HHS 513 What is Public Health (2020)? by Susan Carozza

What does Public Health mean to me?

Heather_Hollingworth — 2020-09-23 03:59:07 UTC

Public Health means access to care and health services for those who can and cannot speak for themselves, no matter the individuals disability or functioning level.

What is public health...

krattr — 2020-09-23 22:23:11 UTC

Public health is the study and management of the social determinants of health to improve the health outcomes of individuals and populations.

What does Public Health mean to me?

westbyr — 2020-09-23 22:56:00 UTC

Public health means protecting and promoting the health of every individual and their communities, with resources such as education, policy making, and research for disease and prevention.

What Public Health Means to Me

michellc2 — 2020-09-23 23:05:39 UTC

Public Health is the promotion of wellness and prevention of unhealthy behaviors and habits to a targeted community or population. I included a flyer that I felt may be relevant to those of us living in Oregon and dealing with the wildfire Public Health crisis here over the past few weeks, courtesy of the Oregon Health Authority.

What Public Health Means to Me.

dallasabraham — 2020-09-24 00:10:53 UTC

Public health means empowering people. People can be empowered by information, by tools, by access, or by policy. Individuals are able to create healthy communities, and communities empower individuals.

The link is a clever game on the CDC website that allows you to "solve the outbreak."

What Public Health Means to Me.

choho — 2020-09-24 00:15:38 UTC

Public health is a dimension of social justice. Public health must recognize that inequity and injustice aren't simply challenges for public health, but are the root cause of the lack-of-wellness in so many communities. The photo I attached is of the Madison-Kipp, an aluminum die-casting plant in Madison, WI, where I went to grad school. Madison-Kipp was fined by the WI DOJ because of their negligence in cleaning up dangerous, carcinogenic PCE and PCB pollution in groundwater and soil around homes in a lower-income neighborhood in East Madison.

What Public Health Means to Me

radcliel — 2020-09-24 03:38:38 UTC

Public Heath means helping communities and populations live healthier lives through prevention interventions. Ideally Public Health workers develop strategies for making the healthy choice the easy choice while making it fun!

When I lived in Cuenca, Ecuador, I fell in love with a dance fitness program called "Bailoterapia" (very similar to Zumba(R)). The city of Cuenca spearheaded an initiative to promote physical activity and address the obesity epidemic by hiring Bailoterapia instructors to teach a free class in every park in Cuenca every weekday night. As you can see in the video it is a wildly successful, and fun, program!

What does Public Health mean to me?

greekait — 2020-09-24 03:49:35 UTC

Public health is the use of research and prevention strategies to provide equitable access to opportunities, resources and knowledge that generate positive health outcomes. Public health interventions can be mechanisms for anti-racist policy creation.

I’ve included the Opportunity Atlas website, which has compiled census data to represent average earnings of children who grew up in each US neighborhood because of the effects of childhood zip code on upward mobility potential throughout life. The map is an illustration of the social determinants of health and a guide to creating localized solutions. Take a look at your childhood home’s stats!

What Public Health Means to Me

ushmanm — 2020-09-24 03:49:44 UTC

Public health means making changes at a societal level that provide a positive benefit to the health of individuals and communities. This can be anything from distributing milk to infants in the early 20th century, to developing and distributing vaccines, to passing seatbelt laws.

The picture below is of Lillian Wald, who revolutionized public health nursing in New York City in the early 20th century.

What Public Health Means To Me

gangwere — 2020-09-24 04:55:06 UTC

Public health to means empowering societies and individuals through education, resources, and community. Public health means promotion of every aspect of health. Educating societies on how they can live well-rounded and balanced healthy lifestyles. Providing resources for societies to help them live out those healthy lifestyles. Then, building a community that supports, encourages, and participates in the healthy lifestyle with them.

I like to think of the social ecological model of health, pictured below, because it shows the value of how each layer of health is dependent on each other. I think that relates greatly to public health and that factors are always influencing each other to make a strong network of health.

