Outside my home state, people know me as Georgia from Kentucky, and I’m very proud of being a southern girl. I’m also very concerned with the poor health our citizens suffer from. Our southern states have the worst health status of all the states. Obviously, we are not living in a culture of health.
Given Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Culture of Health national metrics and all the research that’s been done, we know that in order to improve our health status we must have a comprehensive public health system.
As President of the Southern Health Association, a position I’m very honored and humbled to hold this year, I will share the message with funders that financing our public health system adequately is the pathway to a healthier society.
Our current method of financing public health does not fund the necessary infrastructure to accomplish the work that needs to be done. Public health has historically been funded like medical care, utilizing a fee-for-service model, encouraging the provision of individual clinical services to the exclusion of other important services.
This model has had little positive impact on our health status and has currently diminished with nothing to take its place. We all have a vested interest in improving our health status – our children! This generation will be the first in history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
Please accept this invitation to join the Southern Health Association as we strive to improve prevention/public health funding and subsequently our health status.
Thank you,
Georgia from Kentucky
Mission:
To serve as the regional advocate for public health and for the development and growth of its leadership.
Purpose:
To foster and stimulate a greater degree of scientific effort in the protection and improvement of public health, and to bring about better understanding, integration and promotion of public health service.
Southern Health Update
SHA publishes newsletters throughout the year which are available on our website. Members are encouraged to contribute articles for publication.
In addition to articles relating to SHA, the Southern Health “Update” also includes a section on what’s going on in the various states in the region, state affiliate association news, and a consumer news section.
Publisher: Diana Kreider
Editors: Shelia Puckett and Jan Cooke
