KPHC Spotlights
December 2022
December 1, 2022: CDC Public Health Infrastructure Grant Program
Strengthening the public health infrastructure in our communities, states, and across the nation means helping protect people from preventable illness, death, and health threats. CDC recently awarded $3.2 billion to help state, local, and territorial jurisdictions with critical funding and flexibility to build the workforce and infrastructure they need to protect the populations they serve. The Kansas Health Institute has provided the 2022 Legislative Recap detailing many of the health-related bills from this year’s session.
November 2022
November 3, 2022: New Website Helps Public Health Job Seekers Nationwide
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) announced the launch of www.PublicHealthCareers.org, a website to help job seekers find careers in governmental public health agencies nationwide. The site offers a simple way to search for jobs both nationally and by state and includes job preview videos of several different public health careers as well as information on working in governmental public health. In the future, add-ons to the site will include additional career spotlights as well as fellowship, internship and training programs in governmental health departments, a job-skills quiz to help identify potential career fits, and career resources for those seeking their first job in government.
November 9, 2022: Public Health Scholarships Available - Kansas State University Public Health Program
The Kansas State University Public Health Program was recently awarded the Public Health Scholarship Program by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This program will prepare the public health workforce who live and work in Kansas, to promote the expansion of public health systems through strategic scholarships. The scholarships can cover up to the full amount of tuition for an MPH (42 credit hrs) or graduate certificate (15 credit hrs), or a partial scholarship, for part-time and full-time public health workers in Kansas over the next three years.
October 2022
October 18, 2022: National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network
Through a cooperative agreement between the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the Kansas Environmental Public Health Tracking Program has developed applications to collect, analyze, interpret and publish environmental health data indicators as part of the National Environmental Public Health Tacking Network. The tracking network can help to identify threats to the health of Kansans posed by the environment and will improve how KDHE responds to those threats. Individuals are able to access critical environmental health information that can assist them to make informed decisions and take action if necessary to protect themselves and their families.
October 27, 2022: Public Health Workforce Calculator is Now Live!
The Public Health Workforce Calculator is now available! Local health departments can use the calculator to help determine staffing needs to deliver the Foundational Public Health Services and as a tool for workforce planning.
September 2022
September 8, 2022: NACCHO New: Medical Countermeasure Best Practice Resource Guide
Information sharing and medical countermeasure (MCM) dispensing and administration by local health departments played a critical role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. NACCHO’s MCM workgroup gathered best practices and lessons learned from those involved in information sharing and MCM dispensing and administration during COVID-19 and created a new resource guide, which can be used to inform future decision-making.
September 13, 2022: de Beaumont - Talking Health: A New Way to Communicate About Public Health
Talking Health provides practical tools to improve communication through framing, messaging, and storytelling. These tools were developed from original research conducted by the FrameWorks Institute and Hattaway Communications as part of the Public Health Reaching Across Sectors (PHRASES) initiative, led by the de Beaumont Foundation and the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine & Society Program.
September 14, 2022: 2022 Kansas Legislative Recap
The 2022 legislative session began on January 10 with all legislators and participants back inside the Capitol for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They returned to work on bills focused on the authority of state and local officials when responding to contagious or infectious diseases. Legislators also prioritized issues related to the rights and interests of children, the scope of practice for health care professionals, and the reduction of the sales tax of food.
August 2022
August 4, 2022: 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests & Needs (PH WINS) Survey Results
The 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) was conducted by the de Beaumont Foundation and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) between September 2021 and January 2022. The survey provides data on workforce demographics, job characteristics, training needs, intent to stay or leave, professional engagement and satisfaction, and other areas. Previously conducted in 2014 and 2017, PH WINS is the only nationally representative survey of state and local government public health employees in the United States.
August 16, 2022: Building a Healthy Workforce from the Inside Out with the Joy in Work Toolkit
The Joy in Work Toolkit is an adapted version of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHI) Framework for Improving Joy in Work, modified to meet the needs of local governmental public health workforce. In 2017, the IHI developed the IHI Framework for Improving Joy in Work as a tool for healthcare organizations to better understand barriers to joy in work that led to high rates of staff turnover and burnout and co-create strategies to address them.
