Our Brownwood Behavioral Health Team is ready to continue serving you and your family with quality, skilled patent centered care.

Finding breast cancer early is key to successful treatment. That’s why every October, we come together to raise awareness about the disease and to encourage people to get tested. Check out our MyHealthfinder resources to learn about getting tested for breast cancer and starting the conversation with a doctor — and link your audiences to this FAQ on mammograms from the Office on Women’s Health (OWH). 

The purpose of these awards is to recognize PAs whose service and/or knowledge have made a significant contribution to the profession. These awards are not for years of service but for the quality of contributions made to students, patients, the community, and the PA profession.

Physician/PA Partnership of the Year

This award honors a Physician-PA team that exemplifies the unique relationship of trust, collegiality, and mutual respect that is essential to the PA profession. This collaborative relationship allows both the PA and the physician to provide medical service to their patients and their community, greater than either one would be able to do alone. Any Physician-PA team in practice for at least one year is eligible to apply. The PA nominee must be a member of TAPA.

The following criteria will be considered when selecting the recipient:

• Service to the PA profession
• Evidence of mutual respect and trust
• Teamwork in providing care to patients
• Evidence of team, community or professional leadership
• Evidence of team community service

We’re all booked up! Due to our Dentist schedules being fully booked, we are unable to accept appointments for NEW dental patients at this time.

Suicide Prevention Month

Suicidal thoughts, much like mental health conditions, can affect anyone regardless of age, gender or background. In fact, suicide is often the result of an untreated mental health condition. Suicidal thoughts, although common, should not be considered normal and often indicate more serious issues.

September is Suicide Prevention Month — a time to raise awareness of this stigmatized, and often taboo, topic. We use this month to shift public perception, spread hope and share vital information to people affected by suicide. Our goal is ensuring that individuals, friends and families have access to the resources they need to discuss suicide prevention and to seek help.

