This summer, I completed an internship with the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) in Tallahassee, Florida, and Sarasota, Florida. The FDOH oversees all matters of public health and is comprised of a state health office in Tallahassee, and 67 local county departments. My internship comprised of serving at the state health office, as well as…
Tag: public health
Puerto Rico’s Imminent Medicaid Fiscal Cliff: The Trials and Tribulations of the Oldest U.S. Colony
Puerto Rico has been an unincorporated territory of the United States since July 25, 1898, subject to Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, more commonly referred to as the “Territorial Clause.” Honest actors who want to avoid euphemisms and not shy away from the truth, however painful and disgraceful as…
New Abortion Laws Contribute to Sexist Environments that Harm Everyone’s Health
This piece first appeared in The Conversation. Nine states have passed laws in 2019 alone that restrict abortion at the earliest stages of pregnancy. Those of us who study public health are becoming increasingly concerned about the potential for negative health consequences of these kinds of policies on women. That’s because research has shown that laws limiting reproductive rights and services…
From Murphy’s Law to Murphy’s Regulations: What Actually Goes Wrong in Public Programs
Yet these solutions have not caught on because screening against a single criterion is so entrenched in public policy. Perhaps if Murphy’s Regulations were to become as much a part of the public policy lexicon as Murphy’s Law, attention would turn to what actually does go wrong as opposed to throwing up hands in the assumption that everything is going wrong.
Reclaiming Leadership in Public Health and Healthcare Resilience
The Florida Building Resilience Against Climate Effects Program (BRACE), hosted at FSU, works with health departments to adapt to extreme weather. Public health departments are on the front lines of responding to climate threats like extreme heat, hurricanes, and Zika virus.
Allowing Access To Marijuana May Help States Fix Their Opioid Problem
One recent estimate from the president’s Council of Economic Advisors finds that the opioid epidemic is costing the country hundreds of billions of dollars per year in the form of lost productivity, health care costs, and costs to the criminal justice system. Some of the rise in opioid overdoses is likely caused by job loss and economic despair, so we may see a decline as the economy continues to strengthen. But the economy is already pretty strong—despite the recent market dip— and opioid overdoses continue to plague many parts of the country. Better access to marijuana is not going to single-handedly fix the opioid problem, but it should be discussed as part of the solution.
