National Public Health Week 2009: ‘Building a Foundation for a Healthy America’

It’s almost here. After months and months and months of commercials, pitches, debates and 24-hour punditry, the presidential election is just around the corner. And no matter who wins, the pressing issues will remain: the nation’s growing health care access crisis, the 45 million Americans who live, work, play and care for their families without any health coverage, and a nationwide health status that continues its perilous trend southward.

And so the advent of a new presidential administration and new Congress provides another critical opportunity for public health to make its voice known — to tell our policy-makers at every level of government that fixing our health care system must be a priority. To tell them that without a serious commitment to improving and strengthening the very foundations of our health — otherwise known as public health — that any health reform won’t live up to its full potential.

That’s why APHA has chosen “Building a Foundation for a Healthy America” as the theme for 2009’s National Public Health Week. The annual public health observance will focus on garnering our collective voice and strength as the protectors of our community’s health to advocate for public health’s vital role in improving our nation’s health. It seems more important than ever to not only build on public health’s past achievements, but to protect those achievements from slowly unraveling.

So start planning now for your 2009 National Public Health Week celebration. Visit the official National Public Health Week Web site and blog for more information on the 2009 theme as well as info on how to become a partner or sponsor, or walk down to the Public Health Expo to visit the National Public Health Week booth. And visit the site in coming months for more details, event ideas and ways to advocate for public health in your community.

Q&A with labor activist Garrett Brown: ‘I have never seen a place as bad’

“We have an opportunity to make small but meaningful contributions to change that will make a big difference in other people’s lives.”

— Garrett Brown, coordinator, Maquiladora Health & Safety Support Network

The brainchild of APHA Occupational Health and Safety Section members, Brown’s network was founded at the 1993 APHA Annual Meeting in San Francisco and is still paving the way for better working conditions in foreign-owned factories along the U.S./Mexico border. In addition to shining a spotlight on health and safety atrocities in those maquiladoras (or foreign-owned factories), the network also has branched out to Asia and Central America. All of the network’s 400-plus members have full-time jobs, but volunteer their advocacy time.

“Those of us who live in the developed world have some moral obligation to assist workers who are producing the products we consume,” Brown said about those factories churning out televisions, toys, shoes and electronics, sometimes at high costs to its poorly paid workers. “I find it very inspiring to work with workers in the developing world who brave just incredible odds to protect health and others’ rights, and exercise those rights.”

The network’s most recent project sent an eight-member team (a physician, industrial hygienist, pulmonary technician and nurse among them) to Cananea just across the Arizona/Mexico border to assess the health of miners at the city’s large, open copper mine.

“I have never seen a place as bad,” Brown said about the mine’s processing plant, where the ventilation system was dismantled by owners retaliating against worker demands for better maintenance and clean-up of the site. He said piles of rock dust the size of snow drifts posed a major health hazard to workers because of exposure to silica. He expects “a wave of lung cancers” in the area within 10 years.

The “little network,” as Brown called it yesterday during our talk on the steps of a classroom at San Diego City College, where APHA Annual Meeting attendees gathered to learn more about border health and safety issues, struggles for funding and visibility like many grassroots advocacy groups. Learn more, volunteer or donate to the cause here.

— D.C.

Students in Action!

The overarching message from the Student Assembly meeting: Students have the power to change the world! When it comes to advocating for health policies, students are uniquely positioned to affect change because they are (in no particular order) 1) energetic and motivated 2) have time 3) can vote 4) are viewed as unbiased 5) have the latest research knowledge and 6) are media darlings.

Panelists Breanna Lathrop and Chris Griggs are deeply involved in the success of HealthSTAT (Health Students Taking Action Together) in Georgia, a statewide nonprofit organization started in 2002 by a small group of medical students concerned about uninsured Americans. Now it is represented by more than 250 health professions students at Georgia universities and is funded primarily through grants from state and national organizations. Breanna and Chris helped lead a successful campaign called “Grady is Vital” to fund an Atlanta hospital set to close due to budget concerns.

“We need to sustain this enthusiasm, regardless of outcome of the presidential election,” said Lissa Knudsen, co-chair of the Student Assembly’s Action Committee. “We need to capitalize on what we’ve started to do. We need to get organized and come together. This is an opportunity for our generation to resist the idea that we are disengaged and apathetic — and this particular niche of students in public health is a powerful group.”

Students who want to get involved with the APHA Student Assembly can e-mail studentmeeting@aphastudents.org or visit the Student Assembly booth at the Public Health Expo.

— P.T.

Public health party people

APHA's Committee on Affiliates honored some of the best and brightest from the nation's 53 state and regional public health associations last night during the CoA's annual reception.

Photos by Jim Ezell/EZ Event Photography

Sunday’s Have You Heard...

Welcome back!: Kick off your APHA Annual Meeting experience by attending the Opening General Session from noon to 2 p.m. in the San Diego Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall D. Hear from APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin as well as keynote speaker Michael Marmot, chair of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health. And if you seriously high-tail it to the PubMart exhibit at the Public Health Expo after the opening session you can catch a book signing with Marmot from 2:30 to 3 p.m.

Believe us, we know how you’re feeling: Overwhelmed as you flip through the hundreds of pages of the Annual Meeting program? Don’t fret, just stop by the APHA Member Orientation to the Annual Meeting, session 259, from 3:30–5 p.m. in Meeting Room 10 of the San Diego Convention Center and get all the basics you need for a fulfilling — and fun — meeting.

Hallelujah!: Like George Michael once sang: You’ve got to have faith. So take a bit of a break from your business meetings and note-taking to stop by the 10-year anniversary celebration of APHA’s Caucus on Public Health and the Faith Community today from 4 to 6 p.m. in Meeting Room 1B of the convention center.

