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Safia Khan, Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Staff at the Minnesota Department of Corrections, outlines how the Healthy Start Act will reduce the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences in Minnesota; Danny Staley, ASTHO’s Senior Vice...
Safia Khan, Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Staff at the Minnesota Department of Corrections, outlines how the Healthy Start Act will reduce the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences in Minnesota; Danny Staley, ASTHO’s Senior Vice President for Public Health Programs and Practice, says both governmental and nongovernmental agencies are working together to create climate resilient communities; an ASTHO webinar focuses on understanding Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data; and sign up for ASTHO’s Public Health Weekly email newsletters.
ASTHO Webpage: Collaborative Policymaking to Prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences in Minnesota
Partnerships for Healthy, Climate Resilient, and Thriving Communities
ASTHO Webinar: It’s a Weighty Matter: Exploring PRAMS Weights
ASTHO Webpage: Public Health Weekly email newsletters
ROBERT JOHNSON:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, September 6, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
SAFIA KHAN:
I would encourage public health officials to take a look at the ecosystem of incarceration systems in their own communities.
JOHNSON:
Safia Khan is with the Minnesota Department of Corrections. She's talking about a plan to curb the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences in the state.
KHAN:
So, the Healthy Start Act is a law that allows the commissioner of corrections in Minnesota to be able to conditionally release a person who is pregnant or immediately postpartum, to a community-based alternative for the duration of their pregnancy or up to a year postpartum.
JOHNSON:
That's important because Khan says if those connections are ignored, things can get much worse for everyone involved.
KHAN:
I think we all know that ACEs have a detrimental impact on a child's well being. And I think we also all know that, that carries on through the lifetime when you become an adult. And it impacts everything from your mental health, to your ability to form attachments and relationships, to your ability ultimately to be a parent if you choose to be one as well.
JOHNSON:
Khan says the Healthy Start Act is one of many approaches that will be needed to reduce the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences.
KHAN:
There are people who will not have their parental rights in place when they come into a prison or a jail setting. There are people who will have those rights still intact. There are people who are going to have strong support from their families in taking care of the child, there are people who will not.
So, it is important to consider such policies as part of a larger network and framework of a response to incarceration and its impact on children. Rather than looking at finding that one solution that is going to resolve all the problems.
JOHNSON:
ASTHO examines Minnesota's approach in a new report available now. You can download it using the link in the show notes.
Climate change is bad for public health. But ASTHO's Danny Staley says extremely hot weather has led more jurisdictions to focus on Social Determinants like shelter and transportation.
DANNY STALEY:
So, what a lot of states have done is they've created these offices around community resiliency, or climate and resiliency. That's one of the big things that we're seeing states do. It allows them to bring departments together, different aspects of different areas of government and some of the non governmental agencies as well, to come together and look at some of these issues. So, housing, which is not in public health, can get involved. Transportation and housing and public health can get involved in trying to solve some of the community issues.
JOHNSON:
More and more. Staley says agencies also are working together using their collective resources to improve public health and community resilience.
STALEY:
I think that's one of the big things that states are doing is they're really beginning to look at as an all of government, or a total approach that seems to be it. The other thing, they're monitoring and making sure that they're getting information out and getting data collected so that you know, they know what works now or what didn't work, and so they can prepare for the future.
JOHNSON:
For its part, Staley says ASTHO convenes leaders to promote learning and information sharing.
STALEY:
We develop communities of engagement around the topic. We're pulling different states together, so they can learn from each other about what's working in their state. And we're taking those good ideas or ideas that have been tried in states and seeing what we can do to help other states adopt them.
JOHNSON:
Also today, data in the pregnancy risk assessment monitoring system is the focus of an ASTHO webinar planned on Thursday, October 5, at 2 p.m. ET. Experts gathered for the webinar will help you learn how to manage your PRAMS data, sign up for the event using the link in the show notes.
JOHNSON:
Finally, this morning, ASTHO's Public Health Weekly email newsletter is a great way to stay informed. You can join the list by clicking the link in the show notes.
JOHNSON:
And if you have a minute, please take the time to follow us and give us a review. We'd love to know what you think. That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
