714: Accessible Healthcare For People With Disabilities, Avian Influenza Update

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Thursday, July 25, 2024. I'm Janson Silvers. Now today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

AUDREY JUHASZ: 

We have a lot of research that indicates that chronic health conditions are more common among people who have disabilities. And we wanted to extend that beyond just health outcomes but also mental health outcomes.

SILVERS: 

Dr. Andrey Juhasz has a researcher at the Institute for Disability, Research, Policy, and Practice explains a project she is working on using data from the behavioral risk factor surveillance system.

JUHASZ: 

What we are reporting is that people with disabilities are more likely to have mental health problems and chronic health conditions. And the most important thing that we found is that there is no difference in the likelihood of them having either of those things in urban versus rural areas.

SILVERS: 

Juhasz says the rural-urban divide in the data is key, because not everyone gets the same amount of help.

JUHASZ: 

But we know that resources are not distributed equally between urban and rural areas, which means that those people are just as likely to have a chronic health condition or experience mental health issues, but they may not be able to get the resources that are needed.

SILVERS: 

Juhasz always wants to use the data to push for more supports for those underserved areas.

JUHASZ: 

There are a lot of things out of our own teams interests that are remote, online, self-paced, mental health approaches so that people can get those services without needing to drive hours and hours to a facility, or find a therapist in their area. That there are supports for mental health that are accessible to them wherever, whenever.

SILVERS: 

You can find out more about this project in the ASTHO blog article that Juhasz wrote. The link is in the show notes.

ASTHO Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marcus Plescia provides some updates for us on a few different subjects. First up, avian influenza, which Plescia wants to emphasize, is still considered low-risk for humans.

MARCUS PLESCIA: 

We have seen some more cases now. In addition to in dairy cattle, we're also starting to see some transmission amongst workers who are working in poultry facilities. There were a number of those in Colorado over the last couple of weeks, and I think our total number of diagnosed avian influenza is around 10 now.

SILVERS: 

Plescia tells us COVID cases are also beginning to rise.

PLESCIA: 

We're definitely seeing upticks in COVID being detected in wastewater, and I think we have seen a little bit of an uptick in emergency rooms. Fortunately, we're not seeing any increases in hospitalization, which is the big thing we're most concerned about.

SILVERS: 

While we are in a stable place right now, Plescia advises public health messaging should remain focused on vaccination.

PLESCIA: 

I think the core message is to encourage people to get vaccinated for COVID when the latest vaccine comes out, which will be sometime this fall and it will be specific to the kind of variants of COVID that we're seeing right now.

SILVERS: 

Community health workers are the first line of defense in public health. An ASTHO blog article can help you learn how to better support this vital public health workforce and the work that they do. Funding, policy changes, and investments into workforce development are all covered in the article. Read it by using the link in the show notes.

Also today, an ASTHO report dives into the work ASTHO is doing with the COVID-19 Health Disparities grant. O'Keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

ASTHO has partnered with the National Association of Community Health Workers and the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health to highlight health equity efforts in Texas, Utah and Virginia. The CDC's COVID-19 Health Disparities grant supports the states efforts to strengthen rural public health, empower community health workers, and improve community health relations. You can download the state's stories by clicking the link in our show notes.

SILVERS: 

Finally, today, the new National Implementation Center program that we have reported on several times right here on this newscast is garnering more attention. Route Fifty has a new write-up on the program with some insight from ASTHO's Vice President of Public Health Data Modernization, Tabatha Offutt-Powell. There's a link to the story 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.