{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"KZYX News","title":"Public Health stretched thin ","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":389,"description":"June 2, 2022 — With a state budget surplus of $97 billion, a coalition of state public health departments and community advocates is weighing in on how to invest a promised $300 million to rebuild the state’s public health infrastructure, especially the workforce. The PublicHERO initiative spells out how much money the coalition wants to be allocated to which priorities in training, recruiting, and retaining people for specialized positions. In addition to organizational backing, the proposal has support from the Governor and Senator Richard Pan, who is also a pediatrician.\r\nThe gaps in Mendocino County’s public health department are not entirely unique. Between the Great Resignation, burnout, an aging workforce, and decades-long disinvestment, public health departments across the state fared badly during the pandemic, according to Dr. Karen Relucio, the Public Health Officer for Napa County. “Sixty-two senior local public health officials in California cities and counties have left their positions since the start of the pandemic,” she said at a press conference for the PublicHERO initiative. “That includes 21 health officers, 20 agency directors, and 21 local health department directors.”\r\nCompetition with the private sector is stiff. The last two nurses who quit Mendocino County’s public health department left because they could get 50% more money elsewhere. Mendocino County Public Health Director Anne Molgaard says in addition to a shortage of nurses, there are other significant gaps in the local department. “We also don’t have a Director of Nursing right now,” she said; “who would supervise those LVNs and all of the different nursing programs that we have. And we are also going to start advertising shortly for a new position called Director of Health Education. What we realized is that so much of our public health work is around communications and education. As the science changes, we need to figure out how to explain the science to non-scientists.” The...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xZpAumwbhFUpJUYcwaQ1-q6snzOyqAm13l7cW6AWPCM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMzkz/NjAwNjc2OWMyZmFk/YWY2YTdmYjI5M2Mz/YWMxNy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}