On March 3, 2015, members of Oasis of Hope attended the Healthy Kent Winter Summit, a conference held by the Kent County Health Department. The vision is for Kent County to "improve the quality of life, health, and well-being for all residents" while the mission is to "empower residents to achieve lifelong physical, mental, and social well-being through:
- Equal access to high quality, affordable healthcare;
- A coordinated system of care that is local, preventative, holistic, and patient centered; and
- An environment that supports healthy living for all"
| Weaknesses
| Health Concerns
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From here, the summit decided to split into workgroups that would collaborate to find effective ways to improve the county's environment. The suggested solutions will be posted on the web (http://www.kentcountychna.org/) at a later date, but as a future Physician Assistant interested in a career in Primary Care, the data got me thinking:
What can I do to shrink the gap between public health and medicine?
Doug Campos, MD, MPA, suggests that there are five public health functions that all family care providers should fulfill for their communities (2014).
Other suggestions revolve around being involved in public health roles. Examples include serving on a local board of health, holding public office, or being a public health official.
- Implement recommended preventative service guidelines. This would include reporting information found in things like depression screenings, cancer screenings, immunizations, smoking cessation, and substance abuse, among others. Remember, public health relies heavily on epidemiology. In addition to reporting this information, it is important to keep up to date with current recommendations as to how/what to screen. Although it seems as if new research emerges weekly, if you keep current with recommendations and reportings, a family practice practitioner can assist in helping detect disease trends and outbreaks early in their progression.
- Serve as the front line surveillance system. Each Public Health Department varies considerably from the next as far as what tests can be performed/programs that are available for the community. Some may have dark field microscopy for syphilis diagnoses, STD testing, women's services, nutrition programs for women, children, or the elderly, and possibly more. In many rural areas, however, the capabilities are generally limited. For these rural settings, services are commonly contracted out to local physicians who maintain up to date with diagnoses and treatment. So, by contacting your local health department and seeing what you can do to benefit your community, you can serve in the front line of public health maintenance.
- Refer to the public health department. Continuing where we left off in number 2, once you know what services your public health department offers, it can be a great use for you, your patients, and the health department to refer when appropriate.
- Accept referrals with the public health department. Provide your health department with what services you can provide to the community, especially those you know they cannot offer. That way, when residents seek after guidance from the public health department with concerns that cannot be addressed on site, they can be referred to you.
- Interact constructively with the local health department. Aside from the relationship described previously, it is important to make sure that the information on diagnoses, prevention, treatment, and public importance of diseases is uniform with what is being distributed with the health department. If there are blurred lines, patients will be more likely to mistrust information and fail to adhere to advice.
Other suggestions revolve around being involved in public health roles. Examples include serving on a local board of health, holding public office, or being a public health official.
The most important thing to remember is that public health and primary care are allies. Two professions with a common goal: Improve health. By dedicating time and effort into understanding each others roles and finding ways to compliment each other, the two professions can function efficiently as a team. If done correctly, the benefits to a community could be boundless.
Campos, D. (2014). Public Health and Family Medicine: An Opportunity. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. 17.3.