As a parent of two kids, I find that much of my “parenting” energy is spent trying to keep them safe. This weekend, for instance, I must have told my 13-year-old about a dozen times to wear a helmet when cycling before he finally put one on. But my it wasn’t always just about wearing protective gear — as my children have grown up, the kind of guidance I’ve provided has changed.

This year (as Sarah Colamarino pointed out in an earlier post) Safe Kids USA issued a safety report that, for the first time ever, provides a road map for parents of different safety hints and suggestions that are age appropriate. The report is divided into different stages of development, and to help bring each section to life, several videos are being placed on the Johnson & Johnson health channel on YouTube. The first covers the first 12 months.

By Sarah Colamarino, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Johnson & Johnson

One of the things I enjoy most about my job at Johnson & Johnson is working on programs that make a difference in people’s lives. An initiative that is particularly close to my heart is Safe Kids Worldwide. Over 20 years ago, Johnson & Johnson became the founding sponsor of Safe Kids WW, whose mission is to educate adults and children about how to prevent unintentional injury and death. As a mother of two children, keeping our kids safe has a special meaning for me.

This year, Safe Kids USA has just released the first-ever safety report that makes the connection between the different stages of a child’s development as it relates to unintentional injury. For years, Safe kids has been telling parents how to keep their children safe, but this year’s report highlights exactly when and why those precautions are essential. This report also offers safety tips in five leading injury risk areas: falls, recreational safety, burns and scalds, motor vehicle safety and poisoning.

For a copy of the report, or to view the safety tips according to a child’s age, check out the Safe Kids site.

I hope that you’ll take a moment to review this important information that could help save your own children or grandchildren from harm. We’ll keep you updated with important tips and hints throughout the year.

Have a safe summer!

Nyumbani Children’s Home

Nairobi, Kenya

 

Johnson & Johnson supports Nyumbani Children’s Home, a center that serves as a home to nearly 100 abandoned or orphaned children with HIV/AIDS. The children, ranging from infants to teenagers, receive holistic care – antiretroviral therapy, psychological, academic, and spiritual support.
 
The photographer uses the focus of the camera to lead the viewer around the image. The sharp focus directs the viewer to the back of the caregiver, who delicately reaches to hold the hands of a young child in her care. The older boy in the background is slightly out of focus, though he is the one facing the viewer. The focus does not obscure the joy and happiness that the child expresses as he runs toward the figures in the foreground.

 

(Photographer: Willie Davis, a Johnson & Johnson – International Center of Photography Fellowship recipient)

After days of cold, rainy weather, this morning the sky over New Brunswick is a rich blue and the sun is shining. As I walked off the New Jersey Transit platform and into our offices to get ready for today’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders, I thought to myself how this yearly event always seems to fall on a beautiful April day. But, according to our resident historian and blogger, Margaret Gurowitz, this wasn’t always the case. As she explains in her latest post on Kilmer House:

Margeret goes on to provide a wonderful recap of some little known facts about the Annual Meeting of Shareholders that is well worth checking out.

In honor of Earth Day, a fair was held at Johnson & Johnson headquarters in New Brunswick that gave people a chance to see what the company is doing to reduce its environmental footprint as well as to learn more about what can be done at home. Rob Halper and I thought we would catch some of the action on tape, and so I once again tried my hand at being a roving reporter — and found some colleagues to interview who were responsible for the day’s festivities:

(Note — the Earth Day fair was actually held last week.)

Society for the Arts in Healthcare Partnership
Snow City Arts Foundation, Chicago, Illinois
 

Johnson & Johnson has partnered with the Society for the Arts in Healthcare since 2001 to provide grants to organizations that produce innovative projects to serve patients, their families and caregivers in health care settings, and to promote healing and preventative health.

The artists of Snow City Arts Foundation teach hospitalized children the art of creative writing, music, painting, photography, and filmmaking. These classes help children keep up with their schoolwork when they need to miss school. Snow City works with these children to boost their confidence levels, stimulate their minds, and teach them that they are contributing members to their community’s cultural dialogue.

