Describe the work you did while working as a NACCHO Policy Scholar?
The ability to contribute to designing prevention and control strategies to prevent endemic or epidemic transmission in the United States was intriguing. As a NACCHO Policy Scholar with the Infectious Disease department, I was thrilled to work on two exciting public health projects; the Flu Near You and HIV/AIDS Policy Initiative Project. Both projects are in line with my areas of interest as a Public health practitioner and included a review of evidenced based literature to understand effective strategies and interventions that could be adopted in these projects.
The Flu Near You project relies on voluntary participation from the general public and seeks individuals to report on their health or illness. In addition to individuals who are captured in the hospital, the tool captures individuals who don’t go to the doctor, who may have been missing in other influenza reporting and tracking tools. Estimates generated from the Flu Near You can be used by Local Health Departments to inform quick and strategic solutions. My work entailed designing key messages and a pitch targeted to the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC).
The HIV/AIDS Policy Initiative project seeks to build the capacity of LHDs to prevent HIV infection and reduce HIV-related illness and mortality. One of the specific objectives was to assess linkage to care interventions implemented in the US. Through an environmental scan, I collected and gathered
Each year in the United States approximately 114 million people visit their local Emergency Department (ED), and 16 million of these patients arrive by Emergency Medical Services (EMS). (Board et al.) Health care in America has moved from an individual, fee-for-service health care system, towards a more integrated healthcare system i.e., The Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is a government controlled healthcare system, and is set up to be a value-based payment system. The ACA will expand and transform the roles of EMS within the healthcare system. EMS’s ability to survive and thrive in this new era of healthcare, will revolve, in part, on its ability to articulate its value to healthcare providers, healthcare organizations, hospital systems, and payers, as well as patients and family members. (Smith) EMS can thrive in the future, if it embraces change. John F. Kennedy had this to say about change, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” (BrainyQuote) In order for EMS to thrive in the changes that the future is bringing, it must: focus on mobile integrated healthcare, be data driven in their clinical practices. There are three other areas that will be discussed at length, EMS agencies should be actively pursuing a community paramedicine program, EMS using remote telemedicine and EMS moving towards a value-based payment system.
I interviewed Dr. Kwa Sey who is an epidemiologist with the Los Angeles County department of Public Health and the Director of the International Health Program at Charles R. Drew University (CDREWU). Dr. Sey earned his M.A. in epidemiology and a PhD in Public Health from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) school of Public Health. He has over 16 years of experience working in Public Health. He currently directs CDREWU funded HIV Behavioral Surveillance in Los Angeles and DHAPP funded HIV prevention programs internationally.
Infectious epidemics and pandemics have happened all through mankind's history. “They remain the prime cause of death worldwide and will not be conquered during our lifetimes.” The flu of 1918 was one of the deadliest epidemics in history. “It infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet’s population at the time–and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims. More than 25 percent of the U.S. population became sick, and some 675,000 Americans died during the pandemic.” No one knew how the virus spread, there were no antibiotics to fight it, and no flu shots to prevent it. In the final year of World War I, it struck terror in the hearts of people all across Europe and left more death in its wake than the combined military actions of the combatants. “It killed more Americans in a few months than World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the
According to Healthy People 2020, a small set of objectives and goals have been set to improve the health of Americans over a time period of 10 years. Of the 12 topics, Healthy People use to organize their are 26 Leading Health Indicators (LHIs). The key issue of HIV/AIDS meets at least 6 LHI’s topics. That is half of the Healthy People 2020 LHI’s topics: Access to Health Services, Clinical Preventive Services, Mental Health, Social Determinants, Reproductive and Sexual Health, and Substance Abuse (Healthy People 2020, 2016). However, Healthy People 2020 list any other topics that are not part of the LHI’s, but definitely tie into and play a big part of their listed LHI’s. HIV, Blood safety, Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender Health, Educational
New Jersey is home to one of the most dynamic and diverse populations in the country with scores of different cultures residing within a densely populated area. It ranks among the wealthiest states in the nation, however, lesser known—pockets of extreme poverty exist throughout the state within distinct, geographically delineated areas. Several of these disadvantaged, disenfranchised pockets are home to low-income, predominantly minority residents that have the highest cumulative number of HIV/AIDS cases state-wide, highest rates of sexually transmitted infections and teen birth rates, presenting a significant challenge to providers aiming to address these needs. Six of our 16 health centers including Trenton are located in Medically Underserved
The Chicago Department of Public health exemplifies a public health department that is extremely proactive and supportive of initiatives to eradicate or significantly decreasing the incidence of STI/HIV /AIDS in the City of Chicago. To this end, the Chicago Department of Health monitors the incidences of new cases in the city, while constantly monitoring the progression or regression of the conditions of patients already affected by the HIV virus. Statistical data is collected through the avenue set up for health care providers to report all pertinent information about newly diagnosed HIV or an unusual turn of events with old HIV cases. furthermore, the Chicago Department of Public health ( CDPH) through it monitoring programs is able identify threats, determine which health care services is need by a community and the target population. For example in the month of November their target segments were gays and bisexual African American men, because both groups were disproportionately impacted by the HIV outbreak during the previous summer,
Health Impact Assessments are beneficial to improving the health and well-being of individuals in multiple levels, economic, social and environmental influences (WHO, 2014). From the last segment of the HIA – screening – Polk County primary indicators of the worse conditions were older adult preventable hospitalizations, HIV, and housing stress (CHSI, 2015). During this section, information will be gathered on the population that is the most vulnerable, and the additional health burdens facing the county.
