relief.


Johnson & Johnson continues to support the heroic work of Save The Children and Direct Relief International to care for the children and people of Japan, ensuring that the ongoing needs following the earthquake and tsunami will continue to be addressed in the years to come.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/japan-support-and-relief-delivering-aid-to-those-who-need-it-most#C Wed, 09 Apr 2011 01:59:04 +0000 admin 119 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/20-million-healthy-active-children "I have a stomach ache. I feel really tired. I don't want to eat." Not what you'd expect to hear coming from an athletic fourth grader. But for Fernanda, a girl living in Jinotepe, Nicaragua, these symptoms' cause afflicts too many kids, too often - intestinal worms.

Fernanda is one of 400 million children around the world at risk of being infected with soil-transmitted helminthes, or STH (meaning roundworms, whipworms and hookworms), caused by a lack of clean water and poor sanitation. Intestinal worms are especially harmful to children because they can stunt growth and cognitive development, and lead to malnutrition and anemia.

Every year, Fernanda lines up at school to get a deworming tablet - mebendazole, donated by Johnson & Johnson through a program called Children Without Worms. But medicine is just part of the solution. Children Without Worms also works with governments and organizations in eight countries to prevent re-infection through hygiene education, improved sanitation and clean water. So Fernanda has learned how to purify the drinking water in the kitchen bucket at home, wash her hands, and scrub her fruits and vegetables.

"She's physically healthier and she's more knowledgeable so she doesn't re-infect herself," says Fernanda's mother, Grissell Vargas.

Children Without Worms was founded in 2005 as a partnership between Johnson & Johnson and the Task Force for Global Health. It's the first program to focus solely on global treatment and prevention of STH, treating about 20 million of the world's most at-risk children. In 2008, the program expanded to Bangladesh, Cameroon, Uganda, Zambia, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Nicaragua.

"One of the benefits of our deworming campaign is our increased school attendance and school performance," says Dr. Martha Reyes, Director, National Immunization Program, Nicaragua Ministry of Health. "It has been fundamental in improving the health of our children."

Beyond mebendazole donations, Children Without Worms teams up with organizations like Helen Keller International, working with the education ministry in Cambodia to add hygiene education to the school curriculum. And with World Wildlife Fund in Cameroon to provide latrines and clean water in remote communities. Children Without Worms hopes to build partnerships like in other countries, as well.

"You must have a prevention component, or children will be continuously re-infected," says Kim Koporc, Children Without Worms Acting Director. "The prevention component breaks the cycle."

In Nicaragua, the program takes place in April, during national health campaign week. Teachers give each student a deworming tablet as well as health and hygiene instruction. Students also receive immunizations and vitamin supplements from local health workers.

"The children have more energy, they're paying better attention, they get sick less often and miss less school." says Yesseina Espinoza, a teacher at Fernanda's school. "It makes a world of difference."


Visit childrenwithoutworms.org to find out more about the program, and how you can help. You can also stay updated and share Children Without Worms with your friends via Facebook and Twitter.

Johnson & Johnson partners with the Task Force for Global Health to treat more than 20 million children per year, across the globe, and works to address the root causes of STH through Children Without Worms. In 2001, the World Health Assembly set a goal to treat at least 75 percent of all school age children at risk of STH by 2010. The contributions of Children Without Worms helped the WHA reach their goal years ahead of their target date.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/20-million-healthy-active-children#C Wed, 07 Apr 2011 04:54:04 +0000 admin 117 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/a-brighter-future-just-on-the-other-side Catalina Munoz went from selling and parking cars on the streets of Colombia to make money for her family, to nursing school. "I wanted to be a nurse, and I knew an education was the only way to a brighter future. I started taking classes, but I didn't know how to pay for them. Everything was so difficult."

Soon after she started taking classes at Politecnico Internacional, Catalina was accepted into the Bridge to Employment program. "Once that happened," she said, "everything for me and my family began to turn around."

Many students, like Catalina, have a tough time affording tuition, and sometimes can't finish their degree programs, even though they've got great grades. Bridge to Employment, funded by Johnson & Johnson, supports these students in need and helps train them for jobs in health care. For qualifying students, Bridge to Employment covers around 40 percent of their tuition, and offers academic resources such as tutoring, workshops and conferences. Johnson & Johnson employees also volunteer in many of these activities, serving as mentors to the students.

