The American Hospital Association (AHA) has awarded the AHA NOVA Award to five collaborative hospital-led programs that improve community health by extending help to low-income, uninsured or underserved children and adults, the chronically ill and racial and ethnic minorities. Each program will be honored at a July 26 ceremony held during the association's annual Health Forum Leadership Summit in San Diego.

"Hospitals do so much for the community, yet they depend upon the caring and compassion of other groups and organizations to offer the most to those in need," said AHA president and CEO Rich Umbdenstock. "The AHA NOVA Award recognizes those hospitals working collaboratively with others that provide valued and compassionate programs to their community and today's winners are truly inspirational examples."

Established in 1993, the AHA NOVA Award recognizes hospitals and health systems for their collaborative efforts toward improving community health.
The AHA NOVA AWARD winners are:

Program - ENERGIZE! Pediatric Diabetes Intervention Program
WakeMed Health & Hospitals, Raleigh, N.C.

ENERGIZE! is a program developed by WakeMed Health & Hospitals' Pediatric Diabetes Program designed to teach at-risk young people ages 6 to 18 how to build lifelong, healthy attitudes about food and fitness. Children are enrolled in the program if they have elevated blood glucose or metabolic syndrome, indicating high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The children participate in a 12-week, 3-night-a-week, community-based intensive education and lifestyle change program with lessons in nutrition, physical fitness, and behavior change. To date, more than 500 children have completed the program. ENERGIZE! is partially grant funded, is free for participants and has been particularly successful reaching the un- and under-insured children in the region.

Program -Every Child Succeeds
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Every Child Succeeds is a collaborative program whose nurses, social workers and child development specialists provide home visits to first-time, at-risk mothers and their babies on a regular basis from the time of pregnancy until the child's third birthday. Home visitors offer parenting support and guidance such as tracking the baby's development; offering health and nutrition education and assessing the home environment to ensure it is safe and stimulating. The program is voluntary and all services are provided free of charge. Since 1999, Every Child Succeeds has served more than 13,500 families through more than 261,000 home visits.

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