Inaugural Delaware Public Health Advocacy Day – 47abc

Dover, Del. – Health officials, advocates and legislators met in front of Legislative Hall to raise awareness for public health issues being brought up at the state level on Wednesday for the first Delaware Public Health Advocacy Day.

The event, organized by Delaware HIV Consortium, focused on advancing public health policy to increase health equity as speakers advocated for more public health funding and support. ​

“Public health impacts all of the communities across our state. Public health is the first step of keeping people healthy,” Delaware HIV Consortium Executive Director Tyler Berl said. “And frankly, it’s the cheapest way to keep people healthy and thriving across our state.”

Peggy Geisler, CEO for Sussex County Health Coalition CEO and one of the speakers at the event, stressed the importance of funding for preventative healthcare. Especially, she said, in times of widespread disinformation.

“It’s so important right now is because population health, is under fire nationally,” she said. “I think what’s happening to undermine credible science and actual programming that keeps people like you, me and everyone else safe is a travesty. And I think we in our own state can do something about that.”

Brandywine Counseling and Community Services CEO and President Lynn Morrison was also a speaker and said it was important to make public health a top-of-mind issue with legislators at a time when the federal government has reduced funding after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If there aren’t additional resources put towards public health, then organizations and programs will surely not be able to continue,” she said.

State officials at the event stressed that health care, while lifesaving, is just one of the many ways to keep communities safe and prosperous.

Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Christen Linke Young, was also a speaker and said that access to healthy food, adequate housing, mental health services and community supports were just as essential to building healthy communities.

“That’s what public health is, and that’s what we’re celebrating today, the community institutions that work day in and day out to serve communities and build a spirit of public health,” Linke Young said.