534: Alliance to Solve Substance Use, Advice to Prevent Falls

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, October 30, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

CATHY SLEMP:

There was tons of good work going on all across communities. But it's not always connected.

JOHNSON: 

Former West Virginia Health Commissioner Dr. Cathy Slemp, now co-chairs the West Virginia Hope and Action Alliance, a group that builds collaborations focused on substance use in the state.

SLEMP:

They're really a mix of health care professionals, academics, persons with lived experience, folks in education, academia, we're trying to bridge out more fully to include more in the law enforcement, criminal justice system, faith-based communities, and others.

JOHNSON: 

The Alliance is about two years old and already very busy.

SLEMP:

So, we do a lot of operational partnerships with our members, so supporting folks in attending local coalition members and attending trainings or we're now doing a initiative in which we are partnering with our 988 lead and others to do crisis intervention training with law enforcement and public safety officials across the state.

JOHNSON: 

Slemp says substance use impacts everyone. And that's why cooperation is critical to success.

SLEMP:

There's an urgency to it because it is very real and very painful and communities. But we also have to keep that long haul picture, because we at the end of the day have to change the environments that lead to substance use, so that we really have a more effective approach.

JOHNSON: 

You can read more about the alliance by visiting its website. The link is in the show notes.

A new guide to help agencies expand their falls prevention work and improve coordination with community and clinical providers is now online. Amy Schlotthauer is a consultant who helped ASTHO write the document.

AMY SCHLOTTHAUER: 

So, this guide is an effort to show how the state health department is very well poised to facilitate these community clinical linkages, and then outlines a concrete three step process to do so.

JOHNSON: 

The report tells how current agency work can support these connections.

SCHLOTTHAUER: 

So, these are things like using surveillance data to track trends, developing connections between clinical partners who recommend interventions to older adults, as well as community partners who host evidence-based and best practice falls prevention programs.

JOHNSON: 

Schlotthauer says case studies offer real examples of the work in practice.

SCHLOTTHAUER: 

The guide also shares falls prevention approaches from three different states, North Carolina, New York, and Nebraska, and a comprehensive falls prevention assessment tool that state health departments can use to walk through to assess their current falls strategies and brainstorm strategies that they want to explore in the future.

JOHNSON: 

You can download the new ASTHO report on falls prevention using the link in the show notes. Also today, another ASTHO report examines the Medicaid safety net and the impact of section 1115 waivers. O'Keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

In a new report, ASTHO and the Center for Health Care Strategies recommend fostering collaborations between state public health agencies and Medicaid to strengthen safety net services and promote health equity. The report based on interviews with staff in Arkansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Oregon, aims to optimize opportunities and federal revenue. The link to the full report is in the show notes.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

Finally, this morning, learn more about the health impacts of lead in drinking water when you download an ASTHO primer focused on current testing and sampling protocols. There's a 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.