877: Getting Further Faster Webinar, CNMI Capitol Hill Needs

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Thursday, April 3, 2025. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

JOHN VICK: 

We work to make sure that as others are making decisions and policies, they're thinking about health as part of that decision-making process.

JOHNSON: 

John Vick, with the Tennessee Department of Health, will speak at a 2025 Getting Further Faster webinar today. The webinar is hosted by ASTHO and NACCHO.

VICK: 

Being a part of coalitions, collaboratives, partnerships, that's really key to the work that we do, because so many other people are doing things that impact public health, and so we want to make sure that we're working alongside them. So, the webinar is really going to be about our strategy for that.

JOHNSON: 

Vick will speak about how his Office of Primary Prevention works to address non-medical factors that influence chronic disease.

VICK: 

A lot of the non-medical factors that impact health are driven by decisions outside of public health. And so, if we're really going to get in front of some of the biggest, most challenging, complex issues in public health, we really have to make sure that we're engaging with others who really are doing work that impacts public health. But maybe they're not necessarily thinking about it that way.

JOHNSON: 

Vick says, sometimes all it takes is a little nudge for other groups or organizations to consider public health impacts

VICK: 

So, a lot of times it's important for us to work alongside them, to be that public health voice in their work, to be able to say, hey, you know, this is something that you're doing that positively impacts health, and we support it, and we want to help, to collaborate with you in any way that we can.

JOHNSON: 

Don't forget that webinar is today, April 3, at 2 p.m. Eastern, and there's still time to sign up. You can use the link in the show notes to do that now.

Esther Muna, CEO of the Healthcare System of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, recently went with a group at ASTHO to speak with leaders on Capitol Hill. We caught up with Muna at ASTHO's Spring Leadership Forum. The first priority she mentioned...

ESTHER MUNA: 

Number one is Medicaid. You know, I know that there's a lot of talk right now about, you know, cutting Medicaid, and for us, the US territories, Medicaid has always been capped.

JOHNSON: 

Muna also had other topics to discuss.

MUNA: 

We also want to talk about the fact that, because of the territories capped funding, we have not really invested, we've not invested a lot of that funding on prevention, health prevention, which is really aligned with this administration's trying to push for prevention and, you know, reverse chronic diseases.

JOHNSON: 

Muna credits ASTHO's support for making these conversations possible.

MUNA: 

One- one of the great things about ASTHO is that they do have a leadership, you know, helping with our leaders. We want to be able to make sure that, you know, they understand and they learn, they get the tools and training. And I've also received it myself. You know, I'm, I'm a recipient of ASTHO Leadership Training, and it has been really, really effective for me.

JOHNSON: 

Also, an ASTHO blog article details how you can better support your workforce. Learn more about trauma-responsive leadership skills when you read it. There's a link in the show notes.

Finally, this morning, a very warm welcome to ASTHO's newest member, Dr. Saipale Fuimaono, the territory health official for American Samoa. He's worked at the Department of Health since 2006. Learn more about him and his work in his ASTHO bio that's online now and 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.