543: Rural Health Equity, Covey’s Advice for Building Trust

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, November 13, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

SOMAVA SAHA: 

I think one of the best parts about rural communities is that they're highly practical.

JOHNSON: 

Dr. Somava Saha is President and CEO of Well-being and Equity in the World.

SAHA: 

So, when I think about rural health day, what I think of is a day to celebrate the resourcefulness of rural communities everywhere and to create the conditions for everyone to realize how much those who are in rural areas have to offer us as a nation about what equity can look like.

JOHNSON: 

Thursday, November 16, is National Rural Health Day. According to Saha, equity is a big concern in rural areas.

SAHA: 

Just as other groups of people might experience structural inequities, rural places experience structural inequities. That often means that policies, and systems, and funding streams aren't designed with them in mind.

JOHNSON: 

There are tools available to address rural health equity. You can find the Health Equity Roadmap and a rural health equity toolkit by clicking the links in the show notes.

STEPHEN COVEY: 

Yeah, I think the leader is critical in building trust.

JOHNSON: 

Author Stephen Covey's comments offered as guidance to public health officials looking for ways to rebuild trust following the pandemic. He says leaders need to make the first move.

COVEY: 

Someone needs to go first, and leaders go first. So, they demonstrate trustworthiness through their character, through their competence, and they behave their way into greater trust. Things like, you know, creating transparency, and keeping commitments, and talking truthfully, and so forth.

JOHNSON: 

Covey joined ASTHO members at a meeting in Washington, D.C. in late October. His message intended to help them better understand how trust can transform an organization.

COVEY: 

In addition to modeling the behavior, the leaders are not only willing to be trustworthy; they're also willing to be trusting and to give that trust to extend it because if you don't trust people, they tend to not trust you back, and when you do trust people, they tend to receive the trust and to reciprocate it.

JOHNSON: 

Covey admits it can be difficult to take that first step.

COVEY: 

Absolutely. Especially if they're operating in a low-trust environment, and it's very easy to kind of perpetuate the distrust. That's one of the challenges we have, not only in public health but in really all society today, is it's such a low-trust world. There's distrust all around us, and it's very easy in a low-trust world to allow that to perpetuate itself, where everyone becomes a little bit more cautious, and guarded, cynical, suspicious.

JOHNSON: 

Tomorrow, Covey talks about the differences between internal and external trust, a critical distinction as public health recovers from the damage done by COVID-19. That's tomorrow here on the newscast.

Also today, an ASTHO web page gathers stories of public health teams working to make a difference in their communities. You can see how teams in Puerto Rico, Florida, and Massachusetts work to close the gaps between root causes and crises. There's a link to the page in the show notes.

Finally, this morning, Public Health Thank You Day is Monday, November 20. Again, this year, we'll ask people we interview to tell us what they're thankful for and we'll share those comments each day between now and thanksgiving. The first thank you note is by ASTHO's Immediate Past President Dr. Anne Zink.

ANNE ZINK: 

I always struggle with that, and I guess I would just say joy. The joy of enjoying the mountains outside of my family, the joy of being able to be close with friends, the joy of working with public health professionals across this country and state to be able to find new ways to move together. I really think that the more that we focus on gratitude and joy, we can see all the great doers out there, and I would love for public health to continue to focus on the resiliency factors—the joy and adventure of our job—because it can be hard and it can be long, but it's so much easier when you focus on that joy.

JOHNSON: 

The American Public Health Association has a web page 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 are on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. That will 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.