What Public Health Means to Me

barberst — 2020-09-24 11:31:32 UTC

Personally, public health means prevention more than anything else. This photo came to mind when prompted to answer the question “What is Public Health?”, because in 1910 we didn’t have labor laws that prevented Americans from going to work at an early age. Of course, there were (and still are) many issues to be discussed, but for this question I’ve decided to include this photo and caption to shine a light on prevention. Without public health regulation children would be at risk of being exploited in this way to this very day, much like other countries.

What does public health mean to me?

tudorm2 — 2020-09-24 18:50:13 UTC

For me public health is teaching ballet, musical theatre dance, and movement to grade school students. These activities provide a safe learning environment that promotes physical activity, social engagement, and positive mental health all while the students explore their creativity. Dance and movement are fun ways for students to practice healthy behaviors and create good habits.

What is public health?

kaslerb3 — 2020-09-25 03:19:40 UTC

Personally, I believe that public health means implementing restrictions, or making policies/changes in order to best benefit the community and promote optimal health. This tends to cover areas that we wouldn't even think about on a typical day, such as adding fluoride to water, which end up protecting or benefiting a population.

This photo is one that relates to COVID-19. There have been many debates about mask mandates infringing upon people's freedom, however at the end of the day the purpose of the mask is to protect yourself and those around you. The photo is a reminder that a mask should be something that is a preventative device, rather than something that is used to restrict people's freedoms or cause political debate.

What is public health?

rdub3 — 2020-09-25 03:54:16 UTC

Public health involves the health and safety of people in their communities, cities, states, and country. More importantly, I feel it helps and promotes people's well being. To me, public health is exercising on a regular basis and finding different ways to stay fit. Not only does exercise promote physical health, but it can also be therapeutic and help bring a more calm/happier mental state. And this can be provided by public parks, workout structures, hikes, trails, etc. Anything that the public has access to in order to be active and exercise regularly.

barthha — 2020-09-25 04:16:12 UTC

When I think about public health, I think about the importance of promoting and protecting the health of your community and beyond through prevention and proper education efforts. As a future public health professional, I hope to empower individuals to make educated decisions towards improving not only their wellbeing, but those around them while preventing the outbreak of disease. We live in an unprecedented time not only with a global pandemic, but the age of social media where misinformation can spread across the world in moments with the simple click of a button. Prevention and health promotion is especially important in this current climate!

I have seen the below poster from the CDC displayed everywhere around my town. Great to see!

My View on Public Health

missamellon — 2020-09-25 06:09:42 UTC

I'm coming to Public Health through my background in Mental Health. Research has uncovered a profound connection between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and physical health, as ACEs can lead to toxic stress responses.
In my work with children and families, I have found that general practitioners are beginning to catch on to this, and some really amazing work is being done, especially in California, where the Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke has launched a statewide program, training doctors in ACEs screening.
In this introductory video, she points out that addressing ACEs in adults can "prevent inter-generational transmission of trauma and toxic stress."
https://vimeo.com/372651709
She also makes the bold claim that "social determinants of health are to the 21st century what infectious disease was to the 20th century." I want to be part of that progress!

What does Public Health mean to me?

AshleyEWu — 2020-09-25 16:46:19 UTC

When I think about Public Health, I think of programs that improves and promotes an inclusive and healthy lifestyle for the community. With my background in working with people with disabilities, I think of Public Health providing equal and accessible programs for all individuals which include those with disabilities.

I found the below picture that visually shows what I think of Public Health when it comes to supporting those with disabilities.

http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/ADA.htm

I believe that public health is like the Benjamin Franklin quote, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." There are many areas, such as those pictured below, including disease prevention, safe water, vaccines, clean air, food inspections, health alerts, healthy starts, and disaster responses that if addressed preventatively, will cause our community less harm, than if we wait until people are sick from the outcomes of the underlying risks.

2020-09-25 23:16:00 UTC

Public Health Means to Me...

ledbettn — 2020-09-26 00:37:18 UTC

I am an oncology nurse. In clinic, we focus on individual cases. Public health helps us appreciate the big picture in dealing with diseases such as cancer. Public health research is necessary to determine risk factors and protective factors, the benefits and harms of screening tests, and provide direction on the use of public and private money to combat disease.

