A great deal of political finger pointing has occurred in the aftermath of the Dallas Ebola fiasco. There’s no need to fixate on the numerous missteps of an unprepared and inadequately supported community hospital. It’s evident that the CDC was also ill equipped to respond and their biggest faults were a lack of clear communication and purposeful direction. These shortcomings undoubtedly fall at the doorstep of the agency’s director, Dr. Thomas Frieden.
The fact that Congress has delayed the confirmation of a standing Surgeon General is inexcusable and the Ebola challenge only serves to confirm the primary importance of actually having a standing voice of authority. As the Nation’s Doctor, the Surgeon General provides Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and to reduce the risk of illness and injury. In 2010, the Affordable Care Act designated the Surgeon General as the Chair of the newly formed National Prevention Council, which provides coordination and leadership among 20 executive departments with respect to wellness, health promotion and prevention activities. Kinda necessary during a public health crisis wouldn’t you say?
And very importantly, even Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the NIH, suggested that a decade of budget austerity had slowed down research on vaccines and infectious diseases, and perhaps had prevented an Ebola vaccine from being developed and ready for the outbreak that has devastated West Africa. Now that’s really scary and heart-breaking if true, wouldn’t you think?
In a reasonable world, a community response team would be able to secure enough funding, staff and tools from state and federal partners and nongovernmental agencies to successfully launch any attack on the outbreak of Ebola or bioterrorism right away. Critical, national preparedness efforts should be able to consider how resources can be quickly accessible to fund the early stage of response. Any such response requires adequate funding and dedicated public health personnel that can focus on two classic components, contact tracing and vaccination if available.
From my perspective, the public health community has never wavered in its commitment or competency. It’s the lack of adequate funding that presents the challenge – it does in most epidemics. And any public health professional can tell you that as a nation, we face far more health epidemics than the current Ebola scare.
This recent Ebola episode should encourage us to evaluate our preparedness, to improve our ability to respond to [an] emergency immediately, and to demand adequate public health programming dollars. American lives could be at risk in the future. Let’s stop the partisan back biting in political circles and do what’s right for the American public. We are clearly not ready to hit the streets in the next emergency for our shoe leather is a bit worn and the public very weary.
Duchy Trachtenberg, MSW served on the Montgomery County (Maryland) Council 2006-2010. Ms. Trachtenberg has been recognized by numerous health organizations such as NAMI, the Mental Health Association and the Our Bodies, Ourselves Health Collective. At the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting in November 2014, she will be awarded the first annual Trachtenberg Leadership Award for her commitment to public health and an integrative health care system approach. Ms. Trachtenberg currently sits on the board of the National Center for Health Research.