762: Parental Mental Health Advisory, New ASTHO Workforce Planning Guide

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, October 2, 2024.

I'm Summer Johnson.

Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

LYNN BUFKA: 

They report feeling more stressed than their counterparts who don't have children at home.

JOHNSON: 

Dr. Lynn Bufka of the American Psychological Association references parents with children under the age of 18. The Surgeon General recently issued a general advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents. Bufka says public health leaders can advocate for policies that help parents.

BUFKA: 

There's many things about being a parent that's not easy. And to the extent that health departments have any say in trying to promote things like safe and affordable childcare, flexible and predictable work schedules, access to safe playgrounds and libraries and places for families to be. That's all very beneficial.

JOHNSON: 

Bufka also says public health can have a positive daily impact on families.

BUFKA: 

I think anything that we can do in various different kinds of settings to increase capacity for outreach and education around these important issues, it can be very helpful if local departments are able to have employees or staff that have behavioral health backgrounds, that's great.

JOHNSON: 

Among all these pressures, she says we need to remind parents that they don't have to be perfect, but children will thrive when they have their basic needs met and feel loved and supported.

BUFKA: 

So, I think some of the places where people in public health can really make a difference is those touch points with families, with children, with parents, providing information about normal childhood development. What to expect through different phases of child life.

JOHNSON: 

The Surgeon General's advisory is online now. Use the link in the show notes to read it.

ASTHO's latest Workforce Planning Guide is now available for everyone. Here's ASTHO's A.C. Rothenbuecher.

A.C. ROTHENBUECHER: 

This guide walks governmental public health agencies through five steps and really simplifies it and breaks it down, so that they can develop a workforce plan that makes sense for their agency.

JOHNSON: 

Rothenbuecher says the guide is a complete companion for public health that covers workforce planning all the way through, and agencies don't need to start from scratch.

ROTHENBUECHER: 

So, the five phases of workforce planning are organize, assess the environment, set priorities, develop a workforce plan, and the fifth is, implement, track, review and adapt.

JOHNSON: 

Expect the guide to not just outline approaches, but how to put them into practice.

ROTHENBUECHER: 

They provide resources and links as well as strategies to best practices. So, what are the best practices for improving organizational workplace culture? Best strategies for workforce recruitment and retention. And that can really move the governmental public health agency forward and make it actionable, so they can create goals, objectives that make sense for their agency.

JOHNSON: 

Click the link in the show notes and download ASTHO's full Workforce Planning Guide.

Also today, ASTHO's Justin McClain and Adrianna Evans have partnered on a blog article on better protecting children's health through emergency preparedness. Firearm violence, mental health, and climate change are all tracked in the article that's online. Now use the link in the show notes to read it.

Finally, on tomorrow's newscast,

JOHN ANDERTON: 

Our theme for 2024, was prepare with the whole community integrating disability, inclusion, and accessibility. So, we're really focused on the special needs of disability communities encountering any sort of natural disaster.

JOHNSON: 

The CDC's Dr. John Anderton will reveal the agency's new approach to this year's National Preparedness Month. Follow the show, and you'll have the episode on your mobile device at 5am tomorrow. Just tap the plus sign in the upper right corner of the screen you're looking at right now.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information.

I'm Summer Johnson, you're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition.

Have a great day.