716: Public Health Authority Recommendations, Workforce Open Houses

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, July 29, 2024. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

ANDY BAKER-WHITE: 

I think in some jurisdictions and some places, there will be continued challenges to the ability for health agencies to use these legal tools.

JOHNSON: 

ASTHO's Andy Baker White talking about the ongoing discussion over legal tools needed to ensure public health during outbreaks and emergencies. One of those tools, isolation and quarantine authority.

BAKER-WHITE: 

Most of the time, anyone who's subject to this type of requirement will do so voluntarily. It's kind of the gold standard that agencies want to get people to volunteer for isolation quarantine. But occasionally, someone may refuse. So it's really important for state and territorial health officials to have the ability to order someone to quarantine when needed.

JOHNSON: 

Baker-White is co-author of an article about recommended strategies to ensure public health authority published in the latest edition of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

BAKER-WHITE: 

I think it's really important for health agencies to communicate to the public the need for these authorities and these legal tools. How they assist in keeping the public safe, how they assistant keeping the public well, and also really to educate the lawmakers within their jurisdictions; so that lawmakers can understand how these authorities, how these tools actually protect their own constituents.

JOHNSON: 

You can download ASTHO's Public Health Authority Toolkit and read the journal article by clicking the links in the show notes.

Funding and standards for peer support specialists are the focus of a new ASTHO legal map now online. This is ASTHO's Maggie Davis.

MAGGIE DAVIS: 

So peer support specialists are an important resource for people that are seeking recovery from substance use disorder, particularly amongst people with opioid use disorder. And so we were really interested to see what the policy landscape was to support access to the services, and to make sure that these services were provided by qualified professionals.

JOHNSON: 

The legal map considers how states pay for these services. It also reviews laws and policies that recognize or create a credentialing process.

DAVIS: 

Not every state approaches problems the same way. So being able to look at how states you know, create the language of their statute, how they frame their programs, can really help spur ideas for other leaders to see what they might want to bring over to their jurisdiction to help support access to peer support specialists.

JOHNSON: 

You can visit the legal map using the link in the show notes.

Also, today, virtual open house events might help your agency build new connections with those interested in a career in public health. Massachusetts held two online open houses late last year supported by the Public Health Infrastructure Grant Program. Arnaldo Machado is with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

ARNALDO MACHADO 

So one of the great things about the open houses is that we were able to a lot virtually, with very minimal cost other than operational costs.

JOHNSON: 

More than 400 college and university students, and alumni from across the state, attended the open houses. Machado says they went well. But adds, it's important to be patient when judging the success of this type of event.

MACHADO 

I'm not measuring the success of the open house events on the immediate number of hires resulting on those events, because I feel we will collect those fruits in the years to come.

JOHNSON: 

Machado says the feedback from both events was encouraging.

MACHADO 

The participants appreciated the transparency in the hiring process presentations, it felt more prepared to apply for jobs within the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts. They also loved the opportunity to connect with people who worked in the department.

JOHNSON: 

You can read more about the open houses using the link in the show notes.

Finally, this morning, a couple of resources to tell you about.

First, a new ASTHO blog article examines lessons learned during the Zika outbreak, and how they can be leveraged to improve response for the next emergency.

ASTHO also has released a new report sharing how three states have worked to improve nutrition for infants, young children, and their families. You can read the article and download the report by checking out the links in the show notes.

Before we go, a reminder also to follow this newscast on your podcast player and connect with ASTHO on social media. We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.

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.