Bridge to Employment partnerships can be found in communities across the US, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. And while each program is unique to its location, every partnership includes a high school or institution of higher education, a community organization, and a local Johnson & Johnson operating company. Every step of each program focuses on helping students further their education, and providing them with a solid foundation that they can build on.

Bridge to Employment was also established to help young people build solid futures. The students at San Mateo High School, in San Mateo, CA, have been introduced to a wide range of careers in health care because of it. They have a chance to work with mentors to get real-world experiences, which shows them that the things they're learning in high school can be meaningful and relevant to their future. The hands-on training part of the program includes: operating electron microscopes, exploring the chemistry behind making soap, and learning how to market products and manage production lines. Many of the students also obtain useful credentials, like the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA).

One student referred to Bridge to Employment as "a launch pad for me to really dig deep into the sciences", another said that the "hands on experience of working in a lab is what really made the difference", while a third gushed about resume seminars and learning interview skills.
Whether you're a teenager in high school or an adult trying to jumpstart your career in health, the Bridge to Employment programs are giving people the tools and the confidence to succeed.

Martha Pedraza, also participating in Bridge to Employment in Colombia, credits the program with helping her turn her life around so she could follow her dreams. "Thanks to the program, I feel like a better person, colleague, sister and daughter."

To find out how you can participate in the Bridge to Employment program, visit http://www.bridge2employment.org.

Johnson & Johnson launched the Bridge to Employment initiative (BTE) in 1992 in an effort to support education by communicating to at-risk students that learning can be meaningful, engaging, and relevant.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/a-brighter-future-just-on-the-other-side#C Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:13:04 +0000 contentadmin 123 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/preventing-accidents-protecting-kids Accidents claim the lives of more than 700,000 children under the age of 15, around the world, every year. In the United States, it's the leading cause of death for children 14 and under. Dr. Martin Eichelberger, a pediatric trauma surgeon at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC decided to do something about it.

Dr. Eichelberger wanted to create the first-ever nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing unintentional childhood injuries. In 1987, he brought the idea to Frank Ziegler, a then-President in the Johnson & Johnson Consumer organization, who gave him enough funding for the next five years.

Safe Kids Worldwide was born, and since then the US has seen a 45 percent drop in the childhood death rate from accidents, saving 38,000 lives.

"I can't save that many lives at the hospital," says Dr. Eichelberger.

In 1999, Safe Kids launched in China. Some ground-breaking research led the Safe Kids team to discover that more than 60 percent of child injuries in China happen at home and that 80 percent of parents don't know how to check household items for safety. So they set out to train 10,000 kindergarten teachers in 13 Chinese cities about home safety, and reached nearly a million families. Because of the program, China recorded a 6.6 percent drop in the childhood death rate from accidents between 2000-2007, meaning that 20,000 children's lives were saved. Safe Kids Worldwide also promotes child safety in 17 other countries, including Germany, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2010, after learning about the rising number of kids with sports injuries, Safe Kids ran 20 pilot clinics across the US where doctors, athletic trainers and other experts spoke to kids, parents and coaches about injury prevention. The topics included: avoiding dehydration, recognizing concussion, pre-participation physicals and appropriate warm-ups to avoid soft tissue injuries. There was an excellent turnout at the clinics, and an online webinar had registered participants from 48 states and nine countries. More clinics and webinars are planned for this year.


Add Safe Kids when setting up your widget, to see the latest opportunities to get involved and all the ways you can help.

Or visit http://www.safekids.org for all kinds of safety tips, and to see what's happening with Safe Kids in your area. You can also stay updated and share Safe Kids with your friends on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SafeKidsUSA, or on Twitter and YouTube.

For more than 20 years, Johnson & Johnson has supported Safe Kids in its mission to teach children and adults how to prevent unintentional injury and death. Safe Kids Week started in the U.S. in 1993, and connected various safety initiatives with Johnson & Johnson products, allowing consumers to redeem proofs of purchase for household safety items like a free smoke detector. http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/preventing-accidents-protecting-kids#C Wed, 05 Apr 2011 11:15:04 +0000 admin 112 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/a-message-for-mothers Lorielle James receives a text message on her cell phone that reminds her if anyone in her home smokes, it's important for them to quit now because of the danger to her baby's health. This is something Lorielle, a first-time mom, feels strongly about.

