Working Together to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes: Santa Clara County Campaign

Working Together to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes Type 2 diabetes is a growing epidemic across the nation where one out of four people do not even know they have diabetes. Last year, diabetes was one of the leading causes of death in Santa Clara County! A recent UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and California Center for Public Health Advocacy study estimated 46 percent (almost 672,000) of adult residents in Santa Clara County are pre-diabetic or have undiagnosed diabetes. It is time to work together to prevent type 2 diabetes and promote better health for all our residents. Studies show that you can prevent or delay the onset of the disease by losing 5 to 7 percent of your weight by eating healthy and being more physically active. Look for the newly updated “It’s in our hands – TOGETHER WE CAN PREVENT TYPE 2 DIABETES” ads throughout the community on buses, billboards, bus shelters, Facebook ads, and online newspapers. Share the attached flyers with your patients and have them visit https://www.sccgov.org/sites/sccphd/en-us/Residents/diabetes/Pages/diabetes.aspx to learn more!

Article Review: Early Intervention for Psychosis

Early Intervention for Psychosis: The Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode Project, Susan T. Arzin, Amy B. Goldstein, Robert K. Heinssen, Psychiatric Annals, November 2015.
The contention of this article and this study is, "The best chance for improving outcomes in schizophrenia and related disorders is to intervene close to the onset of psychosis."  Schizophrenia affects about 1 percent of the U.S. population, over 3.2 million adults.  Over 100,000 youth experience first episode psychosis yearly.  Schizophrenia is an illness that shortens life (about eleven years), 5 percent commit suicide, usually in the early stages.  Part of the difficulty is that young people who develop this illness often tend to self isolate rather than seek treatment.  Those who participate in early treatment with a multidisciplinary focus seem to do better.  The Recovery After Intervention- Early Intervention Project (RAISE-IEP) seems to have achieved significant success.  This project included resiliency-focused individual therapy, family psychoeducation and support, supported education and employment, and personalized medication management.  Those participants in this type of treatment reported better results, stayed in treatment longer, show improvement in symptoms, increased involvement in work and better overall quality of life.

Our New Brand at Work

As part of moving from Mental Health Services to Behavioral Health Services (combining with Drug and Alcohol Services) is making a new brand.  This has included redoing our traditional logo.  These gifts were waiting for us one day.  Everyone in Behavioral health received the same.