Summer 2024 News You Can Use Resources News You Can Use Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), Texas Tobacco Prevention and Control Program (TPCP) Releases New Reducing E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults Toolkit for Health Care Providers The DSHS TPCP recently released the new Reducing E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults Toolkit for Health Care Providers. It promotes the Ask-Counsel-Treat method and provides information on youth and young adult e-cigarette and vaping use as well as cessation resources available to Texans. It also offers flexibility for different provider practices, supports youth and young adult patient needs, and seeks to accommodate the busiest health care provider. This toolkit was a collaborative effort by the DSHS TPCP, DSHS Texas Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, and Cancer Alliance of Texas’ Tobacco Control Priority Area Workgroup. While this toolkit can be used as a standalone resource, it was developed in part to complement the Baylor College of Medicine’s (BCM) From Vapes to Victory: Empowering Teens to Overcome Vaping interactive training module. The toolkit can be found on the DSHS TPCP webpage under Communications and Media. DSHS Texas Asthma Control Program Awarded New Four-Year Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Cooperative Agreement The DSHS Texas Asthma Control Program was recently awarded the CDC Advancing Health Equity in Asthma Control through EXHALE Strategies cooperative agreement. This funding will allow the Texas Asthma Control Program to continue its efforts aimed at reducing the burden of asthma across the state, including emergency department visits and hospitalizations. The DSHS TPCP has a close partnership with the DSHS Texas Ashma Control Program. The programs look forward to continuing their joint efforts to eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke, a significant asthma trigger, and connect Texans to cessation services. Federal Multi-Agency Task Force to Curb the Distribution and Sale of Illegal E-Cigarettes In June 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the creation of a federal multi-agency task force to combat the illegal distribution and sale of e-cigarettes. Along with the DOJ and FDA, the task force brings together multiple law enforcement partners, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the Federal Trade Commission, to coordinate and streamline efforts to bring all available criminal and civil tools to bear against the illegal distribution and sale of e-cigarettes responsible for nicotine addiction among youth in the U.S. Learn more about the task force from the FDA’s press release. New JUUL Labs Documents Available on the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library The University of California San Francisco’s (UCSF) Industry Documents Library added 289,868 new JUUL Labs documents to the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library, bringing the total number of publicly available previously secret JUUL documents to 1,870,542. There are about two million JUUL documents from the North Carolina settlement to be loaded and another two million documents from other state cases. To access the documents, visit the UCSF Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library website. FDA Warns Six Online Retailers for Selling Unauthorized E-Liquids Resembling Prescription Drug Bottles In June 2024, the FDA issued warning letters to six online retailers for selling unauthorized e-liquid products from the Bad Drip brand that imitate prescription drug bottles. The retailers were also warned for selling unauthorized flavored, disposable e-cigarettes, including those under the brand names Funky Republic and HQD. For more information, view the FDA’s press release. Adult Smoking Cessation — United States, 2022 The CDC recently published a study where they assessed national estimates of cigarette smoking cessation indicators among U.S. adults using 2022 National Health Interview Survey data. The study found that approximately two thirds (67.7%) of the 28.8 million U.S. adults who smoked wanted to quit, and approximately one half (53.3%) made a quit attempt, but only 8.8% quit smoking in 2022. Among those who tried to quit, 38.3% used treatment (i.e., counseling or medication). Adults who usually smoked menthol (versus non-menthol) cigarettes had a higher prevalence of quitting interest (72.2% versus 65.4%), higher prevalence of past-year quit attempts (57.3% versus 50.4%), lower prevalence of receiving quit advice (48.2% versus 53.8%), lower prevalence of using cessation treatment (35.2% versus 41.5%), but similar prevalence of quit success (9.5% versus 7.9%). The Long-Term Impact of the Tips From Former Smokers Campaign on Calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW, 2012–2023 In July 2024, the CDC published a new study in Nicotine and Tobacco Research. The study found that from 2012 through 2023, exposure to CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers campaign generated more than two million additional calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW. It also shows that exposure to the campaign has consistently and significantly increased calls to the national tobacco quitline portal, 1-800-QUIT-NOW, and supports continued use of mass media to promote quitlines. Tobacco Quitline Staffs’ Knowledge and Attitudes About Connecting Quitline Callers to Lung Cancer Screening Educational Materials A recent study published in Cancer Medicine evaluated the impact of training quitline staff in lung cancer screening. It found that receiving training about lung cancer screening eligibility and the benefits and harms of screening improved lung cancer screening knowledge among quitline staff. The study also describes how quitline staff found that connecting callers with lung cancer screening educational materials is acceptable, appropriate, and feasible, and aligned with their primary mission. Proportion and Number of Cancer Cases and Deaths Attributable to Potentially Modifiable Risk Factors in the United States, 2019 In July 2024, the American Cancer Society published a new study on cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors. It found that 44% of all cancer deaths among U.S. adults were attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors. Cigarette smoking was the leading risk factor contributing to cancer cases