832: PH Workforce Development; PH Well-Being

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, January 29, 2025. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

JEFFREY STOVER: 

I would say in short, that the Academy is a pipeline for how we can do some hiring of young graduates coming out of college these days, giving them a structured environment where the students can really build upon those initial skills for resume-building knowledge and skill sets.

JOHNSON: 

In this week's PHIG success story, an internship academy prepares the next generation of public health talent. The VDH Internship Academy gives each intern a specific project to work on in public health.

STOVER: 

Examples of those projects include everything from community health assessments and community health improvement plan assistance, working with baby care programs, radiological health, working on drinking water, infectious disease, obviously.

JOHNSON: 

At the end of the program, the students then create a poster about the work they've done that the public and industry can see.

STOVER: 

The intent of that is to give these students an opportunity to participate in a poster presentation similar to what they would do if they were at a conference. They will be there. It's an hour and a half long.

JOHNSON: 

Stover says the department had the idea for the internship program for a while, but wasn't able to execute it until the Public Health Infrastructure Grant.

STOVER: 

There'd be interest for different reasons, but funding was always the issue that stopped us from going anywhere. PHIG changed all that, so the Public Health Infrastructure Grant gave us that impetus from day one, and we started in 2023 and it's been just a fabulous success story. We've been able to fund it entirely out of the PHIG grant.

JOHNSON: 

In the first two years, VDH has had over 950 applicants and 55 interns go through the program, plus the department has already hired nine new staff members out of the program. You can learn more about the Virginia Department of Health Internship Academy and watch a new video about it. Just look for the link in the show notes.

Today, it's all about the public health workforce. And one of ASTHO's most popular resources in 2024 was a how-to article on boosting well-being in the public health workforce. Here's Kristina Herrera from the Tuolumne County Public Health Department in California.

KRISTINA HERRERA: 

Our ability to serve our community effectively starts with making sure our workforce is well and thriving. So, I don't think as public leaders, we can advance public health goals if our workplace is not well.

JOHNSON: 

Herrera is part of the DELPH program and joined with her public health colleagues from Maryland and D.C. to write an article that's available online now on the ASTHO website. They outline practical strategies to deploy in the workplace to address burnout and well-being.

HERRERA: 

My colleagues and I have tried to offer a list of strategies that varied in size and scope, that some may work for larger health departments, some may work better for smaller units, maybe within a department. I think for me, developing the culture of psychological safety and connectedness is incredibly important.

JOHNSON: 

Herrera thinks the reason their article was a popular one is because public health workers feel unique stressors.

HERRERA: 

Whether you're a state public health official trying to make the state budget work, or the community health worker working at the local level, doing your best for your patient, workplace stress affects us all.

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

Check out those strategies for promoting well-being within your department. It's online now. Find it using the link in the show notes.

Also today, more on strengthening the public health workforce. ASHTO has a Legislative Prospectus online that reveals state legislature trends in healthcare  workforce development policy. Read about different approaches by states on this and public health funding and what to look for during the 2025 state legislative sessions. You can find a link to the Legislative Prospectus in the show notes.

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.