There are times when you just wonder how titles get put onto pieces of legislation and what the money actually goes for. Remember the American Rescue Plan of 2021? Probably not, but it authorized and appropriate millions to bolster state and local health departments to plan for health emergencies, like the one we are still recovering from.
The New Jersey Health Department announced $116 million in awards and grants to be made to municipal and county health departments to address current inequities in health care services and to prepare for future health emergencies. The grants include $41.5 million from the Act passed by Congress last year. Each State has funding for improving public health, something really needed.
Covid caught us all flat-footed and the idea is to make sure we aren’t in such a situation in the future. Our health infrastructure needs to be bolstered. This will include health education programs that are culturally and linguistically diverse and appropriate. The amounts are based on the county Census data. You see, government can work.
Prayer for the Day
You call us to lift the scales of blindness from our eyes,
And the limits of intolerance from our hearts.
You call us to be faithful servants responding to your word,
But we are ordinary people sometimes afraid to take risks.
Break down the chains of caution that bind us,
And move us boldly into a future we cannot fully envision.
In the name of him who pointed the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Public health depends on winning over hearts and minds. It’s not enough just to have a good policy, you have to convince people to actually follow it.
- Leana S. Wen, MD, MSc., professor public health policy
The way we work in public health is, to make the best decisions and recommendations, based on the best available data.
- Thomas Friedan, MD., RESOLVE to Save Lives, epidemic prevention
Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
And prosper for us the work of our hands – O prosper the work of our hands!
Psalm 90: 16-17