Healthy Lung Expo in Indianapolis, Apr. 16

By Tiffany Whisner
On behalf of the American Lung Association
http://www.lung.org/

Managed Health Services (MHS) is sponsoring the American Lung Association’s (ALA) 2013 Healthy Lung Expo and TB Symposium, a comprehensive lung-health educational conference taking place on Tuesday, April 16 at the Indianapolis Marriott East.

This annual Healthy Lung Expo is a one-day conference with two separate tracks — one targeting lung health patients and their families and one targeting lung health professionals. The patient education program features COPD, lung cancer and asthma sessions for patients and caregivers; the professional education program offers Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for nurses and respiratory therapists. There will also be an additional track this year in the TB Symposium.

MHS Medical Director Dr. John Ellis will be a featured speaker on a panel of lung health and industry professionals providing participants a forum for open discussion. There will be two open discussions — one for patients and one for professionals — during the conference’s breakout time slots.

“The Healthy Lung Expo is an opportunity for patients, caregivers and health care providers to learn more about the latest trends, resources and research surrounding lung health,” said Meghan McNulty, Manager of Mission Services of the ALA in Indiana. “The event will host approximately 800 people and give all attendees the opportunity to learn facts about lung health but also network and participate in an awards ceremony and prize raffle.”

“We look forward to participating both as a sponsor and an exhibitor for the 2013 Healthy Lung Expo and TB Symposium,” said MHS CEO Patrick Rooney. “This conference offers the chance for both patients and professionals to learn about exciting research in the world of lung health as well as hear from some inspirational speakers. We hope attendees will come away from the Healthy Lung Expo having learned something new and made some connections.”

Lunch is plated; complimentary oxygen refills and valet parking will be available. Medical staff will also be on hand to assist. Registration is $5 for patients; $25 for students; and $75 for professionals. Registration cost includes all meals, program materials, presentations, access to exhibitors and raffle ticket.

For more information about the ALA in Indiana, visit www.lung.org/associations/states/indiana/.

For more information about MHS, visit MHS online at mhsindiana.com.
About Managed Health Services
Managed Health Services (MHS) is a managed care entity that has been proudly serving Hoosiers for nearly two decades through the Hoosier Healthwise (HHW) and Healthy Indiana (HIP) Medicaid Programs. MHS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation®, a leading, multi-line healthcare enterprise offering both core Medicaid and specialty services. For more, contact MHS, 1099 N. Meridian St., Suite 400, Indianapolis, IN 46204. Contact MHS at (877) 647-4848 or visit MHS online at mhsindiana.com.

About American Lung Association in Indiana
Our mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. With your generous support, the American Lung Association is “Fighting for Air” through research, education and advocacy. For more information about the American Lung Association or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) or visit www.lungin.org.

Editor’s Acknowledgement: Coles Marketing. Images provided by Coles Marketing and used with written permission.

Butler University “Religion and Global Health” Public Seminars

Butler University. AroundIndy.com staff photo, (c) 2012, all rights reserved.

By Marc Allan
Butler University
http://www.butler.edu/

Butler University Seminar on Religion and World Civilization will present four public seminars on “Religion and Global Health,” beginning Sept. 20, 2012, with “Global Challenges for Healing and Hope.”

That will be followed by “Health and Wellness in Kenya and Indianapolis” (Oct. 30), “Health in Latin America and the Caribbean” (Jan. 29, 2013), and “Health, Faith and the Religious Landscape of South Asia” (Feb. 26).

All events in the series take place from 7-9 p.m. in the Krannert Room of Clowes Memorial Hall. They are free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets for the September and October events will be available starting Sept. 4 at the Clowes Hall box office. Tickets for the January and February events will be available starting Jan. 3, 2013.

The box office is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call 317-923-7252.

The Seminar on Religion and World Civilization is a program of the Center for Faith and Vocation at Butler University, promoting understanding of interfaith and intercultural relations through the discussion of religious issues in global perspective. The Center for Faith and Vocation gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Here is more about each event.

Religion and Health: Global Challenges for Healing and Hope
Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012

Healthcare is one of the most important ways in which faith-based development organizations strive to do good around the world. But the landscape of this work is complex politically, socially and theologically. Scholars of religion and development work will lay a foundation for our year-long exploration of religion and international health issues.

Speaker:

Katherine Marshall is visiting professor and senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and Public Affairs at Georgetown University.  Marshall, who worked at the World Bank from 1972 to 2006, currently advises the World Bank on issues faith and ethics. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and has completed graduate and professional training at Harvard and Princeton universities.