"I smoked cigarettes until I found out I was pregnant, and I quit for my child. A text like this could help someone who wants to smoke again think twice about having that cigarette," says Lorielle. Today, her son, JahTae, is strong and healthy.

It's a sad truth that a lot of moms in the United States don't have the health and social support services they need to take care of themselves and raise healthy babies. For the first time since the 1950s, the infant mortality rate in the US is on the rise, and it's among the highest in the industrialized world. Every year, more than 500,000 babies are born prematurely and an estimated 28,000 children die before their first birthday. That's a public health crisis. But it's one that might be turned around, with the help of something almost every modern mom has-a cell phone.

Text4baby is the first and biggest free mobile health service in the United States. It gives timely, expert health information via SMS text messages to pregnant women and new moms through their baby's first year. Text4baby messages also connect women to local prenatal and infant care services and resources.

Once a woman registers at text4baby.org, or via her mobile phone, and enters her baby's due date or birth date, she'll start receiving free weekly SMS text messages. These texts are filled with vital information about immunizations, nutrition, oral health and child development, as well as toll-free numbers for health services, all timed to match her baby's age.

The program, launched in February 2010, is made possible by an unprecedented group of public and private partners including government agencies, corporations, academic institutions, professional associations and nonprofit organizations, including Johnson & Johnson, a founding sponsor. In November, 2010, Text4baby announced a goal of reaching one million moms by 2012, and Johnson & Johnson made a multi-year, multi-million commitment to its expansion. This will help many more new mothers get access to information that they need to give their babies the best possible start in life.

"I wish I could've used text4baby while I was pregnant," says Lorielle. "It's helpful for me as a new mom, and I think it would be great for pregnant women, too." Lorielle plans to continue using the service during JahTae's first couple years. "The texts remind you how important it is to think about what is best for your baby."

Women can sign up for the service by texting BABY to 511411 (or BEBE for Spanish). They will receive text messages, free of charge, that are timed to their due date or baby's date of birth. Moms like Lorielle who use cell phones as their primary method of staying connected can receive prenatal and infant care information right at their fingertips.

Visit text4baby.orgto register or find out more about the program. You can also stay updated and share text4baby with your friends on Facebook at www.facebook.com/text4baby.

Johnson & Johnson, a founding sponsor of Text4baby, joins the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) in this program to promote maternal and child health.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/a-message-for-mothers#C Wed, 05 Apr 2011 01:35:04 +0000 admin 111 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/proof-of-hope At eight months pregnant, Kangela got heartbreaking news: She was HIV-positive. :It was like the whole world had come to an end," says Kangela, who lives in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. "I was thinking, is my baby going to die? How am I going to tell this to my mom and deal with the community?"

Kangela was one of over 1.5 million pregnant women worldwide who are HIV-positive. Of those, an astounding 95% live in sub-Saharan Africa.

What can be done to help these women give birth without passing the virus along to their babies? And, can they live long enough to care for and raise them?

Dr. Mitch Besser went to South Africa in 1999 to find answers. "When I came here, there were no programs or resources for HIV-positive women," Dr. Besser says. An obstetrician/gynecologist and graduate of Harvard Medical School, Besser began as a consultant to Cape Town clinics for Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission. He saw that even when proper treatment was available, these HIV-positive women faced social, emotional and psychological barriers that hampered their success.

Then, an insight: what if he could enlist other new mothers, living openly with HIV/AIDS, to support and educate their pregnant peers? These women became known as Mentor Mothers-and mothers2mothers was born.

What began as a single Cape Town support group in 2001 has grown to include 703 sites in nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and, in 2010, Tanzania and Uganda. mothers2mothers helps more than 200,000 patients every month, with around 300,000 new HIV-positive mothers enrolling in the program each year.

The heart of the program is the Mentor Mothers. They come from the same world as the patients. They live with HIV. They know what it feels like to find out they're positive, and they have a personal understanding of what it all means for the families and aspirations of these women. Mentor Mothers teach patients about antiretroviral treatment, proper diet and nutrition, and how to feed their babies in order to prevent HIV transmission. They also speak about condom use and about ways to overcome discrimination. Right now, mothers2mothers employs more than 1,750 women living with HIV, empowering them and surrounding their patients with proof of hope.

The results have been life-changing. "These women no longer feel like outcasts in society," says Dr. Besser. "They belong to a vibrant community where they are raising healthy babies and living positive lives."

