Useful County Data Resources
The Environmental Health Investigation Branch produces county-level hospital discharge rates. To view the website and review the reports, go to: http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ehib/ehib2/topics/asthma.html. The first link on the page, "California Asthma Facts, Vol. 1, Issue 1", shows the 2000 data for hospitalization rates for asthma by gender, age, race, and county in California.

Asthma Symptom Prevalence in California 2001, a Fact Sheet based on the questionnaire administered by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, is now available on the FHOP website. Go to: http://www.ucsf.edu/fhop/mch-data.htm. Click on "California MCH Data," which is located on the left side of your screen. Under the heading, Childhood Morbidity, you can find the Fact Sheet.

NOTE: Both of these reports contain statistical confidence intervals. Be sure to consider these when comparing your data with the state or other local areas. The STD Control Branch has just released significantly improved and expanded county-level STD reports for each local health jurisdiction. The reports contain epidemiologic descriptions for chlamydia, gonorrhea, primary syphilis, and secondary syphilis. There are graphic analyses by age, race/ethnicity, and year of occurrence for each disease. Also included are detailed tables including numbers of cases, case rates, and proportions by gender and race/ethncity. Go to: http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/dcdc/STD/stddatasummaries.htm. Click on the name of your local health jurisdiction to view the reports.

Training
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!! FHOP is hosting two EpiBC 2002 trainings on August 27, 2003 and September 3, 2003 in Sacramento, California. The workshop is a one-day training designed for MCH staff to learn and practice EpiBC 2002. EpiBC 2002 is a Windows-based software program for analyzing California birth certificate data based on EpiINFO 2002, a public domain analytical software package from the Centers for Disease Control. Each participant will have a computer on which to practice and carry out a structured exercise. Features in EpiBC 2002 include improved charts and graphs functions, mapping capabilities, incorporation of Microsoft Access database standards, and use of HTML for report outputs. Seats are filling up fast, so reserve your seat by registering at: http://www.ucsf.edu/fhop/fhoptrain3.htm.

POSSIBLE EpiBC 2002 TRAINING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. If you are from a county located in Southern California, please contact FHOP by phone (415) 476-5283 or by email (fhop@fcm.ucsf.edu) if you would like an EpiBC 2002 training in Southern California.

FHOP has conducted all their trainings for the 2002-2003 year. Materials from previous trainings are posted on the website, although attendance at the trainings is highly recommended to receive valuable "hands on" experience with future programs. Please check back after trainings to see the new materials that have been posted.

Spotlight
NEW FHOP STAFF!!! We are very pleased to introduce you to Brianna Gass, who has just been hired to replace Roy McCandless as Project Coordinator for the MCH contract. Brianna has an MPH in Policy and Management and comes to us directly from a role as Project Manager for a Stanford Center for Health Care Evaluation project studying the effectiveness of a peer based substance abuse outreach and referral program. This role also included the performance of qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Prior to that she was a Research Associate for the Institute for the Future and co-authored a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded report on the Future of Mental Health. Brianna will be overseeing all aspects of the MCH contract including the training and technical assistance areas and participating with data analysis tasks. Brianna is also very athletic and participates in triathlons.