Respondents:

Candy Gunther Brown is an associate professor of religious studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. Her research explores the place of religion in healing in the Americas and worldwide, as well as globalization, religion and science, medical ethics and healthcare management.

Matt MacGregor is executive director of Timmy Global Health, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit organization. It works to expand access to healthcare, while empowering student and medical volunteers to engage directly in global development and tackle global health challenges firsthand

Health and Wellness in Kenya and Indianapolis
Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012

For nearly 25 years, hospitals and faith communities in Indiana and Kenya have been developing international partnerships in health and wellness, working to treat AIDS and prevent the spread of HIV, and improve access to education and healthy food. A panel discussion will bring together leaders from three initiatives that will expand our understanding of health and wellness internationally and here in the Midwest of the United States.

Panelists:

Dr. Robert Einterz is associate dean for international programs and professor of clinical medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and co-founder of the IU-Moi University (Kenya) exchange program. Launched in 1989. it led to the creation of AMPATH (the Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS). AMPATH  provides care for more than 55,000 HIV-infected patients in Kenya and has reduced the rate of HIV infection by addressing the poverty that fuels the spread of the virus.

Joseph Okuya is project coordinator of Global Interfaith Partnership in Chulaimbo, Kenya. Founded in 2006, the Global Interfaith Partnership is a coalition of congregations in Indiana and the Chulaimbo area of western Kenya which has developed the Umoja Project (“unity” in Kiswahili) to respond to the urgent needs of Chulaimbo’s orphans and vulnerable children.

David Miner is volunteer executive director of the Interfaith Hunger Initiative. Launched in 2009, the Interfaith Hunger Initiative connects diverse faith communities in Indianapolis and in Kenya with the mutual goal of ending hunger in both parts of the world.

Religion and Public Health in Latin America and the Caribbean
Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Faith-based organizations have worked across Latin America and the Caribbean for decades in an effort to improve living conditions, access to clean water, immunization rates, pre-natal care and other basic healthcare. What is the motivation of religious organizations in public health? What is the prognosis for long-term collaboration with secular organizations and government infrastructures?

Speaker:

The Rev. Thomas G. Streit is a research assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and director of the university’s Haiti Program. Ordained a priest in 1986, Streit earned a doctorate in biological sciences at Notre Dame. Through postdoctoral work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in Haiti, he conducted research on the transmission and control of lymphatic filariasis (LF), a mosquito-borne infection that affects more than 120 million people throughout the tropics.

Respondents

Jennifer Snyder is an associate professor, physician assistance program at Butler University with a focus on internal medicine and field experience in primary care medicine in Honduras.

Michael Vance is a professor of pharmacology at Butler University who travels extensively across Latin America.

Health, Faith and the Religious Landscape of South Asia
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013

Religious-based outreach to combat poverty, including efforts to bring healthcare to underserved people, has long been a mainstay of development work in India and across south Asia. Much of that healthcare in the last century has come from Christian-based organizations serving majority Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim communities. A veteran of 30 years of development work worldwide explores the unique dynamics in the region.

Speaker:

Rabia Mathai is a former vice president of public policy in the south Asian division of Catholic Medical Mission Board. She served 20 years as vice president of global program policy and planning for the U.S.-based Catholic charity.

Respondent:

Chad Bauman, assistant professor religion at Butler University, is a scholar of world religions with a particular interest in the religious communities of India.

Review: Blog Indiana 2012 at the University of Indianapolis

Noah Coffey (left) and Shawn Plew at the registration table at Blog Indiana 2012. AroundIndy.com staff photo.

By Bob Burchfield, Editor
AroundIndy.com, LLC
http://aroundindy.com/

Doug Karr at Blog Indiana 2012.

Back in 2008 when Web 2.0 and Twitter and Facebook and this whole social media thingy were still relative newcomers on the local scene, I got an e-mail from out of the blue from a complete stranger, Noah Coffey, inviting me to present a session on podcasting at his new social media conference in August 2008. Only a handful of people showed up for my session, but it didn’t matter. No one was there to see or hear me, and to be honest, neither was I. We were all gathered there at the inaugural Blog Indiana conference at the IUPUI Student Center to hear experts like Doug Karr, Kyle Lacy, Lorraine Ball, Tom Britt, and other local Internet, blog, and social media gurus share their expertise.

AroundIndy.com was already five years old in 2008. I kind of thought I knew my way around a computer. I’d been teaching computers for more than 20 years at the university level. The site was getting above average traffic, the daily podcast was averaging over 300 downloads per day, and I had figured out on my own how to do some things that I wanted to accomplish, like free event reminders, syndicated widgets, and a couple of other user-friendly technologies that I thought our readers would appreciate.