The community we will be discussing is Ionia County, Michigan. The County is home to over sixty four thousand individuals. Approximately 11% of people living in the area are under the age of sixty-five and considered disabled and almost 10% of the population is under the age of sixty-five with no health insurance coverage. There are also a total of four currently in operation prisons within the county (Ionia County, Michigan, 2016). Reporting of cases of infectious diseases remains a vital step in controlling and preventing the spread of communicable disease. These reports are useful in many ways, including assurance of provision of appropriate medical therapy, detection of common-source outbreaks (such as food-borne illness outbreaks), and planning and evaluating prevention and control programs.
MinuteClinic demonstrated reliability and responsiveness very quickly as the outbreak in Minnesota rapidly created a huge demand for flu shots. MinuteClinic quickly put a plan in place to address the crisis. Instead of boosting staff at all facilities in the Minneapolis area, the company chose a hub-and-spoke approach for better inventory control, offering the shots in only eight MinuteClinic locations. This effectively shows their ability to respond immediately to unexpected events and ultimately reflect their willingness to help by creating an image of reliability. They also impressed patients by creating children’s areas to make the wait easier for families, adding televisions, videos, and coloring books to keep little ones entertained. This is how MinuteClinic proved that they care for the wellness of their community.
According to the CDC (2015), more than one million people are living with HIV in the United States, and more than 50,000 become newly infected each year. Unfortunately, one in five Americans living with HIV are unaware of their infection. I believe using the strategy which stresses the use of the 10 essential services of public health will help reduce the incidence of HIV in our
A skilled program developer and grant writer with a wealth of experience in the health and human services sector, Robert Whirry currently owns and operates his own consulting firm in Los Angeles, California. In addition to developing/coordinating a number of multifaceted projects and serving as lead researcher/writer for various grant proposals, he has prepared multiple reports and monographs in conjunction with the San Francisco EMA HIV Services Planning Council and staff of HIV Health Services. Robert Whirry’s clients include dozens of prominent public and nonprofit organizations including the California HIV/AIDS Research Program, the University
The second part of this paper will examine what is known about the problem with research literature. It will include the methods of interventions used to tackle the problem, evaluation of interventions, and a summary of article used. Each summary will include methods, samples used, intervention designs and implantation, the outcome of effective or ineffective interventions, other findings, and a final paragraph that will discuss what was learned from the articles. Next, part three of this paper will intend to conduct a macro assessment on infectious control standards at St. Raymond’s House that are experienced at the agency, community, and policy levels. Part three will also include personal interviews and information provided from the agency
Paternalistic policies can be effective in preventing injuries and deaths in the population (Gostin, 2008). Paternalism exists throughout Contagion. In order to keep the masses safe from contracting the MEV-1 virus, public health agencies initiated safety guidelines for the general public to follow. From a public health aspect, individual interests must yield to those of the wider community to facilitate the public’s health, safety, and well-being. The public health tradition values prevention and views its successes or failures based on the benefits and burdens that accrue to populations rather than to individuals. This
Protecting the public’s health historically has been a state and local responsibility. However, the growing threat of bioterrorism has highlighted the importance of a strong public health infrastructure to the nation’s homeland security and has focused increased attention on the preparedness of the public health system (Frist, 2011). Since the 2001 anthrax attacks Congress has passed new legislation to increase the strength of the nation’s public health system thus the funding has also rapidly increased to meet the potential demand. There is an ongoing debate however, as to what level of contribution local, state, and federal agency’s feel is an appropriate level of ongoing public health investments.
This paper defines and explains the six core functions of epidemiology: Public health surveillance, field investigation, analytic studies, evaluations, linkages, and policy development. The core functions of epidemiology lay down a foundation on which epidemiologists can begin to work from. This paper will look at the benefits of incorporating all six of these functions into a working plan when health officials, medical personnel, first responders, etc., encounter a disease or illness that needs to be identified, treated and contained.