and deaths overall (19.3% and 28.5%, respectively), followed by excess body weight (7.6% and 7.3%, respectively), and alcohol consumption (5.4% and 4.1%, respectively). Certified Tobacco Treatment Training Program Course to be Held Virtually on September 16, 2024 – September 20, 2024 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) will hold their next Certified Tobacco Treatment Training Program course virtually on September 16, 2024 – September 20, 2024. This five-day course is for individuals interested in becoming credentialed as a Tobacco Treatment Specialist. Accredited by the Council for Tobacco Treatment Training Programs, the program offers the highest quality tobacco treatment training, based on the most up-to-date evidence in tobacco cessation research and treatment strategies. The cost is $1,100. Special discounts are available for professionals working in academic, government, non-profit, and limited resource settings. Continuing education credits are available for physicians, nurses, counselors, social workers, and health educators. Improving Tobacco Cessation: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Guidance and State Strategies Webinar The UCSF’s Smoking Cessation Leadership Center will be hosting the Improving Tobacco Cessation: CMS Guidance and State Strategies webinar on August 20, 2024 from 12:00-1:15 PM CT. The webinar will discuss how state Medicaid and CHIP agencies are working with health departments and health plans to improve delivery of tobacco cessation services to Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries and within health and behavioral health settings. Continuing education credits are available. Register for the webinar on the UCSF website. Resources Texas Say What Don’t Wait! Advocate! Training Module In July 2024, Texas Say What (Students, Adults, and Youth Working Hard Against Tobacco) launched its new Don’t Wait! Advocate! training module. This online training module equips youth and adults alike with essential advocacy skills, guiding them to harness their voice to support causes that matter. Through this training, participants will learn skills for effective advocacy. There are a variety of self-paced activities to explore strengths, start community engagement, and prepare to create meaningful change. BCM From Vapes to Victory: Empowering Teens to Overcome Vaping Training BCM’s From Vapes to Victory: Empowering Teens to Overcome Vaping online training module helps health care providers apply the Act-Counsel-Treat method to address youth e-cigarette and vaping use. Through this free interactive training, health care providers will learn how to create impactful messages that resonate with teens and discourage e-cigarette use; formulate a plan for adolescent patients who are not prepared to quit yet; and develop a cessation and treatment plan for those who are ready to quit. Continuing medical education credits are available for physicians and advanced practice providers. Tobacco Control Network (TCN) Updates State Policy Map The TCN has updated their State Policy Map to reflect the policy landscape relating to tobacco and e-cigarette taxes, smokefree environments, T21 laws, preemption, JUUL settlements, Medicaid coverage, and more. CDC Tobacco Disparities Dashboard The CDC recently launched the Tobacco Disparities Dashboard. The interactive dashboard turns data into visual information, enabling users to quickly explore and identify tobacco-related disparities in cigarette smoking among specific groups at the state level by age, disability, education, employment, income, mental health, race and ethnicity, sex, and locality (urban vs rural). The information can help guide programmatic actions on targeted interventions to reduce cigarette smoking among certain population groups. CDC Empower Vape-Free Youth Campaign Resources The CDC’s Empower Vape-Free Youth campaign aims to empower educators to speak with youth about the risks of e-cigarettes and nicotine addiction and to encourage youth to avoid and/or quit vaping. In May 2024, the campaign released a Spanish-language fact sheet and conversation card. These print materials provide important information for educators to engage in meaningful conversations with their students about the dangers of vaping and ways to quit. The materials are available on the campaign webpage and will soon be available for hard copy orders through the Publication Catalog Ordering System. CDC State Menthol Fact Sheets CDC State Menthol Fact Sheets are available for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data presented in the fact sheets include state-specific estimates of the number of adults who currently smoke, usually use menthol cigarettes, and are seriously considering quitting smoking; the economic cost of cigarette smoking in the state; the projected number of people in the state that would quit smoking if menthol cigarettes were no longer available; state Medicaid coverage; state smoking quitline utilization; and the amount of funds CDC provides the state for the quitline.

It is with mixed emotions that we announce the semi-retirement of Dr. Shanna Britt, DDS effective November 14, 2024. After much consideration, Dr. Britt has made the difficult decision to step back from her role in order to spend more time with her family.

While Dr. Britt will no longer be actively working with AccelHealth after November 14, she will remain with us for an additional 90 days to assist with a smooth transition.

Please join us in supporting Dr. Britt’s decision and wishing her a very happy retirement.

For updates on providers, services and locations visit Accelhealthcare.org 

To mark National Health Center Week, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released new data showing that health centers served the highest number of patients in the nearly 60-year history of the program and highlighted the remarkable progress that has been made over the past four years. Read more about Four Years of Health Center Outcomes.

Data from >45,000 middle-aged women show that swapping an hour a day of sedentary behavior with an hour of moderate exercise increases the chance of living without major disease 20 years later. Read the findings

Nutrition—what you eat and drink—affects your oral health. Good oral health is important for your well-being and quality of life. Healthy nutrition can help you maintain or improve your oral health and your overall health.

Full post: HRSA