President's Message

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year – the changing leaves, the crisp weather, the apples and pumpkins and cider, oh my! I’m even more excited this year because I’ll be attending the 2015 CPHA Annual Conference! I hope you’re planning to join me and the many other public health professionals, students, and partners for this great educational and networking opportunity. The focus for this year’s conference is Healthy by Design. We have an amazing lineup of speakers and presentations, including our keynote speaker, Dr. David Katz from the Yale Prevention Research Center.

The conference is also our annual member meeting. We will have elections and important updates for you, so make sure to register today!!

TOP 5 REASONS TO ATTEND: CPHA ANNUAL MEETING AND CONFERENCE, "HEALTHY BY DESIGN," FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015

Every year, CPHA hosts the largest public health conference in Connecticut, an event that attracts hundreds of professionals and leaders from the state to gather and learn, network, and engage with peers. This year's theme, Healthy by Design, aims to tackle the discussion of building health-conscious environments for people to live, work and play, ultimately to improve health outcomes. 

Register Here for the CPHA Annual Meeting and Conference, October 23, 2015

Here are 5 excellent reasons to attend this year's conference:

1. You will get to learn a whole lot about the new research and strategies that public health in Connecticut is adopting. Choose from 12 breakout session presentations that share the latest information, promote evidence-based practices, and raise awareness of emerging health issues in the field. Learn current strategies that are working for others and be inspired to initiate your own.

2. Network with hundreds of fellow public health professions from around the region. Meet the experts face-to-face and talk one-on-one with exhibitors who could one day become your partners. Connect with old friends, develop new relationships, and chat with like-minded people!

3. Meet up-and-coming public health professionals at the Student Poster Session and explore the research, projects, and experiences that students have worked hard on to share with the rest of Connecticut. 

4. Reflect, refocus, refresh your ideas about how to improve health outcomes in CT. Listen to and engage with our Keynote Speaker, Dr. David Katz, founding director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center, and associate professor of public health practice at the Yale University School of Medicine.

5. Earn Continuing Education credits for Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES) (additional fee does apply)

BONUS: Expand your network! Take the networking challenge and earn your chance at a gift card drawing!

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There is a lot of good happening around Southern Connecticut State University’s Department of Public Health!  We welcome two new full-time faculty to our Department, Dr. Marian Evans and Dr. Aukje Lamonica. Dr. Evans, a long-time CPHA member and graduate of our MPH Program, joins us for her first, tenure-track year.  Dr. Lamonica, who has been at Southern for three years, joined our Department as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. We also continue to have robust programs, admitting 51 new MPH students this year and continuing our strong undergraduate program with 295 students.  Several of our graduate students, along with 31 confirmed undergraduate majors, will be joining us at the CPHA Annual Meeting this month. We are currently, and busily, working on our self-study for CEPH re-accreditation this year and we look forward to sharing good news with our CPHA family next year about re-accreditation. 

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The CPHA Advocacy Committee is looking for a dedicated Chair and/or Co-Chairs to assume responsibility for leading and/or supporting the significant work of the committee. This would require: scheduling and preparing for regular advocacy committee meetings (which would take place either in person or by phone conference); maintaining a current list of advocacy committee members; leading and/or assisting with preparation of communications to advocacy committee members and CPHA membership (action alerts); tracking public health legislation; and jointly supervising masters level interns during the legislative session. Preferably, the Chair/Co-Chairs would also be able to meet with legislators regarding bills of interest to CPHA and assist with drafting or delivering oral and written testimony.

In addition, the Advocacy Committee always welcomes members who are skilled in, or interested in learning more about public health advocacy. Please contact Colleen O'Connor at [email protected] if you are interested.

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In 2015, the Eastern Highlands Health District (EHHD), in collaboration with its local Community Health Action Response Team (CHART), CPHA, and the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association, received one of 18 recipients of a new 15-month grant known as Plan4Health.   Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administered by the American Planning Association (APA) Chapters and American Public Health Association (APHA) Affiliates, Plan4Health grantees are creating unique partnerships as a means of addressing the built environment’s impact on chronic disease.

