A Letter to All Health Care Providers from Director of Health: Fernando Guerra M.D., M.P.H.
Dear Partners in Health:
As we release this report each year it is our hope that it is contributing to our understanding of what constitutes a healthy community and improving and refining our ability to assess our progress toward that goal. As in years past, this review will confirm progress on some fronts and uncover areas where we need to refocus our attention and redirect our resources. We also grow in our appreciation of the complex enterprise that public health has become and the essential linkages that need to be established if our safety net is to be both effective and comprehensive Prevention, early detection and effective intervention remain our most effective strategies. While more work need to be done, we take pride and satisfaction that our teenage pregnancy numbers are continuing to track downward. Our Project WORTH initiative is beginning to have a positive impact.
The Healthy Start program is making progress in addressing the challenges posed by high risk pregnancies and improving the health of both mothers and their infants. Steps to a Healthier San Antonio, one of our newest programs, will be directing and coordinating a broad spectrum of community resources as we attempt to address the issues of obesity, diabetes and asthma in our community.
The core functions and essential services of public health are firmly grounded in our daily practices. However, our agenda is constantly expanding, requiring a new level of resiliency and creativity in adapting to new challenges. Emergency preparedness has taken on a new urgency in the years since 9/11. Environmental health concerns have multiplied as the subtle interactions between nature and human activity are better understood. New emerging infectious diseases are appearing even as we are finally succeeding in containing and even eliminating the old ones. One of the greatest challenges for public health in the near future will be the prospect of a flu pandemic. In the year ahead, we will be seeing a continued strengthening of our infrastructure in this regard with the addition of a new bioterrorism preparedness laboratory at the Brooks City Base and which will also be focusing on emerging infectious diseases.
In order to sustain the very real progress we have achieved in many areas and to effectively address the more intransigent problems that continue to challenge our current prevention and intervention efforts we must reinforce our commitment to support and maintain a truly high performing public health system. A review of the core public health services provides us with the basic framework for our strategic planning by describing those public health activities that must be present in every community. They offer a working definition of public health in action and a guide for the responsibilities that any local public health system must be prepared to shoulder to guarantee a safe and healthy environment for the residents it serves.
A high performing public health system must be proactive in the pursuit of excellence. It needs to embrace a broad and ambitious agenda. It must continually monitor the health status of a community and investigate and assess the health problems that are identified. It has a duty to inform, educate and empower the various stakeholders and work to forge effective community partnerships. Health policy development and planning deserves a high priority rating in any such high performing system. The system should be able to link people to appropriate health resources wherever they exist in the community. Public health research and innovation need to be encouraged and the quality and effectiveness of our programs and services subject to rigorous standards of evaluation. We must also realize that none of this agenda can be realized if we cannot attract, train and retain a dedicated and competent workforce.
Defining a high performing public health system is only the first step. Such a commitment puts a premium on assembling expertise from diverse and complex fields; requires a willingness to examine the way we currently do business; demands an openness to new and innovative programmatic initiatives; and requires the political will to press for the resources and priority status that are essential if such a system can deliver on its promises.
Sincerely,
Fernando A. Guerra, M.D., M.P.H.
Director of health
