Letter from the President
Washington State Public Health Association is committed to improving
the public health community by being a strong advocacy voice for public
health funding, programs, and policies. We are also equally
committed to strengthening the public health workforce by providing
educational and informational services throughout the year working with a
number of our partners. As a part of our strategic plan, we have
identified a number of goals and strategies that we are working on to
improve the Washington State public health system. In order for us
to succeed in these efforts – we need your support. There are
three things that you can do:
1.
Make sure your membership is current – your
membership helps fund and support our goals and strategies in workforce
development and advocacy. If you belong to an organization,
encourage your organization to also become a member. If your
organization joins, there are discounts for individual memberships.
2.
Become a Public Health Advocate – sign up at our website (
http://www.wspha.org) and provide an advocacy email address where you will receive action alerts.
3.
Donate Money – All donations will help us in
moving our energy forward for creating a stronger public health system
in Washington State. Your donation helps strengthen our
professional development programs, legislative advocacy efforts, and
helps us promote public health.
Although these are challenging times for public health, there are also
opportunities for us to think strategically about where we are
going. Now is the time to become involved – WSPHA needs your
skills, knowledge, and energy. This newsletter will give you a
better understanding of the work we are doing – please consider becoming
an active member on one or more of our committees. We look
forward to working with you to strengthen our public health community –
thank you for all of your support.
Dennis Worsham, President
Policy & Advocacy Update
The 2011 legislative session began on January 10th. Due to the
severe budget crisis, the legislature must work quickly to pass a
supplemental budget that fills a $500 million budget gap for the current
biennium. The legislature will then have more time to work on the
next biennial budget, which must address a $5.7 billion revenue
shortfall. While the legislature will have little time to do more
than make cuts and extend a fraction of some programs in the
supplemental budget, they have stated their intention to consider
innovations, efficiencies and policy solutions in the biennial budget.
WSPHA Legislative Education Day
Thank you to the 100 people from around Washington State who
participated in the 2011 WSPHA Legislative Education Day on January
19th. Rep. Jim Moeller and Rep. Laurie Jinkins kicked off the event with
updates on the current legislative session and the importance of
connecting with legislators. In the afternoon, participants met
with legislators from nearly every corner of the state, providing
education on the importance of public health funding. A special
thank you to the sponsors of this event: IFPTE Local 17, Public Health
Roundtable, WSALPHO, Washington State Medical Association, and
Washington State Nurses Association.
President Dennis Worsham presents award to Rep. Jim Moeller.
Public Health Advocates on their way to the Capitol.
Photos by Taryn Gerhardt, IFPTE Local 17
Budget Update
The House and Senate have both passed a series of "early action budget
items" that help close the funding gap in the current fiscal year
(between now and June 30, 2011). While public health has received a
$1.69 million reduction in county public health assistance (MVET
backfill), we did not lose ground over the funding reduction in the
Governor's supplemental budget proposal. In two other areas that
WSPHA has been closely tracking (along with the Public Health Roundtable
and other partners), we have gained a bit of ground in both the House
and the Senate. The Governor's proposed supplemental budget
eliminated the Maternity Support Services program as of March 1, 2011;
however, the early action budget items out of both chambers
restored ~65% of this program through the end of this fiscal year.
The state's Basic Health Plan has also had some funding restored,
although the amount differs in the House and Senate budgets. The
House and Senate must now negotiate the differences in their budgets
before sending a final supplemental budget to the Governor's desk.
Thank you to everyone who has sent emails, made phone calls and gone to
Olympia--our efforts have raised awareness of the importance of these
health programs and have contributed to restoration of some funding.
Policy Bills on the WSPHA Legislative Agenda
HB 1015 / SB 5005 – Immunization Exemption Policy
The immunization exemption bill has strong bipartisan support in both
the House (sponsored by Rep. Bailey) and the Senate (sponsored by Sen.
Keiser). The bill requires that when a parent is signing for a
philosophical or personal exemption, a health care practitioner (MD, NP,
PA or ARNP) must also sign stating that they have provided the parent
with information about the benefits and risks of immunization. Both
bills have passed out of committee and are awaiting floor action.
HB 1370 / SB 5234 – Secure Medicine Return
Secure medicine return legislation also has strong support in both the
House (sponsored by Rep. Van de Wege) and the Senate (sponsored by Sen.
