The NACCHO Podcast Series NACCHO

Washington, DC, April 19, 2024 — On this month’s podcast, the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ (NACCHO) Victoria Van de Vate, Director of Government Affairs, and Lauren Mastroberardino, Government Affairs Senior Specialist, spoke about recent changes to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program and final FY2024 funding amounts for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, which include programs and agencies crucial for public health. Sign up here to receive our Congressional Action Alerts.
 
Later in the program (5:14), Emily Winkelstein, Director of Overdose Prevention at NACCHO, and Dr. Michael Kilkenny, Chief Executive of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department in West Virginia and incoming NACCHO President, discussed efforts to advance evidence-based overdose prevention initiatives on a local level, with a focus on communities particularly hard-hit by overdose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its overdose mortality data for 2022 showing that while fatal overdose rates remained somewhat stable between 2021 and 2022, the number of fatal overdoses had claimed the lives of 107,941 peope in 2022. The data also shows that synthetic opioids combined with stimulants, coming from supply contamination, polysubstance use, or both, are drivers in the fourth wave of the overdose crisis. Dr. Kilkenny discussed some of the harm reduction strategies his jurisdiction has implemented, the importance of using a holistic approach to substance use that centers dignity and respect for people who use drugs, and why using data to understand the scope and needs of the communities most impacted will help address the overdose crisis. 
 
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About NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the country’s over 3,300 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visit www.naccho.org.

Washington, DC, March 22, 2024 — On this month’s podcast, the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ (NACCHO) Victoria Van de Vate, Director of Government Affairs, and Lauren Mastroberardino, Government Affairs Senior Specialist, recapped NACCHO’s annual Local Public Health on the Hill event, which engaged over 100 Congressional Offices on key policy and funding needs of local health departments. Later, they discussed the release of President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget proposal. Learn more about the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program, and read NACCHO’s blog post, “White House Release President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Proposal.”
 
Later in the program (6:21), Robin Mowson, Director of Immunization at NACCHO, and Amber Tirmal, Immunization Program Manager at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, discussed the recent measles outbreak in the United States and initiatives they have implemented to prevent another spread in Philadelphia. As of March 14, 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 58 measles cases in 17 different states, matching the total number of U.S. cases reported in 2023. Earlier this year, Philadelphia had eight confirmed cases. Now that their outbreak is over, they continue to focus their efforts on using data-driven approaches to identify and address lower pockets of vaccination coverage, educating communities on vaccine health and building key partnerships, specifically with the local school district. Listen to the episode and read NACCHO’s new blog on the measles outbreak. 
 
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About NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the country’s over 3,300 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visit www.naccho.org.

On this month’s podcast, the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ (NACCHO) Lauren Mastroberardino, Government Affairs Senior Specialist, gives an update on the FY2024 appropriations negotiations and what to expect from Congress.
Later in the program (2:36), Timothy McCall, NACCHO’s Director of Research, was joined by NACCHO staff, Adriane Casalotti, Chief of Government and Public Affairs, and Victoria Van de Vate, Director of Government Affairs, to discuss on the recent release of the 2022 National Profile of Local Health Departments (Profile Study).
The Profile Study represents the largest and most reliable data source on local health department infrastructure and practice. In their conversation, they dig into key findings about the current local health department workforce, including that more than 70% of local health departments reported that their agency, leadership, or personnel experienced harassment because of COVID-19 response activities. They also discussed the most recent data on the size of the local health department workforce and the context that likely contributed to it, as an influx of funding during the pandemic helped bolster the workforce to grow by 19%. They note that this increase is almost certainly short-lived without additional, long-term investment in the local health department workforce.
With the new Profile data now published, the group also discussed how these data are being used to help drive NACCHO’s policy advocacy at the federal level. One of NACCHO’s top priorities is to support all local health departments and serve staff at all levels by advocating for funding to support new positions, improve recruiting efforts with the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment program, and boost retention by providing key training, support, and professional development opportunities for local health department staff.

On this week’s podcast, the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ Victoria Van de Vate, Director of Government Affairs, and Lauren Mastroberardino, Government Affairs Senior Specialist, cover the appropriations process and give an update on government funding, including rescissions of unobligated funds. They also discuss NACCHO’s 2024 legislative and policy agenda, highlighting this year’s most important issues for local public health.
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On this week’s podcast, the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ Victoria Van de Vate, Director of Government Affairs, and Lauren Mastroberardino, Government Affairs Senior Specialist, provided a Congressional update on upcoming government funding challenges. They also discussed recent letters that NACCHO sent to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion on Healthy People 2030 objectives and to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of STD Prevention about its proposed guidelines on the use of doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent STI transmission.   
Later in the program (4:50), Timothy McCall, NACCHO’s Director of Research, hosted a discussion with co-authors Rita Burke, Associate Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences and Pediatrics at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine; Larissa Chiari-Keith, Chief Executive Officer of Alala Advisors; and Emma Hunter, Health Emergency Preparedness Analyst at San Mateo County Health, to talk about their recently published qualitative analysis of California public health officials’ experiences of harassment during COVID-19.
NACCHO's Forces of Change survey found that 60% of local health departments reported their agency, leadership, and/or staff were targeted with harassment during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, one study found that 20% of Americans felt that harassing public health leaders was justified early in the pandemic; this rose to 25% in 2021. Even though this harassment crisis surfaced three years ago, the impacts on individuals, communities, and the public health system persist.
NACCHO is drawing attention to this urgent issue. The study aimed to collect qualitative data highlighting the harrowing stories from local health officials and to better understand their experiences of harassment. The pandemic not only exposed vulnerabilities in the public health and healthcare system, but it also subjected local health officials to psychological impacts, systemic backlash, and burnout. 

On this week's podcast, the National Association of County and City Health Officials' Victoria Van de Vate, Director of Government Affiars, and Lauren Mastroberardino, Government Affairs Senior Specialist, provided an update on the new "laddered" Continuing Resolution, which created two funding deadlines in early 2024 and avoided an end-of-year government shutdown. They gave an analysis on the House Labor-HHS bill. Also, Mastroberardino and Van de Vate discussed NACCHO's recent response to an RFI from Senator Bill Cassidy on modernizing the CDC as well as a letter that NACCHO sent to the White House Drug Shortage Task Force urging them to prioritize the Bicillin L-A shortage, which is the only treatement available to pregnant individuals with syphilis.
Later in the program (6:08), NACCHO Senior Program Analyst Bianca Lawrence spoke with Susan Tilgner, Executive Director at Ohio Public Health Partnership, and Belinda Leslie, an Administrator with the Portsmouth City Health Department in Portsmouth, Ohio, who are using performance improvement to build the ability of local health departments to improve the quality of their operations and programming and make sure that they meet national public health standards. Ohio Public Health Partnership has participated in the Statewide Association Performance Improvement Training and Technical Assistance Support Initiative to provide tailored accreditation support to local health departments in Ohio, such as Portsmouth City, through their Accreditation Learning Community. Accreditation, like many performance improvement programs, assist local governmental public health in improving their organizational infrastructure so that they can better support all people in their community to live their healthiest lives. Tilgner and Leslie discuss the unique opportunity provided by the Accreditation Learning Community to develop meaningful performance metrics and network with local health department peers in Ohio to learn best practices for accreditation and performance improvement.