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Linda Helland, manager of the Climate Change and Health Equity Branch in the Office of Health Equity at the California Department of Public Health, tells us how the California Department of Public Health is working to incorporate health equity into...
Linda Helland, manager of the Climate Change and Health Equity Branch in the Office of Health Equity at the California Department of Public Health, tells us how the California Department of Public Health is working to incorporate health equity into climate work; Tyrone Bethune, ASTHO senior analyst for Health Improvement and Healthy Aging, discusses support ASTHO provides for Alzheimer’s; ASTHO has a resource on the legal requirements for state funding core public health services; and Patrick Allen, secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health, shares thanks for public health.
California Department of Public Health Webpage: Climate Change and Health Equity
ASTHO Web Page: Healthy Aging and Brain Health
ASTHO Web Page: Needs Assessment Toolkit for Dementia, Cognitive Health and Caregiving
SUMMER JOHNSON:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, November 26, 2024. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
LINDA HELLAND:
People facing inequities are hurt first and worst by the health impacts of climate change, and climate change policies and investments can improve the environments where people live, learn, work, play, and age.
JOHNSON:
The California Department of Public Health is working to incorporate health equity into climate work. Linda Helland runs the Climate Change and Health Equity branch, or CCHE branch, for CDPH.
HELLAND:
Our office takes a Climate Health and Equity, or CHE, lens, which means using data and local knowledge to identify communities facing disproportionate climate risk, and shifting resources and decision making power to them.
JOHNSON:
The office works to embed health and racial equity into all California climate change policy programs and investments.
HELLAND:
We provide data, research, and tools to identify and reduce the health impacts of climate change and maximize the health equity benefits of climate action and increase the capacity of public health jurisdictions, tribal health programs, and partners to work on climate change and health equity.
JOHNSON:
The CCHE branch also works hyper-locally to support the climate and health planning of the 61 local health jurisdictions and tribal partners.
HELLAND:
Our local assistance unit supports tribes to address health impacts of climate change, including a contract with the Pala Band of Mission Indians to create a heat mitigation plan that will be made available to other tribes as a tribal heat mitigation planning starter kit.
JOHNSON:
You can learn all about California's CCHE branch by clicking the link in the show notes.
Today, we continue to focus on Alzheimer's Awareness Month. This time, taking a look at some of the support and resources ASTHO provides. Tyrone Bethune is with ASTHO's Health Improvement and Healthy Aging team.
TYRONE BETHUNE:
Our team takes a 'both and' approach to healthy aging as a public health topic, and what that really means is that we prioritize healthy aging and older adult health.
JOHNSON:
Bethune says, over the years, Alzheimer's has become more of a public health priority.
BETHUNE:
So, public health is ever-changing, and traditionally, public health wasn't involved in the Alzheimer's space as much, but we've really seen a lot of involvement and collaboration from the public health workforce to improve brain health.
JOHNSON:
ASTHO has created several resources focused on healthy aging.
BETHUNE:
I urge our listeners to take a peek at the Social Determinants of Health Toolkit, which really provides an overview of some of the most salient determinants of health and a brief summary of the evidence of social determinants of health, particularly related to dementia risk, and it includes the step-by-step process for public health agencies to follow.
JOHNSON:
You can find that toolkit and more resources online now. Use the link in the show notes to find them.
Also today, ASTHO has a resource you might want to check out. It's on the legal requirements for state funding core public health services. The PDF is available online now. You can click the link in the show notes to learn more.
Finally, this morning, it's a week focused on gratitude, and this week, we're asking public health leaders across the country to weigh in. Here's Patrick Allen, secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health.
PATRICK ALLEN:
To my current public health colleagues in New Mexico, and to my former public health colleagues in Oregon, and to everybody out there doing public health work, thank you for being there. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for sticking with it. Thank you for doing really hard things, not just in the pandemic, but in the post- pandemic world where we're not so top-of-mind and we're not so top-of-the- checkbook, but the work is all still there. It's all still hard. It's all still vitally important. And I really appreciate everyone who leans into that work every single day. Thank you.
JOHNSON:
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.
Manager, Climate Change and Health Equity Branch, Office of Health Equity, California Department of Public Health
