Donna Richardson: If you had concerns about community health threats or disease prevention,
would you know where to go?
Welcome to Comcast local addition.
I’m Donna Richardson and my guest this hour is Doctor Georges Benjamin, Executive Director
of the American Public Health Association who’ll have those answers.
Doctor Benjamin, thank you so much for coming out.
Dr. Georges Benjamin: Thank you so much for having me.
Richardson: Now, all of us, we’ve heard about public health but what exactly is the
American Public Health Association?
Benjamin: Well you know the American Public Health Association is the nation’s oldest
and largest association of practitioners and people that are interested in improving health
in the public.
We’ve been around since 1872, so we’ve got a bit of history.
Richardson: Yes you do.
Most definitely.
I guess you’ve got it right now.
What kind of work does the organization actually do for us?
Benjamin: Well we fundamentally do three things.
One, we educate people that are interested in public health: people that practice public
health, people that are concerned about having the science and evidence of about how to improve
your health.
We work very, very hard to educate the public and try to get the public engaged, ah, in
improving not only their own health but in the health of their communities and the third
thing we do is we advocate very actively with Congress, with local and state governments
and others who try to put the resources behind trying to improve your health.
Richardson: And this, why is public health so important?
Benjamin: Well I used to be an ER doc.
Richardson: Okay.
Benjamin: And one of the things I learned being an emergency physician is that it’s
a lot cheaper and a lot better to prevent things before they happen, and public health
does that.
It makes sure that the air is safe to breathe, the water is safe to drink and the food is
safe to eat and a range of other types of things that improve your health.
Richardson: You know, and I hadn’t thought about it from that standpoint.
Because you’re thinking health, you’re thinking strictly it’s the medical side
but it is a holistic approach if we’re not eating the right foods and we have too much
smog in the air, it’s all going to affect our health at some point.
Benjamin: That-that’s correct.
It’s really a collection of things.
It’s not just fixing you when you’re broken but trying to intervene long, long before
you get broke to try to make it better.
Richardson: And so what are the issues that you’re currently focusing on?
Benjamin: Well you know in this climate today, health reform.
And health reform is a never-ending debate.
We’re very much interested in trying to deal with the health effects of climate change.
Food safety, you know, we’ve all seen the news reports that some of us have unfortunately
experienced food safety problems and of course we’re dealing with chronic diseases like
obesity.
Richardson: So now, who are your members?
Are they strictly the medical profession or are you kind of working with the environmental
organizations also in order to protect us?
Benjamin: Well we’re a very eclectic and broad range group.
We include doctors, nurses, sanitarians, engineers, people who treat water systems the people
that encourage you to wear your bicycle helmet, you know, when you’re riding your bike or
put your seatbelt.
A very, very broad range.
Some lawyers and social scientists.
A very, very large spectrum of practitioners.
Richardson: And so how can we engage our local health departments in order to find out things
that we need to be doing before it becomes, you know, an epidemic?
You know, we’ve had the H1N1 flu that’s going around and everyone’s concerned about
that but what can we do to keep ourselves safe?
Benjamin: Well I’ve always encouraged the public to go online and look at the website
for the local or state health department and try to understand what they do, how would
you receive help if you needed to get help.
And ask in your community, what can you do to help the local health department?
Go to public hearings, go down to your City Council, go down to your state and local legislature,
engage in public health activity.
Be a part of this very, very important part of your community.
Richardson: Because it takes teamwork?
Benjamin: Ah, public health is the ultimate teamwork in trying to improve your health.
Richardson: Well, Doctor Benjamin I do appreciate you coming in and educating us about the American
Public Health Association.
It’s very important to all of us.
Benjamin: Well we thank you very much and we’re very glad we could be here today.
Richardson: My guest this hour has been Doctor Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the
American Public Health Association.
And if you’re interested in what Comcast is doing in your area, go to on demand and
click “Get Local.”
For Comcast Local addition, I’m Donna Richardson.