My brother who works for a county public health department in California sent me this memo. It gives us an insight to the statist mentality and just how religious one can be in the worship and glorification of the state. Read the whole memo “A Day in the Life of Public Health.” It’s quite alarming just how much some people actually believe this stuff:
“The Southern California sun wakes you up and you know it’s going to be another beautiful day in the Golden State. As you finish your morning shower, taking for granted the safety of the water, you make a note to check into that ride-sharing idea that is being offered at your workplace.
You hear your son laughing in the other room as your husband gets him ready for the childcare center. Public health helped to assure that he is a healthy baby, thanks to the immunizations that ward off the diseases that used to be deadly in the “olden days.”
You give him a glass of milk, confident in the knowledge that it is safe because public health checks the dairies, tests lab samples, and refrigeration levels of dairy products.
It’s time to leave for work and you buckle seatbelts around yourself and your son. It is a habit and a law now, thanks to public health educational messages that have greatly reduced automobile-related deaths in this country.
The childcare center director welcomes your son and takes him into a room full of children. She and her staff have been trained in the public health measures necessary to run a safe, healthy program. Ultimately her center is trying to avoid the unnecessary infectious disease outbreaks that can occur with improper hand washing and childcare techniques. Historically, public health has looked at the root “causes” of diseases, and addresses them at this prevention-oriented level.
Heading on to work, you stop and pick up an egg sandwich at your favorite fast food restaurant. You know that the quality of the food is good because local health inspectors regularly inspect restaurants, ensuring that health standards have been met. Instead, a different public health message gets stuck in your mind: I need to limit my fat intake because my cholesterol levels are high.” Enjoying the last bites of your sandwich, you make a decision to get up earlier the next day and eat the cereal you bought last week.
Work is good and relatively stress free. You feel good because you have started a lunch-time walking program with five of your colleagues. The exercise increases aerobic fitness and helps decrease your stress level for the rest of the afternoon. Public health studies have shown the positive effects of avoiding or lessening the risks of chronic disease by exercising routinely.
You are also happy because your business has become a “smoke free” working environment. It has become clear through the years that smoking has definite links to cancer and other chronic diseases. Public health has been encouraging people and organizations to give up smoking to improve the overall quality of life.
It is the end of the day and you and your son stop at a local park to play with the toy boat he got for his birthday. Gently placing the boat in the pond, he jumps in surprise when he sees a fish swim by his hand. You smile and acknowledge one of the environmental health aspects of public health; to evaluate and monitor the cleanliness of public recreational areas such as lakes, beaches, and swimming pools.
The sun sets into the ocean casting a golden glow across the sky and the two of you head home. Your husband has made dinner so you spend the rest of the evening relaxing with your family and watching the news. There is a story about an injury prevention project. A local public health professional points out the positive outcomes that are being seen as a result of the community’s prevention efforts, and highlights some injury prevention measures that can be applied in the home. You also hear about a group of organizations coming together to address the problems of violence in communities around the County. The fact that violence doesn’t just happen and that it is a preventable problem alerts you to another public health challenge.
Your family goes to sleep. The moon glows over the San Gabriel Mountains. As you lie in bed musing on the day, you realize that public health is not just a one-day event or a celebratory week, but an everyday kind of thing we celebrate by living.
Adapted from a “A Day in the Life of Public Health” from Colorado’s Public Health Week 1993 celebration.”
Wow, all glory and honor are yours almighty state. I think these guys would pass Butler Shaffer’s Hitler Test.
12:06 pm on April 4, 2005
