Monthly Archives: August 2020

Excess Mortality as a Canary in the Coal Mine for COVID Disparities

by JP Leider and Elizabeth Wrigley-Field Minnesota has been in the news in recent months, for all the wrong reasons. The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in the midst of a seemingly uncontrollable COVID-19 pandemic again shone a light on the tremendous disparities and inequities present in the state. The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, noted

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Students Who Rocked Public Health: Jennifer Bender

Last December, Jennifer Bender, an MPH student at Des Moines University, was listed as one of 13 Students Who Rocked Public Health in 2019 for helping to lead a collaboration between her hospital employer, Human Service Agency, and Boys & Girls Club to provide community education on drug misuse. Here, she describes her efforts in more detail. Follow along each

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Immediate Impact of Volunteers in the COVID-19 Response 

I have spent more than 25 years working in local public health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, currently serving as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Officer Association (MHOA), where I oversee an organization with 600+ members, including staff from 300 of the 351 health departments in the state.  For much of this time, I have advocated, with my

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Responding to the Homeless Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from King County, WA

COVID-19 presents challenges to many vulnerable and underserved communities. This is particularly true of individuals living homeless, a population that faces unique challenge to disease mitigation, testing and disease management. King County, WA, which includes Seattle, experienced the first outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. With more than 11,000 individuals experiencing homelessness, approximately 1/3 of whom live in shelters,

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PHRASES Offers New Tools for Talking About Public Health

  It’s been said that when public health is working, nothing happens because the 3 Ps upon which public health rests, according to C.E.A. Winslow’s definition — “preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical health” — are being effectively carried out. It isn’t until a disease outbreak like the current COVID-19 pandemic that the general public hears much of anything

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The Editor’s Podcast: Evidence-Based Public Health

by Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH The Editor’s Podcast with Dr. Lloyd F. Novick appears with each new issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice and offers a closer look at the articles published in the latest issues with guest appearances by authors, guest editors, and others. This episode of the Editor’s Podcast highlights articles appearing in

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It’s (Already) Time to Call the Game 

This entry is part 13 of 17 in the series Big Cities Health Coalition

by Chrissie Juliano, MPP This post originally appeared on the Front Lines Blog and is republished here with permission from the Big Cities Health Coalition. I am a lifelong baseball fan. I have vivid memories of game 6 of the 1986 World Series as a young New York Mets fan. My move as an adult to DC coincided with the return of baseball to the city and a renewed love for the game. My family attended Nationals games at RFK, the first game at the then-new Nats Park, and the all-star festivities (where my

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