That was before I went to Blog Indiana 2008.

Doug Karr, owner of DK New Media and co-author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies, is the guy who attracted me to that first conference. I wanted to hear him badly. I had been reading and following his Marketing Technology Blog for some time in an effort to keep my head above water, and I just had the sense that I could learn a lot more from him. I sat and listened to his presentation and was shell-shocked. I was totally impressed by (1) how much more he knows about computers than I do, (2) how willing he was to share what I consider a wealth of proprietary information about his business model and operation, and (3) the packed house at his session, where people literally stood in the hallway craning their necks to look through the door into the room (he drew another standing-room only crowd at Blog Indiana 2012).

Fast forward to 2012. The 5th annual Blog Indiana conference was last week at the University of Indianapolis. I’ve made it to four of them, all except 2009. Once again a large crowd gathered to hear some of the best in the business: Jay Baer, Robby Slaughter, Hazel Walker, Erik Deckers, James Paden, Kevin Mullett, Sara Croft, Kelly Knutson, Kenan Farrell, and many more. And to no one’s surprise: Doug Karr and Lorraine Ball (Roundpeg Business Services). With no disrespect to any of the others, Doug and Lorraine are the first two people I think of whenever I have a problem, and it’s all because of Blog Indiana 2008 and what has transpired in the interim.

Lorraine Ball at Blog Indiana 2012.

The people named herein have been unbelievably nice to me over the past five years. Maybe it’s respect for their elders (I’ve got two daughters older than many of them!). Whatever the case, their willingness to give me advice, to share ideas and suggestions, and to directly and indirectly help publicize and promote my Web site and blogs continues to leave me speechless and deeply indebted to each of them. AroundIndy.com is a better Web site than it used to be because of them.

By attending Blog Indiana sessions for the past five years, I’ve learned more about HTML, CSS, SEO, PHP and MySQL, social media, marketing, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, mobile apps and Web sites, copyright law, layout and design, typography, photography and videography, digital audio, tips, tricks, techniques, and a greater array of third-party apps for blogs and Web sites than I can properly quantify. I’ve got six pages of notes from Blog Indiana 2012 on apps and technologies that I need to consider incorporating into my daily operation. Some of the stuff is over my head, frankly, but Blog Indiana gives me courage and encouragement to keep trying.

Perhaps even more important is the networking and between-session conversations that take place at Blog Indiana each year. To have had the opportunity to meet and get suggestions and advice and feedback and expertise from Jason Falls, Jeremy Dearringer, Jason Bean, Allison Carter, Heather Sokol, Lisa Sirkin Vielee, Chris Theisen, Chuck Gose, Paul Poteet, Bruce McClain from Scotty’s Brewhouse, Leilan McNally (aka BgKahuna), Rocky Walls, Stephanie Eppich Daily, Dave Woodson, Patric Welch, Hope Baugh, Randy Clark, and a host of others is simply priceless. These are some of the best and brightest Internet and social media minds in Indiana. I’m intrigued and enthralled just to sit near Jason Bean or Erik Deckers and watch those two guys multitask on their laptops. They are in command of their time and workspace in a way I’ve not achieved!

I can’t think of any conference that I’ve attended in my lifetime that offers a greater return on the registration fee. It’s so good that I take vacation days each year just to attend. And since that first Blog Indiana conference back in 2008, several of the individuals named herein have taken time out of their very busy schedules to come and speak to my computer classes. Wonderful. What a great group of giving folks! They clearly exemplify the theme of Jay Baer’s keynote speech at this year’s conference: the more you give, the more you receive.

Blog Indiana 2012 was so successful that Noah Coffey and his business partner Shawn Plew (see photo at the top of this blog post) have already announced their intention to return to Schwitzer Student Center at the University of Indianapolis for the 6th Blog Indiana conference on Aug. 8-9, 2013. I’ve got it on my calendar. I’ll be there if I’m not dead or hospitalized: that’s how useful and important this conference is to me. And if you pretend to be serious about running an Indiana Web site or blog, I think you should be there, too.

Noah Coffey is no longer a stranger. Thank you ever so much for that first contact, Noah!

Historic Tax Credit Workshops in Irvington, July 16-18

Bona Thompson Memorial Center. Photo provided by the historical society and used with written permission.

By Britta Rees
Irvington Historical Society
http://irvingtonhistorical.org/

Preservation Pays: Historic Tax Credit Workshops on July 16-18, 2012, will inform homeowners and businesses of the benefits and tax incentives available to historic districts listed on the National Register for Historic Places.

