Dave Spath: So, with that, I’d like to introduce our next speaker who is Dr. Melvin Shipp,
the President of the American Public Health Association.
Please welcome Dr. Shipp.
Dr. Melvin Shipp: Good afternoon.
I’d like to begin by thanking Dr. Spath for his generous introduction and also Ms.
Garcia for her warm welcome to the City of San Francisco.
While on the topic of thanks, I would like to thank my sister, Patricia Mae, and my cousin,
Robert Duncanson, for attending this convention.
And, of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize my soulmate, my best friend, and
my wife, Michelle, for her patience.
Not long ago, I heard a eulogy that began with a discussion about headstones.
Headstones commemorate individuals.
It follows that headstones are engraved with different names, different birth dates, different
dates of death, different dates of birth, and different epitaphs.
But all headstones have something in common.
Between the dates they all have a dash.
The dash – simple, uniform, iconic – represents a lifespan.
The theme of this year’s convocation is Prevention and Wellness Across the Lifespan.
It focuses on that metaphorical dash.
However, health status, unlike the dash, is not uniform for all individuals.
Health status is dynamic and complex.
Where one is born, lives, and works impacts the quality of one’s dash.
Health challenges are not new.
Indeed, similar concerns led to the establishment of this organization in 1872.
Our founders recognized the futility of addressing health threats through treatment alone.
They introduced and advanced the concept of prevention.
Their initiatives led to important changes such as improved living conditions, better
hygiene, better sanitation.
Those interventions have been more effective than health treatment in reducing disease
burden in America and throughout the world.
Today we continue to expand upon our founders’ public health initiatives but we’ve had
mixed results.
In spite of improvements, an estimated one million Americans die each year from diseases
that could have been prevented.
And despite advances, the duration and quality of life of many Americans is short or of poor
quality.
All too often, these differences are attributable to systemic social, economic, and political
inequities.
During my year I visited roughly one-third of the APHA affiliates.
I observed that each state had unique public health challenges.
However, several challenges were common: environmental threats, the poor health status of children,
and uneven access to healthcare.
I participated in our association’s midyear meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, during
which we held our breaths in anticipation of and later celebrated the Supreme Court’s
decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Though relieved by this decision, remember, we must remain mindful of those who would
seek to dismantle these hard-fought gains.
During this year, there were several senseless preventable tragedies.
Our nation was shocked by the deaths of innocents at the hands of gunmen in Florida, Colorado,
and Wisconsin.
Perhaps, like me, you were disappointed by the lack of response from our elected officials
and leaders.
On one side of the political spectrum are those who remained silent while on the other
side are those actively supporting the status quo.
In summary, I was impressed by the dedication and talent of those at the front lines ensuring
the health and wellbeing of Americans.
I was heartened by the prospects of meaningful change to our healthcare system, but I was
sobered by the lack of political will to address preventable threats to the public’s health.
So, the question is, “What can be done?”
Specifically, what should we do?
We understand better than most the importance of working upstream to mitigate health threats,
supporting prevention efforts at the local, state, regional, and national levels and the
importance of behavior in optimizing health status of individuals and communities.
To advance the support of our public health practice and advocacy efforts, as an association
we must do three things: We must engage, we must collaborate, we must coordinate.
As we all know, multiple factors lead to health threats.
It follows that the resolution of such threats will require the involvement of multiple actors.
As with the story of the blind men and the elephant, through APHA we have an opportunity,
here at this convention and others, to better understand the whole elephant not just the
specific part immediately in front of us.
By sharing we can better understand what each of us contributes to maintaining and promoting
health.
We should increase and diversify our membership.
There’s strength in numbers and there’s value in having other perspectives to consider
and embrace.
Ideally, our state affiliates should mirror the diversity of sections, SPIGs, forums,
and caucuses in the national organization.
Our national organization should remain open to the creation of new sections, SPIGs, forums,
and caucuses.
We must reach out to those who should be members of APHA but are not – the low-hanging fruit
of the members of our disciplines in our workplaces.
Section members should actively seek to engage colleagues and invite them to participate
in at least one meeting at the local, state, or national level.
I did that not long ago – actually, it was very long ago – and that’s how I found
my passion for public health.
Special emphasis should be placed on enrolling student members within state affiliates.
They are our future.
In my state of Ohio, an estimated 50% of the public health workforce will retire within
the next 10 years.
We should strategically plan for inevitable changes in our public health workforce.
Engagement allows us to break down silos and produce opportunities for collaboration, but
understanding in and of itself is not enough.
There must be a willingness to work cooperatively, to be in harmony with each other.
This involves not only sharing information but also finding ways to produce meaningful
results.
During this convention, I encourage your attend at least one course or session outside of
your area of interest or expertise.
By the way, if your calendar is free tomorrow afternoon at 2:30, drop by the APHA President’s
Session, number 3308, entitled Collaborating for Quality Lifespan Through Vision.
You will hear a presentation by a diverse group of public health experts.
You will also hear from a celebrity who has been blind since birth.
I guarantee you, you will learn something from this session, and I hope to see you there.
All around us are affirmations of the power of engagement, collaboration, and coordination.
Indeed, the name of nation – the United States of America – attests to the power
of one.
An illustration of the power of one can be found in music.
If a group of accomplished musicians is not playing the same song in the same key and
in a coordinated manner, the result is cacophony, noise.
But if those same musicians work collaboratively and in concern with each other, the result
is music.
In addition to symbolizing a lifespan, the word dash has several meanings.
It can mean something very small like a dash of salt.
In athletics it’s a race covering a short distance and of brief duration.
In sentence structure, dashes provide emphasis to a phrase or comment.
Indeed, our respective dashes – our lifespans – are infinitely small and of short duration.
Yet, they are very important.
And when I say our respective lifespans, I mean all of us and those not in this room
that we represent.
Ensuring the highest quality of life to all individuals is a notion that we must be committed
to.
Through engagement, collaboration, and cooperation, we can help ensure that not only our loved
ones, our children, our grandchildren, our grandchildren’s grandchildren are afforded
the highest quality of health throughout their lifespans, but also the citizens of this nation
and the world.
We should do this because it is the right thing to do.
We can do this, we must do this, we will do this.
Thank you.
The APHA Presidential Citation is not presented every year but only on occasions of unusual
merit.
As Speaker Pelosi has mentioned, this year’s award recognizes President Barack Obama for
the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare – because
Obama cares – was introduced into law on March 23rd, 2010.
On June 28th of this year, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of that law.
The Affordable Care Act is aimed primarily at decreasing the number of uninsured Americans
and reducing overall costs of healthcare.
It represents the most significant regulatory overhaul of the U.S. health system since the
passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
Since the 1930s, several presidents – notably Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson,
Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton made valiant attempts to address the healthcare
needs of this country.
President Obama was successful.
And on behalf, I would like to recognize that achievement, and it is my honor and pleasure
to present the 2012 APHA Presidential Citation to President Obama who, due to other commitments
– perhaps being in Ohio – is unable to accept this award in person.