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Elizabeth Hertel, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, tells us how her department is working to improve mental health; Kathleen Ho, deputy director for Environmental Health with Hawaii’s State Department of Health,...
Elizabeth Hertel, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, tells us how her department is working to improve mental health; Kathleen Ho, deputy director for Environmental Health with Hawaii’s State Department of Health, explains her team’s response to the historic wildfires in 2023; and an ASTHO blog article looks at five trends from across state legislatures that you should be aware of.
Michigan Webpage: Mental Health
Mental Health Awareness Month Webpage
Hawaii Department of Health Webpage: Maui Wildfire Response
ASTHO Blog Article: ASTHO’s 2024 Legislative Session Update: Part One
ASTHO Public Health Review Morning Edition Episode 669
JANSON SILVERS:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Thursday, May 23, 2024. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
ELIZABETH HERTEL:
The greatest challenge that we have right now is our workforce. We don't have enough providers.
SILVERS:
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Elizabeth Hertel, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, says her state experiences the same challenge many states face when it comes to supporting the mental health of residents. Her department is focused on providing the right kind of care in the right places.
HERTEL:
We're trying to really bring services to people in their communities. So, they can get those services where they need them when they need them at the level that they need them. So, if it's a short-term crisis stabilization unit for 72 hours, that's ideal. If it's a day program at a hospital, that's ideal, and we'll continue to invest in those areas.
SILVERS:
Hertel says the right kind of care for someone suffering from a mental health crisis shouldn't always mean a trip to the ER.
HERTEL:
The emergency department isn't necessarily the best place for them to receive their services, but they may be in danger. So, the emergency department will keep them, and then they end up staying in an emergency department because there isn't an inpatient hospital bed available. There isn't a shorter residential program available.
SILVERS:
Hertel doesn't know that there will ever be a final victory in this realm that says every stride forward is a win.
HERTEL:
The more that we see that access build-out, the more successful I think we will be, the less we see people sitting in an emergency department without access to services, the more successful we are, so we'll just continue to build small success, small success, and doing as much as we can as we move forward.
SILVERS:
Find resources related to Mental Health Awareness Month by using the link in the show notes.
May also marks Wildfire Awareness Month, we spoke with Kathleen Ho, the deputy director for Environmental Health with Hawaii's Department of Health about the state's historic wildfires in 2023. And her department's response, while responding to the fires were top priority as the disaster unfolded. Ho's team also looked at other aspects of the crisis.
KATHLEEN HO:
We also understood that there were environmental conditions and public health conditions surrounding that disaster. And what I mean by that is there was toxins from the fires, the burning of the buildings and infrastructure that may have been released into the air the ash and then the nearshore waters.
SILVERS:
In the month following, Ho and her team conducted several community meetings every month to get important information out.
HO:
We were able to send out things like our wildfire, you know, what's in our ash? What's in your air, if you're going to reoccupy, how do we occupy? So we made, you know, several factsheets and we translated into 15 different languages, and we presented at the community meetings, and our public health nurses went door-to-door to assist the families in understanding the impacts.
SILVERS:
Post says environmental health also impacts mental health, with people wondering if even the ocean water is safe. Her team is doing what they can to ease minds.
HO:
Is it safe for them to recreate and so what we've done initially, we did some nearshore water testing, we're doing long-term nearshore water testing, to enable people to feel safe about their waters. We're also doing long-term monitoring of the air. And most recently, we're also doing testing of the sand and sediment.
SILVERS:
Work to assess and monitor the environmental impacts of the Hawaii wildfires is ongoing. To learn more about the department's work, you can use the link in the show notes.
Also, this morning, ASTHO has released part one of its 2024 Legislative Session Update. Taking a look at five trends from across state legislatures that you should be aware of. For the full recap, you can check out episode 669 of this podcast, and you can find a blog article using the link in the show notes. Part two is coming soon. So stay tuned.
Finally this morning, if you always want to be in the know about what's happening pertaining to public health in D.C. or in states across the country. Sign up for ASTHO's Legislative Alerts. The link is in the show notes.
That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