What Public Health means to me

2020-09-26 02:21:03 UTC

Public Health means providing information to communities in ways that they can understand, so that they are able to make informed decisions. Thus, empowering individuals to make positive behavior changes that improve quality of life. It means setting an example for our community by adhering to guidelines and policies that are meant to protect our communities and standing up against policies and practices that disenfranchise certain groups within our communities. As well as welcoming and actively community members to participate when important decisions are being made.

https://scdhec.gov/environment/community-engagement

To me, Public Health means the improvement of health outcomes in a community by providing equitable access to health services and education. I believe that many communities strive for equity, but often do not achieve it. Being equitable is providing everyone the same resources, the same services, and the same quality of education no matter their race, class, gender, or social status. I provided a picture below to show the difference between equity and equality, both important in public health, but often confused for one another.

2020-09-26 13:24:42 UTC

Equity in Public Health

kindscha — 2020-09-26 13:27:06 UTC

To me, Public Health means the improvement of health outcomes in a community by providing equitable access to health services and education. I believe that many communities strive for equity, but often do not achieve it. Being equitable is providing everyone the same resources, the same services, and the same quality of education no matter their race, class, gender, or social status.

I provided a picture below to show the difference between equity and equality, both important in public health, but often confused for one another.

What Public Health means to me.

2020-09-26 16:16:24 UTC

Public Health to me means to help individuals/communities to live happy and healthy every stage of their life. It means to help communities with detecting and preventing diseases. And provide them with the correct resources.
-Aime Alvarado

What does Public Health mean to me?

vogelt — 2020-09-26 22:23:49 UTC

For myself, public health is protecting and promoting the best quality of human life. Public health encompasses policy and procedures, while at its core prioritizes humanity and compassion. The COVID-19 pandemic put this into prospective for myself. I found a strong message in the New York Times Newspaper from May 24th, 2020. The title reads, "U.S. deaths near 100,000, an incalculable loss" and what follows is a list of 1,000 COVID-19 victims including their biographical details. Examples include, "Roger Liddell, 65, Flint, Mich., brought smiles to everyone he interacted with" and "Hailey Herrera, 25, New York City, budding therapist with a gift for empathy". I worked for the first several months of the pandemic on the front lines in the Emergency Department. Here policies were being changed constantly due to the newest developing statistics. I have a copy of this article because I think it highlights something I hope to never forget. That public health data comes from real people who have died, are suffering or are marginalized from health resources. For myself, reading about their stories and learning how valuable they were to their own communities motivates me to make a difference in this field.

Public health is a society's commitment, based on shared values, to protecting and improving the health and well being of all people in communities from local to global by identifying barriers, expanding opportunities to thrive, promoting equitable access to fundamental needs, reducing risk, building resilience and supporting evidence-based interventions for health promotion.

macmullr — 2020-09-27 02:54:35 UTC

Image expanding on the one Adrienne shared.

What is Public Health?

carvajam — 2020-09-27 18:48:34 UTC

To me, Public Health is humanity’s moral obligation to ensure that every individual of our species has an equal opportunity to live a sustainable and healthy life.

It is a well-documented fact that underprivileged communities and developing countries are disproportionately impacted by polluting industries. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the magnitude of environmental racism impossible to ignore. As a person of an ethnic minority, I am compelled to join the environmental justice movement.

The political climate in this country has shone a crucial light on the nexus that encompasses our healthcare and education system, societal and economic structure, and physical and cultural environment. The environmental issues we face today are not only threatening the existence of all species and Earth itself, but they are syndromes reflecting an intricate web that we, as humans, have spun. At the center of this web is one core rate limiting factor: human health.

“When no individual has to wonder how they will survive, it is then that humanity will truly begin to thrive.”

Public Health encompasses so many much. For this assignment, I reviewed news NPR articles from the past 24 hours and wrote a quick summary of how each could relate to public health (and then linked the articles from the summaries). To avoid redundancy I only included one Covid-19 article.

