Building the Case for Public Health

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Building the Case for Public Health

• Poki Stewart Namkung, MD, MPH
• Bruce Pomer, MPA

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Public Health is a way of making right what
society has made wrong. William Foege
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• Social Justice
• Elimination of health inequities
• Do no harm
• Big Ideas
• Social DNA

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In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All
men are caught in an inescapable network of
mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly affects all
indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be
until you are what you ought to be, and you can
never be what you ought to be until I am what I
ought to be. This is the interrelated structure
of reality. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Policy How we as a society establish the rules
that govern our social and physical environments
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Principles for Effective Advocacy Herbert
Chao Gunther

• Communicate values
• American political discourse is fundamentally
  oppositional
• Most issues are decided by winning over the
  undecided
• Americans want to be on the winning side

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Advocacy Principles (cont.)

• Make enemies, not friends
• Responsible extremism sets the agenda
• Social consensus isnt permanent
• Strategic diversity is critical

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More Tips for Successful Advocacy

• Develop a relationship before you arrive
• Understand what motivates your audience
• Tell them why they care
• Tenacity, tenacity, tenacitypersistence pays off
• The value of a thank you.

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Case Studies from California

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Profile of California

• Population 33,871,648--12.5 of US pop.
• Median age 33.3 yrs - US 35.3 yrs
• Race/ethnicity White 47 Latino 32 Asian 11
  Black 6 Other 4
• 73 born in US in CA 88 born in US in the rest
  of the nation
• Of the 26 foreign born, 50 from Mexico and 33
  from Asia
• Median household income 47,493 5000gtnational
  median

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Organizational Framework

• Three key organizations contribute to public
  health advocacy in California
• CCLHO - California Conference of Local Health
  Officers
• HOAC - Health Officers Association of California
• CHEAC - County Health Executives Association of
  California

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CHEAC

• A professional organization representing ranking
  county/city health officials
• Purpose to identify current local public health
  and indigent health policy issues, and to
  recommend to appropriate policies
• Does not actively promote legislation

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CCLHO

• Established by statute in 1947
• Purpose To advise the Department of Health
  Services, the legislature, and others on all
  matters affecting health
• Membership All of Californias legally appointed
  physician Health Officers
• Provides a state/local forum for the discussion
  of significant health issues
• Governed by a Board of Directors
• made up of physician Health Officers

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HOAC

• Incorporated as a non-profit in 1969
• Mission To promote and improve public health
  practices in California
• Legislative advocacy is part of HOACs mission
• Membership is made up of the health officers from
  dues-paying counties

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CCLHO and HOAC

• Boards of Directors may overlap
• CCLHOs outgoing president becomes HOACs
  president
• HOAC does not independently take positions, but
  implements legislative policy for CCLHO
• HOAC provides advocacy that CCLHO cannot as a
  member of the state Department of Health Services

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Without teamwork, legislative victories would
have been impossible in California.
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HOAC-Sponsored Bills 03-04

Were signed into law after the 2005
session Success rate 80 and counting!
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HOAC-Sponsored Bills 05-06