The event is a series of three free workshops at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center in Irvington (and home of the Irvington Historical Society). Participants may attend one, two, or all three. Many people assume that they will have restrictions placed on their property or their property taxes will increase due to living in a historic district. As a result, historic districts receive a bad reputation. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Irvington Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation of the greater Irvington community and Indianapolis. As a way to help encourage historic preservation, the Irvington Historical Society created a three-day tax credit workshop to educate and encourage historic property owners to use tax incentives to make renovations and repairs to preserve their properties. The preservation of properties creates jobs and is one of the nation’s most successful and cost-effective community revitalization programs.

The three-day workshop includes:

• Monday, July 16, 2012 – Historic Districts, What does that mean? Learn about the distinctions of Local Historic Districts and National Register for Historic Districts

• Tuesday, July 17, 2012 – 20% Residential Historic Tax Credit for Homeowners. Learn how you can save 20% of construction costs for renovations and rehab projects you need for your home. Qualified Expenses: plumbing, HVAC, electrical and communications

• Wednesday, July 18, 2012 – 20% Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit for Income Producing Properties. Learn how income-producing properties can receive a 20% income tax credit and how the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program encourages private sector investment in the rehabilitation and re-use of historic buildings/

Anyone interested in learning about advantages and cost benefits of living in a historic district in city of Indianapolis is encouraged to attend the workshop. Food and refreshments will be served to attendees.

WHAT:
Preservation Pays: Historic Tax Credit Workshop

WHEN:
Monday, July 16, 6 -7:30 p.m. – Historic Districts
Tuesday, July 17, 6-7:30 p.m. – Residential Tax Incentive
Wednesday, July 18, 6-7:30 p.m. – Rehabilitation Investment Tax Incentive

WHERE:
Bona Thompson Memorial Center, 5350 East University Avenue, Indianapolis, 46219

COST:
Free, but we’d appreciate your RSVP at http://irvingtonhistoricalsociety.eventbrite.com/

WHO:
Sponsored by Irvington Historical Society

For more information on the Preservation Pays: Historic Tax Credit Workshop, visit the Web site for the workshop, http://irvingtonintern.wix.com/irvington-tax-credit, or contact Britta Rees, Graduate Intern for the Irvington Historical Society, at 765-438-3737.

Irvington Historical Society is a private nonprofit organization. The Society’s main mission is to promote and further the artistic traditions, heritage legacy, and artists, past and present, of the great Irvington and Central Indiana community. The Irvington Historical Society has been honored by national and local groups for their efforts, including Save America’s Treasures (1999), Neighborhood Preservation Awards (1996 and 2003), from Indiana Landmarks Foundation, and the Fadely Award (Indianapolis – Marion County Historical Society). For more information on Irvington Historical Society, call 317-353-2662, or visit http://irvingtonhistorical.org/.

Bike and Pedestrian Trail Network Summit, June 23

By Chris Owens
Indiana Park & Recreation Association
http://inpra.org/

The Monon Community Center in Carmel will serve as host for the second annual Bike and Pedestrian Trail Network Summit on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The Department of Natural Resources, the Indiana Park and Recreation Association, the Greenways Foundation, the Indiana State Department of Health and National Park Service will collaborate to organize the event.

Last year’s summit included representatives from 16 trails groups, 9 communities and 9 agencies and organizations from all over the state of Indiana. Mayor Jim Brainard of Carmel will attend the event as the welcoming speaker. Mayor Brainard also attended last year’s event and emphasized that trails add value to a community and provide a safe means for biking, walking and running for individuals and families. He also emphasized that trails add quality-of-life making it more valuable in the eyes of companies who are looking for a community in which to locate.

Attendees will discuss and share information on topics including: trail development, fencing and recreational use statues, accessibility issues, trails trends, maintenance solutions, and trail innovations. Trails are a vital part of not only existing communities but emerging ones as well. Hoosiers are fortunate that more than 90% of the state has trail access within seven miles or 15 minutes from their home. This group seeks to help improve those statistics as well as increasing awareness of the positive impact on conservation and wellness that trails provide.

The group will present a special award to a representative from the office of Governor Mitch Daniels to honor his administration’s support of trails through the Hoosiers on the Move – Indiana State Trails, Greenways and Bikeways Plan.

The group has pledged to gather annually to meet and share ideas. For further information, or to be included on the contact list for the event, please call the Indiana Park and Recreation Association office at 317-573-4035.