A recent study released by the CDC (and reported on Medscape and other sites) states the blunt fact that 20% of American households have difficulty paying their medical bills. And the National Center for Health Statistics states that 1 in 5 Americans has lived in a family that could not pay its medical bills in the last 12 months.
Showing posts with label CDC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CDC. Show all posts
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Does Emergency Preparedness Make Sense?
Yesterday, I spent eight hours with folks from the Centers for Disease Control, learning about how to communicate with the public and the media during public health emergencies. While this stuff can indeed be pretty dry, I must say I was quite impressed with the way the CDC puts these trainings together. The presenters kept it lively and interactive, and group exercises broke up the day nicely.
Although these trainings do indeed seem to focus on potential scenarios involving anthrax or other terrorist activity (something which I see as highly unlikely), having public health officials who know how to communicate with the public doesn't seem like such a bad idea, really.
While people don't generally want to think or talk about preparing for unknown dangers which may or may not happen some time in the future, I'm beginning to get a sense of the larger picture and how the government is striving to create a coordinated system in which metropolitan areas, small towns, and even rural areas are accounted for in emergency preparedness.
Billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent in order to create the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), the Cities Readiness Initiative, and other very complex and, ultimately costly, programs. Many people would question whether this money would have been more well spent on creating jobs, improving infrastructure, green technologies and other important issues of the day. From my perspective, this would be an excellent question to pose, however the emergency preparedness train is fully out of the station since 9/11/01, and there's simply no way to reign this one in, for better or for worse.
So, taxpayers of America, be advised that, yes, there are huge warehouses of medications at strategic points throughout the country, ready to bring antibiotics and antivirals to your town in case they're needed in a hurry. There are also thousands of people like myself constantly undergoing training in order to be able to bring those medications to you in a real emergency.
Taking into consideration the likelihood of a terrorist attack, an influenza pandemic, or another scenario in which these assets would indeed be deployed, one might be led to wonder why so much money has been sunk into these efforts of preparing for that which may never occur.
These are good questions to ask and valid points to consider. The fact is, however, that the behometh of emergency preparedness is a beast with a life (and a budget) of its own, and even though I sometimes question the amount of money being set aside for such efforts at a time of economic turmoil, as a public health official I must fulfill my mandated mission of taking these tasks seriously as I increase my knowledge of such a new and complicated world.
Although these trainings do indeed seem to focus on potential scenarios involving anthrax or other terrorist activity (something which I see as highly unlikely), having public health officials who know how to communicate with the public doesn't seem like such a bad idea, really.
While people don't generally want to think or talk about preparing for unknown dangers which may or may not happen some time in the future, I'm beginning to get a sense of the larger picture and how the government is striving to create a coordinated system in which metropolitan areas, small towns, and even rural areas are accounted for in emergency preparedness.
Billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent in order to create the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), the Cities Readiness Initiative, and other very complex and, ultimately costly, programs. Many people would question whether this money would have been more well spent on creating jobs, improving infrastructure, green technologies and other important issues of the day. From my perspective, this would be an excellent question to pose, however the emergency preparedness train is fully out of the station since 9/11/01, and there's simply no way to reign this one in, for better or for worse.
So, taxpayers of America, be advised that, yes, there are huge warehouses of medications at strategic points throughout the country, ready to bring antibiotics and antivirals to your town in case they're needed in a hurry. There are also thousands of people like myself constantly undergoing training in order to be able to bring those medications to you in a real emergency.
Taking into consideration the likelihood of a terrorist attack, an influenza pandemic, or another scenario in which these assets would indeed be deployed, one might be led to wonder why so much money has been sunk into these efforts of preparing for that which may never occur.
These are good questions to ask and valid points to consider. The fact is, however, that the behometh of emergency preparedness is a beast with a life (and a budget) of its own, and even though I sometimes question the amount of money being set aside for such efforts at a time of economic turmoil, as a public health official I must fulfill my mandated mission of taking these tasks seriously as I increase my knowledge of such a new and complicated world.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Salmonella Outbreak Widens and Continues
As the nationwide salmonella outbreak related to peanut butter increases in its scope, the CDC, the FDA, and regional and local public health officials are doing their best to contain the epidemic and remove potentially tainted products from the shelf.
As a public health nurse, I'm frequently updating a blog which I publish for local online consumption, and I'm sincerely surprised that I haven't received a single telephone call from worried citizens seeking more information. Either people aren't overly concerned, or the information being disseminated by the feds is assuaging people's fears.
For the bloggers out there who would like to be more involved, the CDC and FDA are holding a webinar on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2:30-3:30 pm EST. To log in, call 1-800-857-9824 and dial pass code 1234, and visit this link. Please also email NCHMinteractivemedia@CDC.gov to let them know you plan to attend.
Thanks!
As a public health nurse, I'm frequently updating a blog which I publish for local online consumption, and I'm sincerely surprised that I haven't received a single telephone call from worried citizens seeking more information. Either people aren't overly concerned, or the information being disseminated by the feds is assuaging people's fears.
For the bloggers out there who would like to be more involved, the CDC and FDA are holding a webinar on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2:30-3:30 pm EST. To log in, call 1-800-857-9824 and dial pass code 1234, and visit this link. Please also email NCHMinteractivemedia@CDC.gov to let them know you plan to attend.
Thanks!
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