I see public health workers: Visit the vision screening van, provided by the Vision & Eye Health Work Group, at the Public Health Expo, booth 2243, today through Wednesday.

Border justice

“Tijuana’s coming here since we can’t go to Tijuana,” said Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network Coordinator Garrett Brown, as a gaggle of APHA Annual Meeting attendees gathered at San Diego City College this afternoon for a presentation on labor and environmental conditions in the foreign-owned factories along the U.S./Mexico border.

About 55 of us had expected to board buses at noon and head across the border on the eve of our “Public Health Without Borders” meeting, but recent drug-related violence had the San Diego Maquiladora Solidarity Network cancel the tour for the first time. The group organizes regular tours to bring light to the often intolerable conditions in the foreign-owned factories in Tijuana known as “maquiladoras.”

“It’s not because Tijuana is any more violent than say Chicago or Los Angeles,” Brown said. “It’s that the violence has become more rampant and generalized.”

Antonia Arias, a Mexico native who has worked in several different Tijuana factories, spoke at the presentation about the conditions in far too many work environments, where workers handle toxic, carcinogenic chemicals without protective equipment and are exposed to sexual harassment, unsafe working conditions and low wages. Antonia said that after seven years of handling acetone at a factory producing glass lenses, she cannot be near the chemical without her throat and mouth burning. Other commonly used chemicals have been linked to lung disease in long-time workers.

Giving proof that community-level activism can change the world, Amelia Simpson of the local Environmental Health Coalition told how, after more than 15 years, an abandoned factory site with thousands of pounds of toxic waste was cleaned up. Lead levels at the Metales y Derivados abandoned lead smelter were up to 250 times higher than acceptable federal environmental standards. But the coalition, working with a group of local activists, convinced the government to step in and oversee the clean-up.

“This is an example of how a marginalized, very low-income community can raise their voices and get justice,” Simpson said.

Vist the blog tomorrow for a one-on-one interview with Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network Coordinator Garrett Brown.

— D.C.

Excuse me, do you know where…..

“Public Health Without Borders” is the seventh Annual Meeting for this blogger, and I have to say that San Diego is the most scenic, tranquil setting for covering public health’s pre-eminent gathering so far. Plus, it’s warm and sunny (which is probably just the Floridian in me, but I digress….)

Not only is it nice outside, it’s pretty nice inside too. To pick up your meeting tote and final program, you’ll take a walk through the convention center’s Sails Pavilion, which lives up to its marine-inspired name. Surrounded by glass and sunlight, grab a seat in the pavilion’s Mix and Mingle Lounge and take advantage of free Wi-Fi, comfy cushions and the chance to meet your fellow public health protectors from around the nation and the world. As you walk into the pavilion, on your right are a row of glass doors leading to the outdoor terrace, which is dotted with tables and chairs for your leisurely pleasure.

Also inside the Sails Pavilion is an activity posting center, where you can read up on any late-breaking activities that didn’t make it into the final program. And you’ll also find another area dotted with tables and chairs in the pavilion behind the Mix and Mingle Lounge.

If you’re looking for the Marriott Hotel and Marina (where a bunch of sessions and meetings are being held), walk out the front of the convention center and take a left — it’s just right next door. Food and eats? San Diego’s trendy Gaslamp Quarter is just a short walk away from the convention center’s front doors — walk up 5th Avenue and you’ll find yourself in the heart of this lively neighborhood.

And, it’s true, living on a restaurant-fueled diet for the next four days can put a dent in the pocketbook. But luckily, a fellow APHA blogger has scouted out a Ralph’s 24-hour grocery store less than a 10-minute walk from the convention center on G street between 1st and 2nd avenues. Muy convenient.

Where the Rubber Hits the Road: Translating Research into Practice at the Student Assembly Meeting

Attendees at today’s all-day Student Assembly meeting were treated with real-life case studies from three California practitioners, and even a plug for jobs with the state! (See the California Department of Public Health’s booth at the Public Health Expo for more information.)

Andrew McGuire, executive director of Health Care for All- California, described his group’s novel effort to gain the attention of the media and the public by staging 365 events in 365 days in 365 California cities — starting with the 365th smallest city and working their way up to a finale event that drew 4,000 people to Los Angeles’ City Hall in August 2007. Despite the governor’s two vetoes of a single-payer health plan in California, McGuire’s group raised awareness and established a network of 50,000 supporters.

“It was an audacious idea, but in the end it turned into a coalition of organizations,” he said.

In addition to expanding access to care, California’s Department of Public Health is hitting the streets to empower its citizens to be “Champions for Change” by eating healthy and exercising. Alyssa Ghirardelli, of the Network for a Healthy California program, described her efforts to motivate people to make healthy choices via media campaigns aimed at low-income mothers that stress self-efficacy, “you can do it!” techniques (Sample Slogan: My kitchen. My rules.).

California has also been ahead of the curve with other public health efforts, including smoking cessation and prevention. Colleen Stevens, with the state public health department’s Tobacco Control Media Campaign, told students that her office has been focused on changing social norms. In the past 20 years (ever since a 5 cent tax per cigarette pack was earmarked for tobacco control programs), hundreds of California cities have enacted smoking prohibitions and multiple state-wide regulations have gone into effect, including this year’s ban on smoking in a car with a child younger than 18. But it all began with educational campaigns to make people aware of the hazards of secondhand smoke.

“Everyone wants to start with the kids…but we started with adults because the only way to make lasting change with kids is to build a world where smoking is not tolerated,” Stevens said.

And California’s program is showing real results: The state has the 2nd lowest prevalence of smoking, and rates of lung cancer are declining four times as fast as the rest of the country.

– P.T.