CHART members identified that local Planning and Zoning Commissioners (PZCs) in small Connecticut towns are key community leaders in positions of relative power and if given the practical tools, they will make a concerted effort to positively impact population health.   Due to “rural sprawl”, car-dependency, and extremely low walk-scores within the EHHD 10-town region, the Plan4Health grant will help CHART to partner with and influence PZCs impact on active lifestyles. 

CHART launched its project with a combination of 9 key informant interviews and 2 focus groups.  The coalition diligently catalogued the experiences of local PZCs in the 10-town district through qualitative analysis.  The interviews clarified the local perception of planning and public health and highlighted the opportunities for expanding the shared understanding of how the built environment is able to shape biking, walking, and playing opportunities.  

Those commissioners who were interviewed were innately aware of their impact on public health and safety, but not necessarily on chronic disease.  They agreed that the 10-town territory offers abundant opportunities for walking, hiking, biking, tennis, swimming, fishing, boating, and hunting.   The famous Charter Oak Greenway, Airline Rail Trail, and Indian Notch Park are just a few examples of the recreational amenities available to residents in the area.   However, as one Planning & Zoning Commissioner who was interviewed lamented, “…pathways, bikable communities, this is a big thing for us I think and I think that’s the number one way to encourage activity.  We have parks, they’re nice, but everybody has to drive to them.  It’s just such a bummer.”

Even in this initial project period, the partnership between land use planners and public health professionals has been strengthened: five planners have joined the CHART Coalition and two Planning & Zoning Commissioners will be attending the CPHA Conference on October 23^rd. 

Ultimately, the EHHD CHART will produce an interactive toolkit that will address the specific needs of the PZCs in its 10 towns and raise awareness about the specific ways to make the built environment in their communities more conducive to biking, walking and playing. 

For more information about Plan4Health, visit www.plan4health.us and www.ehhd.org. 

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PROMOTE GLOBAL HANDWASHING DAY: OCTOBER 15

Global Handwashing Day comes on October 15, just as the cold and flu season is beginning here in the United States.  The day is intended to support handwashing with soap across the world, to demonstrate challenges with handwashing in each country, and to raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing with soap to prevent disease transmission.

Handwashing is simple, inexpensive, and keeps people, especially young children and those with weakened immunity due to underlying illnesses from getting sick.  While in the United States we frequently hear about the importance of washing hands in the healthcare setting, it is also important in the community setting.  In the community, people should wash their hands before preparing food or eating, after using the bathroom, and after getting blood or body fluids (such as saliva) on them. They should wash hands after wiping their nose or mouth, or after covering when sneezing.

As many countries lack access to clean running water and soap, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol is also an option.

Please consider promoting good hand hygiene to your residents, patients, and clients on October 15^th and throughout the year.  There are many useful educational materials available through the CDC and other developers of public health educational materials to help.  A good place to find educational messages and materials is the CDC “Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives” website:  http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/

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The Community Health Worker Association (CHW) of CT has been in discussions for almost a year with the CPHA Board of Directors about becoming a section within CPHA, and it is hoped this new section relationship can be formalized before the end of 2015. On the national level, CHWs have been a section within the American Public Health Association since 2009 where they focus on policy development, mentoring of leaders, and building networks of CHWs.

CHWs are a newly recognized profession within the broad umbrella of disciplines that comprise the public health workforce. APHA’s definition of a CHW has been widely used by states as they look at understanding and supporting this workforce. CHWs have many different titles, and, until recently, there have been almost no formal academic training programs for CHWs. In the past decade, some states have adopted certifications for CHWs, including our neighboring state of Massachusetts. The Obama Administration’s support of CHWs as a vital link between underserved communities and health/social services providers has also helped accelerate CHWs’ role in health care reform.  In Connecticut, statewide organizing and development of policy for the CHW workforce is in the early stages.

“We are thrilled that CHWS are looking to CPHA to help them in their drive to more formally organize as a public health profession,” said Kathi Traugh CPHA Past-President. “It is vitally important that CHWs have a voice in the statewide policy decisions that impact their future.”

