“Better health through public health focus - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel” plus 1 more |
| Better health through public health focus - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Posted: 22 Jan 2011 09:11 PM PST Community health | Policy debates about the wisdom, virtues and shortfalls of health care reform legislation enacted by Congress last year focus intense energy on issues of cost. These are important questions, no doubt, but not the only ones worthy of attention. What so often is lacking in these explosive debates is recognition of the critical role of public health: keeping people healthy by prevention of illness and injury. With amazing advances in medical treatment enabling us to prolong and enhance life quality, it's no wonder we've paid so much attention for so long to the care of people who have become ill. But this curative model of health care is only one part of creating a healthy community. The simple act of prevention is key to this endeavor. (Remember what an ounce of prevention is worth?) Now is the time for Milwaukee to expand our focus on public health - empowering populations of people to live longer and healthier with less medical treatment. Milwaukee experiences many health challenges to which we can apply the preventative public health model: sexually transmitted diseases, environmental pollution, violence in our neighborhoods, infant mortality, lead paint poisoning, binge drinking and an overall lack of knowledge and/or incentive regarding healthy living practices. Another challenge we face in Milwaukee is an epidemic of obesity, a condition that can lead to expensive medical care to combat high blood pressure, heart disease and many other health problems. In the end, we all will bear the costs for this treatment, financially and civically. We can, however, as a community, fight obesity if we give more attention to and invest more resources - public, private and personal - in advancing public health. How can we fight obesity? Fortunately, there are many strategies. We can expand public awareness about nutrition and exercise through culturally focused marketing campaigns and educational outreach; in our schools, we can reduce access to junk foods and teach healthy eating as part of the curriculum; we can create physical activity programs for all age groups; we can create safe neighborhoods where parents feel confident about encouraging their kids to play and exercise. We are not powerless. To be sure, Milwaukeeans are working toward these goals today. But we need to do more. We need to join together public agencies, private companies, nonprofit groups and other partners to promote healthy living and wellness. We need to empower individuals to do more for themselves to stay healthy, we need employers to promote wellness in the workplace and we need for the public sector to invest resources not only in curative health care as they have, but also in strategies to keep people healthy. The beauty of the public health approach is that investment in its strategies is a means to reduce overall health care spending while at the same time advancing the health and life quality of our citizens. And while it may take some time to realize a payoff, it represents a long-term strategy to create a healthier America and a healthier Milwaukee. The faculty, staff and students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Public Health, as well as our colleagues in other educational institutions and community organizations, are committed to advance the health of our community through strategies to keep people well. This is a fight in which the whole community needs to join. Stephen L. Percy is acting dean of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Public Health. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Free training offered for jobs in health care - AZCentral.com Posted: 22 Jan 2011 04:25 PM PST by Jahna Berry - Jan. 23, 2011 12:00 AM Arizona Career Pathways is offering free health-care-job training for up to 50 Valley residents. The new non-profit is working with the Maricopa Community Colleges and Valley Interfaith Project to use a $476,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Participants can learn how to become physical-therapy assistants, medical coders, phlebotomists, and later, histologists. Medical coders make sure that medical records have the correct codes that physicians and insurance providers need to identify illnesses. Physical-therapy assistants help patients recover from injuries. Phlebotomists draw patients' blood, and histologists prepare tissue samples and study them under a microscope, said Dan Sagramoso, a spokesman for the program. In the program, participants will get up to two years of training. They will receive financial assistance for tuition, as well as case-management and support services, Sagramoso said. "We want to make sure that they are placed in a career with a living wage and benefits," he said. Job seekers must attend an orientation and meet eligibility criteria, he added. For more information, call Valley Interfaith Project at 602-248-0607. There are five orientation sessions left: Monday - 6:30p.m. at Avondale United Methodist Church, 104 W. Western Ave., Avondale. Also: 6:30 p.m. at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 4715 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. Tuesday - 6:30 p.m. at Red Mountain United Methodist Church, 2936 N. Power Road, Mesa. Wednesday - 6:30 p.m. St. Paul Catholic Church, 330 W. Coral Gables Drive, Phoenix. Thursday - 6:30p.m. Temple Solel, 6805 E. McDonald Drive, Scottsdale. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Add Images to any RSS Feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment