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Publication #FAR5044

 

Family History Initiative1

Donna Davis2

Figure 1. 
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Getting together with my parents, my siblings, and all of our children is a rare and wonderful experience. Our families range in age from 2 to 72 and are a blend of cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. When we are able to be in the same place at the same time, my mother always insists on capturing the moment in a family portrait.

There's another type of family portrait being taken by many families today at the encouragement of the office of the U.S. Surgeon General. It's the portrait of your family's health histories. According to the Surgeon General's office, "... 96 percent of Americans believe that knowing their family history is important. Yet, the same survey found that only one-third of Americans have ever tried to gather and write down their family's health history" (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2006, ¶ 4).

The Surgeon General's office launched the Family History Initiative in an effort to focus attention on the importance of family health history and to help families identify their genetic health risks. Families can now access an online tool called "My Family Health Portrait," a program that assists families in organizing and sharing their family health history.

Once you've entered your family health history, the program will create and print out a graphical representation of your family's generations and track medical illnesses or disorders that may have moved from one generation to the next. The Surgeon General hopes that as families better understand their family health histories, they may be able to predict their health risks and take action to protect themselves from illnesses.

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website at http://familyalbumradio.org.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

http://radiosource.net/radio_stories/362.mp3

http://radiosource.net/radio_stories/362.wav

Reference

United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2006). U.S. Surgeon General's Family History Initiative. Retrieved September 21, 2007, from http://www.hhs.gov/familyhistory/.

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR5044, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program 362 and published on EDIS February 2009. Reviewed September 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Donna Davis, senior producer, Family Album Radio, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.