Like the photographer’s image, art, rather than illness, becomes the focus of the child’s experience.

(Photographer: Shraddha Borawake, a Johnson & Johnson – International Center of Photography Fellowship recipient)

 

 

By Mark Krajnak, Manager, Corporate Communications, Johnson & Johnson

2008 Annual Report

A few weeks ago, shareholders of Johnson & Johnson began receiving their 2008 Johnson & Johnson Annual Report in the mail. When the last report rolled off of the printing press back in the middle of February, this was the culmination, for me, of a project that I began working on since the previous May.

The annual report project is one of my favorite projects to work on. This is now my fifth one, having done four others with other companies. But in each case, working on this project helps give me such great insight into the company, especially one like Johnson & Johnson.

While the back section is devoted the financial health of a company, it’s in the front section where you can find some very compelling stories about the doctors and patients and other people who use our products.

Rolling off the presses

In this year’s report, For example, you’ll meet a football-playing orthopaedic surgeon from northeast Pennsylvania that transforms lives with his surgical skill; a young mother from northern China who took part in consumer research that helped us develop a long-lasting skin cream for children; and a HIV-positive mother from South Africa who is a mentor with the mothers2mothers program, a program that teaches other HIV-positive mothers the steps they can take to keep their children HIV negative. This is just one of more than 100 HIV/AIDS programs that Johnson & Johnson supports across 50 countries.

These are just a few of the stories, but there are many more. And while it was hard to decide which stories we should focus on for this report, I feel the ones we selected are not only compelling but also show how Johnson & Johnson touches so many lives on a daily basis.

All of these stories are now available over at our corporate website or you can see them in a virtual version of the annual report. We would love to know what you think.

This week on the Johnson & Johnson health channel on YouTube, Rob Halper added a video on food allergies. Approximately three million children under the age of 18 suffer from food allergies, and in this video parents and an allergy specialist discuss coping strategies.

By Andrea Higham, Director, The Campaign for Nursing’s Future, Johnson & Johnson

Being responsible for our Campaign for Nursing’s Future for the past few years, I’m often on the road meeting with nurses, educators and others interested in advancing the profession. Last month, I was in Seattle to raise funds for local nursing school grants, faculty fellowships and student scholarships. – and it struck me that perhaps those who aren’t able to attend would like to hear more about what goes on at these events.

We’ve been hosting these types of events in different parts of the country for 7 years now, and at this event we had more than 450 nurses, educators and thought leaders attend the Gala which featured tribute videos, inspirational speakers, and the new addition of a “Video Challenge” contest.

The video challenge contest gave Washington nurses the opportunity to showcase their passion for their career. We had many creative entries, but the winning team was “Nursing Queens” from Seattle Children’s Hospital who did a nursing-inspired parody of Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and received a $7500 educational grant. We also shared a sneak peak at our new “Nurse Educator” video which aims to inspire more nurses to pursue a career as faculty in nursing schools because we need to address the shortage of both nursing professionals and qualified faculty.

BTW — I should add that the Seattle event was a great success, raising $300,000 for nursing scholarships, faculty fellowships, and capacity expansion grants for nursing schools. All of this money will stay within Washington State. Since this was the second event in this state, this brings the total money raised for Washington State nursing programs to $750,000.

Update: For those interested in additional information, check out the Nursing Playlist on the Johnson & Johnson health channel on YouTube.

Life Skills Development Foundation
Upper Northern Region, Thailand

Life Skills Development Foundation offers life skills, education, and training for children, women, and families affected by HIV/AIDS. With help from Johnson & Johnson, the foundation provides educational, psychological and financial support to children and their families.
 
In addition, the foundation’s programs help support training of teachers and community members to enhance skills that help them teach life skills to youth in the community.

 

(Photographer: Janea Wiedmann, a Johnson & Johnson – International Center of Photography Fellowship recipient)