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Brian Lentes, senior director of Public Health Infrastructure, ASTHO, discusses the supports offered by the ASTHO STAR Center; Stephen Covey, a well-known author, says leaders first need to build trust within the public health agency before expanding...
Brian Lentes, senior director of Public Health Infrastructure, ASTHO, discusses the supports offered by the ASTHO STAR Center; Stephen Covey, a well-known author, says leaders first need to build trust within the public health agency before expanding outside the organization; ASTHO has resources on leveraging public health funding initiatives to support housing and food access; and Public Health Thank You Day is November 20th.
ASTHO Webpage: Braiding and Layering Funding to Address Housing and Food Insecurity
American Public Health Association Webpage: Public Health Thank You Day
ROBERT JOHNSON:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, November 14, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
BRIAN LENTES:
So, the STAR Center came about under the needs for a stronger focus on public health infrastructure, and essentially the administrative readiness needs of our states and territories.
JOHNSON:
ASTHO's Brian Lentes is talking about the ASTHO STAR Center, a place where members can access resources to support their infrastructure and population health programs.
LENTES:
State health officials have the opportunity to work with the STAR Center to better leverage some of their existing capacity to improve their processes and to possibly even learn and educate those who are working in the processes around administrative readiness and operations.
JOHNSON:
You can read more about the STAR Center and how it can help you by clicking the link in the show notes.
STEPHEN COVEY:
I think the biggest concern is that there's a loss of trust today in our society in institutions that large.
JOHNSON:
Author Stephen Covey recognizes the challenges public health leaders face when trying to rebuild trust in their communities.
COVEY:
I don't underestimate the difficulty of this in a world in a society where so many people just don't trust any authority, any expert, anything coming from public health, for whatever reasons they might have is difficult.
JOHNSON:
Covey joined ASTHO members at a meeting in Washington, D.C., in late October. He says leaders first need to build trust within the public health agency. Adding that can lead to opportunities to expand trust with people outside the organization.
COVEY:
It's still difficult, but the more there's internal trust, the easier it is to create external trust. At least we have a better platform to launch from, and then if we treat the external trust, almost as another relationship, one stakeholder at a time, with the idea that I'm going to focus on trying to build trust in one relationship and I demonstrate our credibility and that we have character and we have competence and we deliver and perform, we do what we say we're going to do.
JOHNSON:
Covey warns the process will be slow and difficult.
COVEY:
But if we can begin with our own people, with their own team, in our own relationships, and within our organization, build that trust internally in the workplace that over time gives us more of a platform and a clout to build trust externally in the marketplace, if you will, with external stakeholders.
JOHNSON:
Tomorrow, Covey tells you how to get started. We'll have it here on the newscast at 5 A.M. ET.
Also today, did you know there are ways to leverage public health funding initiatives to support things like housing and food access? O'Keyla Cooper has more.
O'KEYLA COOPER:
Social determinants of health, particularly housing, significantly impact health outcomes. State and territorial health agencies face challenges in securing funding and partnerships to address housing and food insecurity. ASTHO's white papers, developed with O'Neill Institute experts, provide guidance on using braiding and layering funds to support housing initiatives. Access these resources via the show notes link.
JOHNSON:
Finally, this morning, Public Health Thank You Day is next Monday, November 20. Again, this year, we will ask people we interview to tell us what they're thankful for and we'll share those comments each day between now and Thanksgiving. Today's thank you note is by Dan Keating, a data reporter at The Washington Post.
DAN KEATING:
I would have to say I think that from my perspective as a journalist, and I got into journalism because I wanted to make the world a better place and what I've found in the public health people I've dealt with, I've always found people with the exact same mentality. People went into public health because they want to make the world a better place and that is what I've always appreciated, and it's really hard. I have never met public health people that I said, boy, they have an easy job. So, I appreciate how hard they work, and that they are doing it to make the world a better place.
ROBERT JOHNSON:
The American Public Health Association has a webpage with resources to help you celebrate the day. We have the link in the show notes.
Before we go, we'd like to remind you to follow this newscast on your podcast player and ASTHO on social media. We're on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. That'll do it for today.
We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
