In this week’s podcast, the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ Government Affairs team members Kerry Allen and Lauren Mastroberardino provided an update on the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations process in Congress, including how the debt ceiling negotiations may factor in, as well as ongoing congressional investigations into COVID-19 origins. They also talked about the Food and Drug Administration’s move to make opioid reversal medication naloxone available over the counter. Since the Public Health Emergency ends on May 11, Allen provided insight into emerging details from federal agencies about the new landscape of COVID-19 response. Mastroberardino spoke about her experience at the 2023 Preparedness Summit, organized by NACCHO, and discussed her key takeaways and reflections from the largest gathering of public health and preparedness leaders.
Later in the podcast, Ramona Poblete, a Program Analyst at NACCHO, spoke with Rear Admiral Paul Reed, Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and Glenda Redeemer, MSN, Chronic Disease Prevention Division Manager at Tarrant County Public Health Department in Texas, for a discussion on Healthy People 2030’s Leading Health Indicators.
The Healthy People Initiative serves as the nation’s plan for addressing our most critical public health priorities and challenges. Their discussion explored how local health officials can use the Leading Health Indicators in their work to achieve successful health outcomes in their communities. Learn more about Healthy People tools, features, and partnership initiatives such as the Healthy People 2030 Champion Program.
In this week’s podcast, the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ Government Affairs team members Kerry Allen and Lauren Mastroberardino provided highlights from this year’s Local Public Health on the Hill event. This NACCHO-organized event brought more than 100 public health leaders to meet with 120 members of Congress spanning 30 states. In the midst of these in-person and virtual Hill meetings, President Biden released his Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, which contained requests for increased funding for programs at the Department of Health and Human Services. Allen and Mastroberardino also discussed proposed new programs to address pandemic preparedness and adult vaccine access; NACCHO’s recent advocacy actions, which will continue throughout the appropriations process; and NACCHO's work to inform legislative efforts underway in Congress to bolster the public health workforce and reauthorize the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA).
Later in the program, Nicholas Holmes of NACCHO’s Immunization Team spoke with Kate Guzman, the administrator of medical services for the Oakland County Health Division, in Pontiac, Michigan and Carolina Sisiruca, health educator with Centro Multicultural La Familia, about using radio to reach English and Spanish speakers about the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations and other immunizations. They are the developers and co-hosts of the Oakland County Health radio broadcast show – a public health segment that has caught the attention of NPR leaders and has captivated audiences with public health content that empowers listeners to make informed decisions to improve and protect their health and wellbeing.
On this month’s podcast, NACCHO Government Affairs team members Kerry Allen and Lauren Mastroberardino recap key provisions in the omnibus spending bill Congress passed at the end of 2022. Most exciting to NACCHO, the bill reauthorized the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program, which once operationalized will offer loan repayment to public health professionals who agree to serve three years at a local, state, or Tribal health department. They also reflect on the beginning of the 118th Congress, highlighting recent committee hearings and votes in the House related to rolling back COVID-19 related policies. Kerry and Lauren also talk about NACCHO’s 2023 Federal Legislative and Policy Agenda and remind listeners about the upcoming virtual Public Health on the Hill event on March 6-10.
Later in the program, Victoria Freire, NACCHO’s Senior Program Analyst of Rural Health, spoke to Ron Sprong, the Community Health Manager, Mental Health First Aid instructor and Peer Recovery Specialist at Greene County Health Department in Carrolton, Illinois.
NACCHO has just launched its Rural and Frontier Public Health section of the website, and in recognition of the unique challenges that rural and frontier health departments have, in today’s interview Sprong discusses rural health department’s activities in operations, community health and emergency preparedness.