2020-09-28 02:20:58 UTC

Supreme Court Nominations could have long-term effects on Public Health law
Political unrest as a pubic health issue
Trauma of war definitely has public health implications:
Time travel- a possibility? Could it be possible to contract diseases from the future.. or bring advanced diseases to past societies?
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/27/917556254/paradox-free-time-travel-is-theoretically-possible-researchers-say

Trauma of racial disparities and political unrest in the U.S. leads to gun purchase.

Covid-19 relating to food insecurities:

To me, Public Health is . . .

2020-09-28 17:41:28 UTC

To me, Public Health is the health community with the goal to prevent diseases and adverse health outcomes as well as promote health behaviors to improve the health of the public. Public Health is the interconnection of multiple disciplines (psychology, health studies, education, etc.) and entities (NGO’s, non-profits, health departments) to study the determinants of health and go upstream to understand the why and how of the health outcomes and impacts. Public Health then advocates for different health behaviors and educates the public on new or crucial information.

What is Public Health?

hul8 — 2020-09-28 18:23:05 UTC

I believe public health is not only about promoting health and preventing disease, but involves many dimensions including social, environmental, economic and political components. It deals with issues such as poverty, inequity, injustice, etc. Besides improving and protecting community health and well-being, decreasing health disparities should be at the core of public health. The definition of community can be as small as a village or as big as the whole world.

I studied both public health and sustainability as an undergraduate. I discovered there are many links between public health and sustainable development. I found the graph below from a research study (Kjӕrgård, B. et all, 2014), which helps explain the dimensions of public health.

Source:

Kjӕrgård, B., Land, B., & Pedersen, K.B. (2014). Health and sustainability. Health promotion international, 29 3, 558-68 .

What public health means to me

palmecar — 2020-09-29 00:20:10 UTC

What public health means to me:

In my current state of never having had any formal education in the public health discipline, though having had some opportunities to professionally interact with elements of public health in my practice of nursing, I hold public health to be a concept which could loosely be reduced to “when one element of our ecosystem is healthier, all elements of the ecosystem are heathier, and when one element of the ecosystem is less healthy, all elements are less well.” Underpinning that awareness is the reality of the interrelatedness of all elements of the ecosystem. A foundational element of this concept is that it is ancient and is presented in the writings of more than one culture, of at least 6000 years ago: (Exodus 30:20 “…they shall wash with water that they may not die…”).

Another way that I hold public health is from the perspective that the history of public health in the USA is the history of the USA. Much of the following information I found in “Office of Teaching & Digital Learning, Boston University School of Public Health,” in my search to find validation for my experience of public health in the US:

“1798 - Congress passes the Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen and authorizes formation of the US Marine Hospital Service (MHS), which was the forerunner of the Public Health Service:”

Certainly the very neophyte USA, having just won the war for Independence from Britain, a much larger and better organized & equipped country, would feel the need to protect its armed forces if it wanted to remain an independent country. The MHS evolved over time:

“1842 - Lemuel Shattuck, a Massachusetts legislator, established the first US system for recording births, deaths and marriages. (This) legislation became the model for all the other states in the Union… (including) his proposal for a standard nomenclature for disease; establishment of a system for recording mortality data by age, sex, occupation, socioeconomic level, and location; the application of data to programs in immunization, school health, smoking, and alcohol abuse.

The 1870 reorganization [of the Marine Hospital Service] also changed the general character of the Service. It became national in scope and military in outlook and organization. ….. The goal was to create a professional, mobile, health corps, free as possible from political favoritism and patronage, and able to deal with the new health needs of a rapidly growing and industrializing nation.

1874 - The Massachusetts State Board of Health instituted a voluntary plan for weekly reporting of disease by physicians.

1884 - Massachusetts passed legislation requiring the reporting of ‘diseases dangerous to the public health’ and imposed fines for not reporting

1891 - The Immigration Act of 1891 required that all immigrants entering the US be given a health examination by PHS physicians. The law stipulated the exclusion of ‘all idiots, insane persons, paupers or persons likely to become public charges, persons suffering from a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease,’ and criminals.