Kline). This bill establishes a non-profit medicine return
association to design and oversee a product stewardship program to deal
with unwanted prescription and over-the counter medications. It
requires at least one medicine return location in each county, and at
least one in each city with populations greater than 10,000. The
bill does not require anyone to be a collector of unwanted or unused
medicine, but provides a list of who may serve in such a role—including
law enforcement, hospitals and community health clinics, pharmacies and
others. The bill is budget-neutral to the state as it requires
pharmaceutical companies to finance and provide the medicine take back
program. The Senate bill has passed out of committee, and the House
committee will vote on the bill this week.
HB 1246 / SB 5380 - Regulating Tobacco Products
Public Health advocates have testified on these bills that would
regulate tobacco products. Specifically, this legislation places a
statewide ban on flavored tobacco products, requires retailers to place
tobacco products behind the counter and gives local authorities more
control over tobacco sales and advertising in their communities.
These bills have had hearings in both the House and the Senate and are
awaiting committee votes.
Submitted by Jennifer Muhm, Committee Chair
Professional Development
Finding time and resources to stay current on your public health skills
and to stay connected to what is going on in the profession outside of
your daily work is more challenging than ever. Public sector
training and development budgets have become severely limited or
non-existent. Reductions in the size of our agencies have not
resulted in less work. As a volunteer association, WSPHA is trying
to fill some of this unmet need to help professionals stay connected to
important current issues through our monthly webinar offerings.
Free to members and only $20 for non-members, we invite speakers whose
work is timely and of statewide interest to a broad spectrum of public
health practitioners. Upcoming topics include:
March 2 Noon-1:30 PM
Health Equity – Are We Making Progress?
When resources are scarce we know that some people suffer more than
others - every time. This session will include: statewide data trends, a
report from the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities
and a sampling of encouraging local efforts.
April 6 Noon-1:30 PM
Is Anyone Listening? - Public Health Communications
Never has effective communication been more important for public health.
Tim Church, Director of Communications for the Department of Health,
along with other local public health communications experts, discuss
current communication tools, trends, and challenges, and how we all can
be more effective at telling our public health stories.
You can access the full webinar calendar on the WSPHA website
http://www.wspha.org/ProfessionalDevelopment
. Save the dates and watch for an e-mail confirming the webinar along
with an invitation to register. Dates and times may shift due to
speaker availability.
May 2011 be a year of learning, service and collaboration on behalf of community health.
Submitted by John Britt, RN, MPH, Committee Chair
*The majority of WSPHA webinars are
educational, but some do carry an explicitly political message. WSPHA
makes every effort to avoid sending unwanted e-mails to the workplace of
government employees. You can help by making sure we have a non-work
e-mail contact for you so you can comfortably review and act upon all
Association communications.
Membership Update
We are currently 406 members strong, a 100% increase over the member
number from this time last year. The below chart shows who are members
are: about one-half are from either local or state public health
agencies or other governmental agencies, about one-quarter are from
higher education, and the remaining one-quarter are from non-profits,
private sector, or retired. It is great to see an increased
interest and engagement with our State’s oldest and only public health
association representing all sectors of employees and citizens
interested in public health. However, there are an estimated 10,000
people who work with public health in Washington State. Get the word out
to your co-workers, friends, or family- join WSPHA today! See what
individual benefits WSPHA offers at:
http://www.wspha.org/MemberBenefits.
Welcome to our new organizational members! See the reasons to encourage your organization to join at:
http://www.wspha.org/wspha-org-members.
Submitted by Beth Lipton, Committee Chair
Finance Report
The budget for 2011 anticipates continued financial challenges. The APHA
grant the Association received from the Kellogg Foundation in 2007 for
affiliate capacity building will end in February, and no major funding
sources have been identified to replace it. Membership growth is
stronger as a result of some of the steps taken during the grant period
but as you can see, membership dues are not a major source of revenue
for the Association. The majority of revenue for the Association
comes from registration fees for the Joint Conference on Health and
sponsorship contributions that help keep conference fees
affordable.
In anticipation of continued financial challenges, the Board of
Directors voted to trim expenses for 2011. The budget for 2011 sets
expenses 18% lower than 2010, in line with the reductions in revenue
estimates and with an eye toward building up emergency reserves. The
Association’s Executive Director position will go unfilled for now, and
we will rely more on volunteers to carry on the work of WSPHA.