"When I received the news that my baby was HIV-negative, oh! It was really a relief," Kangela says, with a smile of joy that can't be described in words. Looking at her healthy 6-year-old son, she says, "I am proof that there is hope."


Add mothers2mothers when setting up your widget, to see the latest opportunities to get involved and all the ways you can help.
Or visit m2m.org to find out more about the program. You can also stay updated and share mothers2mothers with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.

Johnson & Johnson supports mothers2mothers as part of five-year commitment to the United Nations' call to action to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MGS) of reducing mortality in women and children by 2015. http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/proof-of-hope#C Wed, 05 Apr 2011 12:57:04 +0000 admin 110 at 'http://www.jacbe.com' http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/from-the-classroom-to-the-patient-room Two years ago, registered nurse Katie Hungarter started caring for patients at Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, NJ. Even though her hospital orientation program was thorough, going from a student and nurse intern to a registered nurse, “was intimidating,” Katie recalls. “When I started working I was suddenly responsible for patients and had to interact with doctors for the first time.”


A lot of new nurses feel like Katie, which is why high entry-level turnover is one of the reasons the US is facing one of the greatest shortages of nurses in its history – in 2008, there were more than 135,000 nursing positions to fill. New nurses are vital to our country’s healthcare system. If things continue this way, the shortage could approach 260,000 positions by 2025 – no doubt affecting the quality and availability of healthcare services in the future.

The Campaign for Nursing’s Future, a public-awareness campaign launched by Johnson & Johnson in 2002, is a multi-year, $50-million national initiative working to address the nursing shortage by recruiting new nurses and nurse faculty, and helping to retain current nurses. From the beginning, the Campaign has worked with professional nursing organizations, schools, hospitals and other healthcare groups to promote nursing opportunities and raise awareness of the value of the nursing profession to our society and our country’s healthcare community.

As part of this initiative, a training program was developed. Your Future in Nursing is a virtual training environment that combines the interactivity of video computer gaming with real-life nursing scenarios, so soon-to-be nurses feel more prepared and confident taking on the inevitable challenges of the workplace. This tool lets new and future nurses practice responding to scenarios in a risk-free and relaxed environment while developing the communication skills that make such a difference when going from classroom to bedside.

“Understanding the needs and challenges of new nurses and supplying them with supportive tools and resources is key to keeping them in practice,” says Andrea Higham, the Director of Campaign for Nursing’s Future.

Your Future in Nursing lets users navigate a personalized 3-D nurse character through rooms of a virtual hospital, and was co-developed by a diverse team of nurses, including Katie. They worked together to identify common challenges that new nurses of all ages face, such as feeling overwhelmed by patient care responsibilities to working with difficult co-workers.
“We worked hard to get at the heart of the issues that affect nurses during the transition from school to the workforce and then strategized the best ways for nurses to manage those issues,” says Barbara Tofani, RN, Director of Hunterdon Regional Cancer Center and a consultant in the development of Your Future in Nursing.

“The game is great because everywhere you turn you are encountering a different situation with doctors, nurses and patients. That is the real life of a nurse—you don’t know what you’ll run into on any given day,” says Katie.

Another big goal of the Campaign is to raise funds for regional nursing communities. “Promise of Nursing” galas, hosted all across the country, have raised $16 million in scholarships and grants, funding more than 1,000 renewable student scholarships, 300 renewable faculty fellowships and 150 nursing school grants to support nursing education. The Campaign works with the Foundation of the National Student Nurses Association to award those funds in cities and regions with the greatest nursing shortage.

Through programs like Your Future in Nursing, fundraisers and more, the Campaign for Nursing’s Future gives new, and soon-to-be nurses the confidence they need to care for their patients.

“What I like about nursing is being with patients and the conversations that I have with them,” says Katie, who is now working towards her Bachelor’s degree in nursing. “You really feel like you are making a big difference.”


To find out more about the Campaign for Nursing’s Future, and how you can get involved, visit http://campaignfornursing.com. You can also stay updated and share the Campaign with your friends on Facebook at facebook.com/jnjnursingnotes.

Since its launch, Johnson & Johnson’s Campaign for Nursing’s Future has attracted more than 750,000 men and women to join the profession.
http://www.jacbe.com/the-stories/from-the-classroom-to-the-patient-room#C Wed, 02 Apr 2011 04:29:04 +0000 admin 118 at 'http://www.jacbe.com'