816: New Office of Healthy Aging, Vape Devices with Video Games

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, January 6, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

RALPH ALVARADO: 

So, we created the Office of Healthy Aging, really, to expand public health practice to address older adult health and well-being.

SILVERS: 

As the state of Tennessee continues to age, with adults aged 60 and older now one quarter of the population, the state is taking action. Dr, Ralph Alvarado, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, and an ASTHO member, tells us why his team decided to create an Office of Healthy Aging.

ALVARADO:

We really didn't have kind of a good holistic approach to older adult health, and that really requires more of a multi-sector kind of collaborative effort across a lot of state agencies, with for profit and with non profit organizations, also connect to promote things like equity policies and environments to support a lot of people as they get older and age through life.

SILVERS: 

Alvarado says we can't begin focusing on healthy aging as someone gets older. We must do it from the very beginning.

ALVARADO:

And it's really important for us really to start focusing on what we can do to improve brain health. That is part of public health and we know that the process of aging and healthy aging begins from the time that you're in the womb. So, it needs to be something that's not only just, 'Hey, once you turn a certain age, now we focus.'

JANSON SILVERS: 

It's also something that is going to take time and effort.

ALVARADO:

We created a five-year roadmap for the state to say, here are the things we need to focus on, programs that sometimes where other states are doing well, that we've picked the best ideas from other places and said we ought to implement this in the state of Tennessee.

SILVERS: 

Learn more about Tennessee's new Office of Healthy Aging by clicking the link in the show notes.

SILVERS: 

As vaping continues to grow as a public health issue, one recent trend is causing even more alarm. Dr. Jennifer Unger, a professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California, reveals what she found in her recent research.

JENNIFER UNGER: 

We noticed some devices being promoted online that are vaping devices, but also have video games on them. So, we saw some that have PAC-MAN, Tetris, Mario Kart, Q*bert.

SILVERS: 

Not only do the vape devices contain games, but according to Unger, the games encourage you to vape even more.

UNGER: 

In these vapes, they're really dangerous because they give rewards for vaping. So, every time you puff, you get something else. Like you get some points, or you get some food for your virtual pet, you can compete with other people online to get more and more puffs. So, they're actually encouraging people to puff on the vapes and get- taking even more nicotine.

SILVERS: 

Unger thinks as long as these products are on the market, they will attract a young audience, which means the solution is to get them off the market.

UNGER: 

So, I think we really need to work on the supply side to ban the products and to enforce the bans. So, FDA has already been issuing letters to a lot of e-cigarette companies saying, you know, please stop doing these things that appeal to youth, but then they don't really seem to have the resources to enforce that.

SILVERS: 

An article online detailing Unger's work is out now. Click the link in the show notes to read it.

Also, tomorrow, you have the chance to learn about the transformative impact of recent CMS actions. ICF is hosting a webinar with experts from CMS, the University of Texas System, MaineHealth and more. Use the link in the show notes to learn more and sign up today. That webinar is on Tuesday, January 7, at noon ET.

Finally, don't miss a thing when you sign up for  ASTHO's Public Health Weekly newsletter. The link to sign up 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.