1902 - … legislation required the Surgeon General to organize conferences of local and national health officials in order to coordinate state and national public health activities. The Marine Hospital Service was renamed the Public Health and Marine Hospital Services (PHMHS) to reflect its broader scope.

1912 - The PHMHS was renamed the United States Public Health Service, and it was authorized to investigate human diseases such as, tuberculosis, hookworm, malaria, and leprosy), sanitation, water supplies and sewage disposal.

1925 All states begin participating in national reporting of disease.”

Regularly there occurred significant expansion of the services of the USPHS:

“1948 Richard Doll and Bradford Hill conducted a landmark epidemiologic investigation of the cause of the remarkable increase in lung cancer that had occurred during the 20th century. They identified lung cancer patients in 20 London hospitals and enrolled a comparison group of non-cancer patients and conducted a case-control study. Somewhat to the surprise of Doll and Hill, the study found that the one consistent difference between lung cancer patients and the non-cancer controls was that the cancer patients were more frequently smokers, and they were heavier smokers. In retrospect, the study was quite carefully done and quite convincing. Nevertheless, it initially stirred much controversy, even among the medical community.

1948 The Framingham Heart Study began with the goal of identifying the factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease by following its development over a long period of time in a large group of disease-free participants. The researchers recruited 5,209 men and women between the ages of 30 and 62 from the town of Framingham, Massachusetts, and began the first round of extensive physical examinations and lifestyle interviews that they would later analyze for common patterns related to cardiovascular disease. Since 1948, the subjects have continued to return to the study every two years for a detailed medical history, physical examination, and laboratory tests. In 1971 the Study enrolled a second generation - 5,124 of the original participants' adult children and their spouses - to participate in similar examinations.

1979 Smallpox is declared eradicated by the World Health Organization. The eradication of smallpox, one of the deadliest and most dreaded diseases, was the result of a massive global effort utilizing case finding and vaccination.”

There have come big successes in other areas of safety: eradication of polio, plus:

“Since 1925 there has been a 90% decrease in the annual death rate due to motor vehicle travel. This is particularly impressive given the number of motor vehicles, drivers, and miles traveled in motor vehicles have all increased dramatically since 1925. Some of the biggest interventions include regulations developed and enforced regarding safety belts, alcohol-impaired drivers, young drivers, pedestrians, and child safety and booster seats.”

So my summary thought is that Public Health is a concept that has grown out of observation, wide and deep thinking, inclusion of every molecule in and on earth (including the atmosphere), and giant leaps in technology with involvement of many entities outside the USPHS. This is a huge and profound entity.

Carol Palmer

What is Public Health?

2020-09-29 00:53:11 UTC

What is Public Health?

cartsara — 2020-09-29 00:57:42 UTC

Growing up in a small town with little to no healthcare or support for those in-need, I never really paid attention to how affected those sharing my community. I never took into consideration what kinds of struggles the people around me were going through. I didn't have to, I was a kid. It wasn't until I returned for Winter break during my third year of college when I realized that my hometown was sick. Of course, those who had access to healthcare, a refrigerator full of food, job security, and support from their loved ones weren't negatively impacted. However, the amount of people who did not have these privileges or the same opportunities overpowered those who did by a landslide.

It's nearly impossible to completely cure a community that has been ridden with many forms of inequity for decades, but it's not impossible to improve the quality of life for those who are struggling. The beauty of Public Health is it's numerous varying facets and the ability to enforce positive changes to a population by actions that may seem small to outsiders. Without Public Health, the majority of people living in the hometown would not be able to attend free smoking cessation meetings. There would be no Winter clothing or canned-food donations. Free after school programs with children who have busy mothers or fathers would no longer be available. In addition, access to the adored free mental health services would not exist. Although many people may forget how Public Health has shaped them or how it plays a part of their daily lives, Public Health is the one thing that can bring equity to any population. It affects every individual in the same way. Positively.

To me, Public Health is . . .

burkeand — 2020-09-29 01:22:53 UTC

What is Public Health to me?

