The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #49512

Alberto Jose Cardelle, PhD, MPH¹, Lisa Williams², Rosa Horenberger², Lutheria Peters³, Deidre Holland², Bethany Geiger², Heather Lynn Dolinsky², Jody La Verdure², and Tamara Allen². (1) Public Health Program, East Stroudsburg University, 200 Prospect Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, 570-422-3401, acardelle@po-box.esu.edu, (2) Health, East Stroudsburg University, 200 Prospect Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, (3) Student, East Stroudsburg University, 200 Prospect Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301

Pennsylvania has 38 public health workers for every 100,000 persons. This is the lowest ratio in the country. The state has only 11 local health departments (LHDs) -- 6 at the county level and 5 at the municipal level. This means that the majority of Pennsylvania’s population are at risk for unmet public health needs. The public goes without adequate information and resources able to respond to their public health concerns including the increased threat to bioterrorism. This paper will have surveyed the 6 counties and 5 municipalities with LHDs and 25 counties and 10 municipalities without LHDs. The survey is an administered instrument collecting information on the services available from the counties and the municipalities, as well as measuring the ability of county to provide adequate, and factual information to public health questions, and their ability to indicate appropriate referral. The survey is an adapted format of NACCHOs LHD infrastructure survey. The paper will also use secondary information to compare the counties with regard to key public health performance indicators such as immunization levels, communicable diseases reporting, restaurant inspections, and water safety. The data analysis will compare findings between the groups to identify disparities in public health services and to identify potential public health HPSAs. The initial results show that persons that live in counties without local health departments go without essential services that impact health, and that county officials lack the necessary information on referrals, more likely to refer a caller to a hospital than to county services.

Learning Objectives:

• 1- understand the concept of public health disparities
• 2- learn about NACCHOS public health assessment instrument
• 3- become familiar with the impact of public health HPSASs.

Keywords: Public Health Infrastructure, Public Health Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.