August 31, 2022: Championing Public Health Amid Legal & Legislative Threats: Framing & Language Recommendations
Public health practitioners must be able "to hold lawmakers accountable, to illustrate for community members what’s at stake, and to demonstrate the importance of public health." Check out this article to learn about the 5 key messaging recommendations for championing public health!
June 2022
June 6, 2022: VIRA Chatbot for Health Departments
The Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) has a new tool available for free to help health departments spread reliable, updated COVID information and empathetically address misinformation. VIRA, an artificial intelligence based chatbot, answers hundreds of questions about the COVID-19 vaccines, side effects, and more. VIRA is available in both Spanish and English.
June 21, 2022: JPHMP Devotes Supplemental Issue to Transformation and Innovation in Public Health
The Public Health National Center for Innovations at the Public Health Accreditation Board is pleased to present Transformation and Innovation in Public Health, a new Journal of Public Health Management and Practice supplemental issue. The supplemental issue contains 15 articles from a variety of perspectives and areas of practice; it is filled with stories, examples, and leadership in public health practice.
June 23, 2022: CDC's Monkeypox Resource Page
CDC is sharing resources to stay current on Monkeypox information.
May 2022
May 3, 2022: Updated Competency Assessment Tools Available
Following the release of the 2021 Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies), the competency assessment tools provided by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice have been updated to reflect this newest version of the Core Competencies.
April 2022
April 14, 2022: Communicating Through COVID-19 and Beyond: Impact and Insights from the Field of Public Health
Communicating Through COVID-19 and Beyond features insights and learnings from public health communicators across the country. Leading up to the two-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Health Communications Collaborative conducted a national survey and received more than 600 responses from 51 states and territories. These reflections highlight the immense impact of public health communicators since 2020 and offer a powerful wealth of insights for protecting public health through COVID-19 and beyond.
April 27, 2022: 2022 County Health Rankings - Kansas
The 2022 County Health Rankings, released on April 27 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI), are available at www.countyhealthrankings.org. To support state and local health improvement efforts, the Kansas Health Institute has produced individual county profiles that include a five-year comparison of County Health Rankings data and the “drivers,” or measures with the greatest impact, on the rankings in each county.
March 2022
March 14, 2022: KALHD Releases Building Vaccine Confidence in Kansas: A Guide for Local Health Departments
The Kansas Association of Local Health Departments (KALHD) is pleased to release a white paper for local health departments in Kansas and beyond to combat vaccine hesitancy for both COVID-19 and routine immunizations.
March 21 2022: Needs Assessment Toolkit for Dementia, Cognitive Health, and Caregiving
Dementia, cognitive health, and caregiving are not always included in community health needs assessments, leading to their absence in public health improvement and strategic plans. The Needs Assessment Toolkit for Dementia, Cognitive Health, and Caregiving can help state, local, and territorial public health and aging officials identify unmet needs of older adults, scale up existing community strengths, and promote healthy aging.
March 23 2022: PHAB Standards & Measures Version 2022
Version 2022 PHAB Standards & Measures is now final and serves as the official guidance for PHAB national public health department accreditation. After much input from the public health field, including partner organizations, health departments, and public vetting, Version 2022 reflects the future of public health practice.
March 29 2022: Rising Stress and Burnout in Public Health Results of a National Survey of the Public Health Workforce
Two years of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to increased stress and burnout, as well as post-traumatic stress symptoms, according to the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS), conducted between September 2021 and January 2022. At the same time, public health workers report that they remain committed to their jobs and communities. The survey by the de Beaumont Foundation and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials collected the perceptions of nearly 45,000 staff in state and local government public health departments.
February 2022
February 18, 2022: NACCHO 2022 Advocacy Toolkit
This toolkit educates on how to educate and engage with elected officials about the critical work of local public health and what resources are needed to keep communities safe. The toolkit explains the difference between education, advocacy, and lobbying, and offers strategies for how to effectively communicate with lawmakers through a variety of engagements.
January 2022
January 5, 2022: Community Resilience: A Dynamic Model for Public Health 3.0
The Community Resilience Model defines and measures community resilience as an approach for measuring equity, addressing structural racism, and improving population health.
January 19, 2022: de Beaumont: Leading Systems Change in Public Health: A Field Guide for Practitioners
This book offers practice-based guidance and examples for examining and achieving systems change to improve health equity.