456: PH Communicators Assemble, Website Helps SC Workforce Recover

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, July 10, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

ROBERT JENNINGS: 

Well, the difference this year from the conference, obviously, was last year, we focused a lot on the pandemic, you know what went right, what went wrong? What could we do better?

JOHNSON: 

Robert Jennings leads the National Public Health Information Coalition. He's also planning the National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media, beginning July 19 in Atlanta.

JENNINGS: 

This year, we have an opportunity to expand the breadth and scope of what we'll be presenting. And there's a lot of public health challenges out there and opportunities. And so this year, we're looking to delve into many of those other challenges that we face in the public health system.

JOHNSON: 

One of the challenges continues to be misinformation and disinformation.

JENNINGS: 

This year, we're going to, rather than talk about the deluge of information coming at us, we're going to talk about how we can address it. How can we combat myths and disinformation? It's not going away it's here forever. So what are some of the ways and some of the tools that we can use to address myths and disinformation and get the facts out.

JOHNSON: 

The Head of Communications at NASA will address the gathering. Jennings says public health can learn from America's Space Agency.

JENNINGS: 

NASA right now is one of the most trusted institutions in the country. And it took time for them to build that trust. And after the pandemic, public health is finding itself in a position where it needs to be rebuilding trust. And I think this will be an interesting session to gain some insights on how NASA did it.

JOHNSON: 

Get more information and sign up for the conference by visiting the link in the show notes.

A website is being used in South Carolina to help public health workers recover from the stress of the pandemic. We talked about it with South Carolina's Senior Deputy for Public Health, Nicholas Davidson, during a conversation recorded at the ASTHO TechXpo in Chicago in May.

The pandemic took a toll on everybody, public health especially. In South Carolina, like everywhere else, you've noticed that. What is the situation with your workforce there?

NICHOLAS DAVIDSON: 

Sure, you're exactly correct. You know, when COVID first came to us, we weren't sure what to expect. Our staff were, all of us, frankly, kind of caught off guard. We had plans in place, but until you operationalize those plans, you don't really know what the impact of it will be on your staff. And there were so many people working for us, with us in those times and under incredible circumstances, really stressful circumstances. Not knowing would they get ill caring for people who might be ill. And so, you know, we really wanted to try to do what we could to help our staff during that time and help their sense of well being.

JOHNSON: 

The National Emergency has ended, but the fallout continues, especially with people who are working in public health. What are you doing in South Carolina to help your team get through it?

DAVIDSON: 

We really want to make it easy for our staff to be healthy and to be well. Because of that, we wanted to try to make a one stop shop for them. a landing page, we use a SharePoint product that a lot of entities use. So, we created a SharePoint page where they can get to all of those resources, all those tools, tips, techniques, to make things easier for themselves. And so on that site, they can access websites, they can be provided with phone numbers, links to to be able to assess their own well-being, links to to improve their own well-being.

JOHNSON: 

What's been the reaction to those resources - are people using them?

DAVIDSON: 

Very much so. We've been really impressed by them. And of course, you know, we can talk a little bit more about this one website that we have, but no doubt about it. You know, these folks, our staff, are really open to and really seem satisfied with and pleased by the resources that we've been able to give them.

JOHNSON: 

Tell us about the website.

DAVIDSON: 

We've partnered with an entity called CredibleMind. And it's just one of many entities that are out there, certainly, but it is the one that we're using. It's, essentially, you can think of it as a website, and it's a password-protected website. So, all of our staff can go to that location and get access to resources that are secure to them and only them. So, they enter their password and 24/7/365, from home, from their phone, from an iPad, or even during the day when they're working, that you know, they're allowed to, they're authorized to, they're encouraged to go to this website and that entity, CredibleMind, customizes for us the resources that we think and that our staff are telling us are most important. And it could be podcasts, it could be videos, it could be articles to read, it could be assessments to take so they can assess their own well-being, and be provided from that assessment, then customized resources, like I just mentioned, that they can use to try to maintain their health and to be well.

JOHNSON: 

In the end, you want to help people stay healthy, so they can do a better job for the citizens of South Carolina.

DAVIDSON: 

Absolutely, you know, without people who are committed, because they they don't have as much to worry about, whether it's mentally, or physically, at home, at work, if they can't be ready in their own minds to help us to help our clients, we can certainly never expect that when they get to the office, they're going to be ready. So, we need to help, we need to protect, and we need to enhance the abilities of our staff to be able to care for our clients and it starts with each individual employee that we have.

JOHNSON: 

Also today, officials from North Carolina will share their work to increase access to mental health programs in schools during an ASTHO webinar set for this Wednesday, July 12th. You can sign up to attend online using the link in the show notes. **Finally, this morning, rural areas are losing their hospitals at an alarming rate. O'Keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

Over 200 rural hospitals have closed since 2005, leaving 50% of rural counties without access to hospital obstetric services. This worsened socioeconomic conditions. Job loss and transportation barriers impacting maternal and infant health strategies, like risk appropriate care, birthing centers, hub and spoke models, and telehealth help mitigate the impact of closures.

JOHNSON: 

Learn more by reading the full blog article. The link is located in the show notes. We'll talk to the author of the blog article tomorrow.

That'll do it for today's newscast. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.