BERKELEY, Calif. --The California Endowment, the state's largest private health foundation, recently awarded HiP Publishing Group a two-year, $260,000 grant to create HiP on Health and Prevention. This educational program will include a safety kit and series of booklets which instruct deaf and hard-of-hearing children about vital health and safety issues. The entire educational package, which is targeted for distribution in the Fall of 2000, is the first ever to systematically address the health and safety issues particular to deaf and hard-of-hearing children. About 15,000 copies will be distributed free of charge to every deaf and hard-of-hearing student in Calif., as well as to teachers and other professionals who work with this population.
HiP Publishing Group was launched in 1994 by two Bay Area parents of deaf children, Ellen Dolich and Robin Gladstone. Its mission is to educate and inform all deaf and hard-of-hearing children, whether they communicate primarily with speech or sign language. In its first six years, its primary publication, HiP Magazine, has achieved an estimated readership of 24,000 and is circulated in all 50 states and seven countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and India.
''The HiP on Health and Prevention series will reach deeply into the population of California deaf and hard-of-hearing children, half of whom are Hispanic, and teach them the vital health and survival skills that many hearing children have an easier time learning,'' comments Ellen Dolich, the co-founder of HiP Publishing Group and the director of the new health and safety series. ''The biggest challenge for deaf and hard-of-hearing children is being shut off from communication—not being able to overhear conversations or understand what is said in large groups, radio broadcasts or television programs,'' adds Dolich. ''In crises such as earthquakes, the information gap widens, resulting in isolation and fear of the unknown.''
The three booklets will address numerous physical and emotional health and safety issues that include basic first aid, stranger danger, calling for help, coping with loneliness, substance abuse, domestic violence and emergency preparedness for Californians. A Spanish version will also be published. The materials will be produced in the engaging style HiP has perfected in its magazine: clear and easy to understand prose that is rich in content, along with visually stimulating graphic design.
''Deaf children typically read at least two grades behind their hearing peers, and many graduate high school with only a fourth grade reading level,'' comments Dolich, a former elementary school teacher with a master's in educational technology from Columbia University. ''These materials will specifically address the particular coping skills needed by deaf and hard-of-hearing children to stay safe and healthy.''
Along with the safety kit—which includes hearing aid batteries, a notepad and pen and a small flashlight—booklets and a teacher's guide will be distributed. To teach participants how to make effective use of the materials, the HiP on Health and Prevention program will also provide training workshops for parents and educators of deaf and hard-of-hearing children at six different sites. The workshops will be offered twice per year and will be conducted in Redding/Shasta, Sacramento, San Francisco, Fresno, Los Angeles and San Diego. Training will be led by mental health experts, telecommunication professionals and teachers of the deaf.
''The California Endowment is committed to expanding access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities,'' says Jacob Moody, program officer, The California Endowment. ''This grant exemplifies The Endowment's mission of helping underserved, traditionally isolated communities so they can achieve greater awareness about issues that are essential to their health,'' adds Moody. The California Endowment was established in 1996 as a private foundation. The Endowment maintains offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco, and has staff working throughout the state.
The mission of The California Endowment is to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. The Endowment makes grants to organizations and institutions that directly benefit the health and well-being of the people of California. More information on The California Endowment may be obtained by visiting www.calendow.org
HiP Publishing Group is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation which has achieved national success in producing print and electronic educational materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Its cornerstone publication, HiP Magazine, has garnered three major awards—Parent's Choice Award (1995), Educational Press Award (1996) and the Equality, Dignity and Independence Award (1997) from the National Easter Seal Society. To learn more about HiP Publishing Group's many offerings for deaf and hard-of-hearing children around the world, visit HiP's web site at www.hipmag.org
For Further Information Contact:
Ellen Dolich
Co-publisher, HiP Publishing Group
tel. 510-523-4221
Mike Powers
The California Endowment
800-449-4149 ext.228
HiP Publishing Group Receives Grant to Teach Health/Safety Skills to Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children in CA.
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