For more information on CHWS, attend the CPHA Annual Meeting session on October 23, “Community Health Workers Achieving the Triple Aim and Health Equity.”

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​GET SMART ABOUT ANTIBIOTICS WEEK: 

NOVEMBER 16-22, 2015 

Get Smart About Antibiotics Week is observed each year across the United States, spearheaded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance and the importance of proper antibiotic prescribing and use. 

Antibiotic resistant infections are a public health crisis.  Infectious disease experts, including the CDC, are very concerned that if we do not change our current patterns of antibiotic use, we could return to the “pre-antibiotic” era, a time when many died of infections that have been routinely and easily cured by antibiotics.

Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria, and at least 23,000 people die. Many more people die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic-resistant infection.

Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed drugs. Antibiotics should be used when needed, but not misused.  Unfortunately, up to half are either not needed or wrong:  wrong antibiotic, wrong dose, or wrong duration. Antibiotics are also commonly used to make food animals grow better, a misuse.

Antibiotic misuse leading to resistance is everyone’s problem: drug resistant bacteria can pass from person to person in healthcare facilities and in the community.  Misuse by some physicians or patients can create drug resistant bacteria and ruin the effectiveness for all of a once life-saving antibiotic.

Antibiotics are a limited resource.  Bacteria can develop resistance quicker than we can develop new types of antibiotics.  Antibiotic resistance is not the only problem with antibiotic misuse. Like all powerful medicines, antibiotics can cause side effects, such as drug allergies.

Get Smart can deliver important and useful information to the public.  For example, antibiotics should only be used for bacterial and not for viral infections, an especially important consideration this time of year.  Patients need to follow the prescription as written and ask their healthcare provider or pharmacist for help if they have questions or concerns, rather than changing the regimen themselves.  Patients should not start antibiotics on their own without consulting their provider or pharmacist, and they should not give antibiotics to others without a prescription.  Patients should not pressure their providers for unneeded prescriptions.  Providers should follow clinical guidelines for when and how to prescribe antibiotics.

Get Smart about Antibiotics Week 2015 is great way to promote and improve antibiotic stewardship, the practices that can preserve this precious commodity, in communities, in healthcare facilities, and on the farm.  Anyone working in or committed to public health can get involved.  To find out what you can do to participate in Get Smart Week, see the CDC Get Smart website at: http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/week/index.html

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Statewide Asthma Partnership Conference

Thursday, October 15, 8:30 AM- 12:30 PM, Registration and Breakfast begin at 8 AM

Courtyard Marriott Cromwell, 4 Sebethe Drive, Cromwell

Hosted by the Connecticut Department of Public Health

RSVP to Selma Gooding, [email protected]

Featured Speakers: Dr. Elizabeth Herman, National Center for Environmental Health, CDC; and Dr. Maureen George, Associate Professor, Columbia University

Health Equity Summit

Why Health Equity Matters- Eliminating Health Disparities

Thursday October 22, 9AM- 5PM, Registration and Breakfast begin at 8AM

Yale University Harkness Memorial Auditorium, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven

Learn more and Register Here (Registration is Free)

KeYnote Address by Dr.David Satcher, 16^th Surgeon General of the United States,

Participating Policy Leaders: Dr. Camara Jones, President-Elect, APHA; Dr. David R. Williams, Professor, Harvard University; Patricia Baker, President and CEO, CT Health Foundation

CPHA Annual Meeting and Conference:

Healthy by Design

Friday, October 23, 8 AM – 4 PM

CoCo Key Convention Center, 3580 E. Main Street, Waterbury

Learn more and Register Here

Keynote Speaker: Dr. David L. Katz, Founding Director, Yale University’s Prevention Research Center

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Director of Health, North Central District Health Department-  http://www.ncdhd.org/files/PDFs/DirectorAd.pdf 

Director of Public Health Nursing, City of New Haven Health Department -http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/humanresources/cityjobpostings.asp

Public Health Nurse, City of New Haven Health Department-  http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/humanresources/cityjobpostings.asp

Epidemiologist, City of New Haven Health Department-http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/humanresources/cityjobpostings.asp

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