Carly_Kristofik — 2020-09-29 01:53:41 UTC

Public health is vast and can take on a variety of facets, but to me, it broadly means creating opportunities for communities as a whole to thrive and be healthy. Public health aims to prevent poor health outcomes, reduce health disparities and increase health equity by working collaboratively with community members, organizations, schools, governments, education systems, healthcare systems and many other sectors to assess the determinants of poor health and disease, identify methods to improve health outcomes, and implement evaluations to assess effectiveness of these methods. Public health may focus on programs, social marketing or other interventions that aim to increase education and behavior change around a certain health topic of concern, but public health may also aim to modify systems, policies or the places where people live, work and play to increase access to opportunities and resources that improve health outcomes. Public health also focuses on infectious disease reduction, as we are currently experiencing with COVID-19. Below are a few examples of public health.

Working collaboratively with multiple organizations and community members to develop a new farmers’ market that accepts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in a neighborhood with minimal access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables.
Working collaboratively with a local school, the local transportation department, other community stakeholders and the local Safe Routes to School program to plan and build sidewalks, paint crosswalks and create bike lanes in conjunction with an education campaign about the benefits of physical activity and active transportation safety.
Oregon’s Stay Home. Save Lives Campaign. https://govstatus.egov.com/or-stay-home-save-lives

What is Public Health

sidese — 2020-09-29 03:26:40 UTC

On the forefront, public health is an institution built to ensure the whole health of a population. This institution is made up of clear groups of health workers such as doctors, nurses, therapists, etc; however, there are many people behind the scenes that become a part of public health, such as teachers, parents, public figures, almost everyone is involved in public health in some way. Public health is intersectional and forever evolving, changing. To me, the topic is more than the obvious "health" issues such as the current Covid pandemic or flu prevention. In order to ensure the complete health of a population, public health systems must be intersectional with racial equality, food access, climate change, environmental issues, and so much more. Everything we do as the individual impacts our own health, and therefore impacts the population’s health. It includes social determinants of health, from the moment a baby is born, to the day someone dies. If we do not focus on the common good and ethics within the health system, accessibility for all marginalized communities, the institutions of public health ultimately fails. Public health is only successful if every person has adequate access and affordability, which is a large issue in the current health system in the United States. This is something I continue to observe and research, and strive to make a change even for a small community. Public health includes far more than anyone can imagine.

Image: McCollum, R., Taegtmeyer, M., Otiso, L. et al. Applying an intersectionality lens to examine health for vulnerable individuals following devolution in Kenya. Int J Equity Health 18, 24 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-019-0917-2

What is Public Health to Me

2020-09-29 03:45:17 UTC

Public Health to me means to uphold the duty of serving my community by promoting healthy lifestyle and choices. To be able to detect, respond, educate and to encourage widespread adoption for health and wellness for all.

"The Goal is to influence and cause real boat operator and passenger behavioral change utilizing an evidence based model.... through awareness, education, and other interventions that will result in increased situational awareness and safer recreational boating practices while underway." (NASBLA)

Figure 1. Public Health - NASBLA (2020) "The Public Health Approach."

Additional Resources: URL retrieved from https://www.nasbla.org/advocacy/public-health

What is Public Health?

sebastgr — 2020-09-29 04:53:41 UTC

To me Public Health is a broad umbrella of various fields & specializations working towards the improvement of the health and well-being of community. It goes beyond the health community of medical practitioners, mental health professionals, researchers and touches most every aspect of our daily lives. It involves engineers ensuring the safety of a roller coaster for amusement park goers; to hand washing policies at your local pet store prior to, and after handling animals to ensure both the health of the animals and the people. Public Health involves disaster planning for shelters, waterborne diseases and contaminates in flood waters. It involves access to care in the form of increasing medical networks to meet a community's needs, and improving EMRs to better take a patient's health conditions and medications. It is the food security of a community and other social determinates that hinder or aid the development of individuals. Our whole health as a community is impacted in so many ways, that it is this broad consortium coming together for the benefit of a larger group.

Medium. 2020. What Are The Implications Of Each Of The Four Components Of Public Health?. [online] Available at: [Accessed 28 September 2020].