Representatives of NASW recently attended Dignity & Choices:  A Symposium on End-of-Life Advocacy. Held October 13- 14, 2009, in Washington, D.C., the symposium was organized by Compassion & Choices, a leading organization in the choices-in-dying movement. The core objective of the symposium was to equip health care professionals with accurate information to address the current health care reform debate,... 

Find out where to take your career and how to get there!  The NASW Center for Workforce Studies has compiled survey results, indentified decision points, and classified the social work labor force to help you understand your place on the professional spectrum.  These reports are must haves for any social worker looking to equipt themselves for the current workforce demands. Your feedback is needed:  Share your experiences: ... 

Congress Extends the Ryan White Act Last week, Congress passed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009. The bill will extend for four years the Ryan White Program, which provides lifesaving and life-extending health care, medications and support services to over 530,000 low-income people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States. On October 21, the bill passed the House floor on a vote of 408 to... 

Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH Our delegation was received today by the social work faculty of Helwan University. We were met by the Dean, Prof. Dr. Maher Abo Elmaate, and by the Vice Deans for Post Graduate Studies and Community Organization. Their faculty mission is “Preparing a high quality social worker able to apply the skills of dealing with social work systems and influencing them for making changes for... 

On October 22, NASW participated in an advance screening panel for a powerful new movie called Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire.  This film chronicles the harrowing journey of an obese, abused and illiterate teenager in New York City who seeks a better life for herself and her two children. Lee Daniels directed an all-star cast including comedienne Mo’Nique, rising star Paula Patton, and rocker Lenny... 

Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH Today we visited The Suzanne Mubarak Regional Centre for Women’s Health and Development (SMC) in Alexandria. This is a special program of Mrs. Murbarak, the First Lady of Egypt, and it is part of the national budget. We met with the director of women’s development. Mrs. Khagida Khashana and her staff and toured the state-of-the art facilities. They have been in operation... 

The National Association of Social Workers has steadfastly been involved with hate crimes legislation for over a decade. On October 22, 2009 NASW’S tireless efforts came to fruition with the passage, by the Senate, of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act by a 68-29 vote. The hate crimes initiative was included in the Fiscal Year 2010 Department of Defense Authorization Report passed... 

Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH As part of our delegation trip to Cairo, we visited the Children’s Cancer Center which opened in 2007. It is a state-of-the-art center that is a flagship facility for the Middle East. It has 182 inpatient beds, 10 ICU beds, 22 outpatient clinics, and 82 physicians on staff. It is modeled after St. Jude’s Hospital in the US, and any children with cancer are treated for free. The... 

(Part I) Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH Hello from Egypt, Each year, as part of our Social Workers Across Nations (SWAN) program, NASW leads a delegation of social workers to a different country. Our goal is to further understand the role of social work in various countries and to look at similarities, differences and how NASW and US social workers can assist with capacity building for social work in other parts of... 

NASW was pleased to be a co-chair organization of the National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, this past week. The Family Violence Prevention Fund hosted this fifth biennial conference, which addressed domestic violence and health. Domestic violence is often seen as a public health problem, and the role health care providers can play in preventing violence and helping victims...