During 2011 we will continue to pursue other funding opportunities as we
work to continue the mission of the Association.
Submitted by Terry Hinz, Treasurer
Report from ARGC
The American Public Health Association's annual meeting, held in Denver
last November, focused on social justice and public health. Dr.
Cornell West delivered an inspiring plenary address, charging
participants to endeavor for social justice. You can find his
address on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjZydhfUxqs.
Participants who pre-registered also were treated to an overview of the
recently passed health reform laws. For those interested, there
is a follow-up session in Chicago on June 23-25 to explore
implementation of health care reform. Information on this meeting can be
found at:
http://www.apha.org/midyear and information on the 2011 Annual Meeting can be found at:
http://www.apha.org/meetings/
APHA honored WSPHA for its 75th anniversary during the annual awards
session. Dr. Maxine Hayes and Pat Mail, ARGC, accepted the award
together on behalf of WSPHA. And if you wonder why you should belong to
APHA if you cannot get to the annual meetings, remember that the larger
the organization advocating for your issues, the more effective a voice
you have in Congress. Public health is built into the health
reform legislation, but it can be removed without strong advocacy.
APHA provides easy ways to communicate with
your elected officials via email. And the 2011
annual meeting will be held in Washington DC, giving you access to a
range of free museums, plus an opportunity to lobby your representatives
in the Congress. By being a member of WSPHA and APHA, you effectively
increase your voice in support of public health.
Submitted by Dr. Pat Mail, Affiliate Representative to the Governing Council of APHA
Joint Conference on Health
In Review and Looking Forward
The 17
th Annual Joint Conference on Health, "
Innovation and Collaboration in Times of Change",
held October 11-12, 2010 in Yakima was by all accounts a successful
one. A total of 412 registered for the conference, and over 36%
participated in the on-line evaluation- the most participation we have
ever had! Many thanks to each of you! Your feedback was
excellent and provided us with great ideas for the 2011
conference.
Generally, you:
-
liked the plenary speakers;
-
thought the conference goals and objectives were met;
-
liked the healthy meals that were served;
-
wanted more workshops at the 2011 JCH, suggested Sunday as well
as Monday and Tuesday workshops, and provided topical suggestions for
future workshops;
-
liked the poster session venue and had good feedback on how to make it better next year;
-
overwhelmingly felt your networking needs were met, and
-
liked the way the printed program was organized.
Based on these results and the other information provided in the
evaluation and the fact that we had our largest contingency of students
ever in attendance, the Board and Conference Planning Committee are due
KUDOS for their program planning and preparation.
Some concerns were evident, however, and these had a dramatic impact on
the bottom-line for WSPHA in 2010. While your state association
profited from the 2010 conference, we budgeted for a higher profit
margin based on previous years’ conferences, resulting in major budget
implications for 2011 (see the Finance Report from the WSPHA Treasurer).
Of all the conference registrants, only 28% were WSPHA members.
Additionally, there was an average of just over 200 attendees per day, a
phenomenon that cut our revenue from conference registrations almost in
half. I call this a phenomenon because attendees have
traditionally registered for both days of the conference.
Additionally, the low attendance per day resulted in very low numbers in
some of the breakout sessions and workshops, one of the major
criticisms we received from conference attendees and presenters.
If we are to work toward accomplishing our association’s mission and
vision in Washington State, we need the stable leadership, networking,
and advocacy that an Executive Director brings to the table, and for
this to happen, we need to increase revenue. To that end, we need
you to either continue your WSPHA membership when it expires or join
WSPHA as a new member; encourage others to join; attend this year’s JCH,
bring a friend, and register for
both days; and support your
professional association through donations or volunteering time.
Conference revenue and membership dues are the two sources of revenue
that keep our doors open, making up 60% of our annual budget. Times are
tough and budgets are tight, but we need your support!
And the winners are…
Congratulations to Christina Riebe, who won the free registration for
the 2011 JCH by participating in the on-line evaluation, and to Ellen
Arthur (Kitsap County Health District) who won free registration for the
2011 JCH by entering her name in the raffle for WSPHA members at this
year’s conference!
Submitted by Nancy Goodloe, Past President of WSPHA