Dover, Del. (July 1, 2024) – The Delaware Division of Public Health’s (DPH) Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity Prevention (PANO) Program released The Burden of Chronic Disease in Delaware 2024 report on June 28, 2024. The report summarizes the current state of chronic diseases and related risk factors in Delaware. It is an update to, and expansion of, Chronic Disease in Delaware: Facts and Figures, published in 2019 by DPH’s Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Section.
Surgeon General Declares Gun Violence a Public Health Issue
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has issued a landmark Surgeon General’s Advisory on Firearm Violence, declaring firearm violence in America to be a public health crisis. This advisory is the first publication from the Office of the Surgeon General dedicated to this issue, and it outlines the devastating and far-reaching consequences that firearm violence poses to the health and well-being of the country.
Save the Date: 2024 Immunization Summit
Save the Date!
The 2024 Immunization Summit will be held on Thursday, December 12, 2024, from 12:30 – 5:30 pm EST.
Delaware County Health Rankings 2024
Produced by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, County Health Rankings for 2024 contains valuable data and numerous enhancements to make this report even more valuable to planners, public health professionals, funders, policymakers, and others. Click here for the most updated Delaware data or visit the website for additional information!
The Academy in the News
The Delaware Population Consortium and the University of Delaware’s Institute of Public Administration recently held a workshop examining the effects of an older population on the state’s infrastructure. At that workshop was Executive Director Tim Gibbs, who discussed the demographics of the healthcare workforce the Academy/DPHA has been studing through our Delaware Health Force project, and what our workforce might look like in the coming years.
Drexel LeBow Analytics 50
Tech Impact’s Data Innovation Lab and Delaware Academy of Medicine/Delaware Public Health Association Release Interactive Report on Delaware’s Healthforce
A greater understanding of Delaware’s nursing health force enables strategic workforce training and policy recommendations to help ease provider shortage
WILMINGTON, DE (July 17, 2023)—The Data Innovation Lab, a division of Tech Impact that accelerates the use of data insights and intelligence to address societal issues, in partnership with the Delaware Academy of Medicine/Delaware Public Health Association (Academy/DPHA), today announced a new report that informs the state of the nursing workforce population as well as strategic decision making and data-driven policy to help mitigate Delaware’s provider shortage. The report, an honoree of the Drexel LeBow Analytics 50, shows visual datasets that provide a better understanding of the current composition and challenges facing the workforce and highlight areas needing providers.
“Data integrated from variable sources enabled us to provide upskilling guidance for current nurses to obtain licenses that expand on the services they provide. Specifically, ARPNs play a unique role in the DE healthforce given their prescription and practice authorities independent of a physician,” said Héc Maldonado-Reis, Director, Research Development and Analytics at Tech Impact. “We found that targeting just five percent of the current RN population to advance their education and training could result in over 600 new APRNs in the DE health care workforce.”
Together, the Data Lab and DPHA are now developing a triage system for primary care where patients have timely and cost-effective access to APRNs who can guide them to specialized care and help ease the provider shortage in Delaware.
“The Data Lab team has been an invaluable partner in both developing and promoting the reports, which support the Academy/DPHA’s efforts to provide effective health and social care programs within underserved communities,” said Timothy Gibbs, Executive Director of Delaware Academy of Medicine / Delaware Public Health Association.
The Data Lab and DPHA project was recently selected for a 2023 Drexel LeBow Analytics 50 award for its healthforce report’s data-driven business impact. The Drexel LeBow Analytics 50 is a national recognition of analytics distinction honoring 50 organizations using analytics to solve business challenges. Honorees are selected by a panel of researchers and practitioners who evaluate nominations based on the complexity of the business challenge, the analytics solution implemented, and the solution’s business impact on the organization.
Tech Impact and the Academy/DPHA began the partnership in April 2022. The work has been ongoing ever since and ranges from understanding the chronic disease distributions in Delaware to now understanding the distribution of Delaware’s healthforce, including the nursing healthforce, which was updated with new data as of March 2023. The work is part of a larger ARPA-funded initiative, Delaware Health Force which seeks to understand and remedy healthcare workforce shortages resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Looking ahead, the Data Lab and the Academy/DPHA will collect additional data as nurses and other providers renew their licenses. They plan to partner with policymakers who have influence over the development of affordable higher education nursing programs.
To learn more about the healthforce reports, visit: https://nursingdata.dehealthforce.org/
About Tech Impact
Tech Impact is a nonprofit that leverages technology to advance social impact. Our proven workforce training programs and intermediary services prepare our graduates to launch or advance their careers in technology. We strengthen nonprofits through a full spectrum of technological support, giving them the education and services they need to deliver greater impact and help their communities thrive. Learn more at techimpact.org.
Media Contact:
Caitlin Wolf
Tech Impact
caitlinrwolf@gmail.com
DJPH 2024 Issues
What’s next for the Delaware Journal of Public Health?
Our upcoming 2024 issues include:
- March – Chronic Disease
- June – Violence
- August — Cancer & the Power of Preventative Screening
- October– Childhood Development & Education
- December– After COVID – Rebuilding Public Health and Healthcare Resilience
If you would like to submit an article to the DJPH, please visit our submission page.
July Awareness
July is the month of…
- Disability Pride- https://thearc.org
- Minority Mental Health Awareness- https://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/minority-mental-health/
- Sarcoma Awareness- https://www.curesarcoma.org/sarcoma-awareness-month/
- Cord Blood Awareness- http://americanhealthcouncil.org/cord-blood-awareness-month/
- International Group B Strep Awareness- https://www.groupbstrepinternational.org/
- Juvenile Arthritis Awareness- https://www.curearthritis.org/juvenile-arthritis-awareness-month/
- National Cleft & Craniofacial Awareness & Prevention- http://www.nccapm.org/
- UV Safety Awareness Month- https://www.aad.org/member/advocacy/promote/uv-awareness
- Plastic Free July- https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/
Individual Days:
- July 4: Independence Day
- July 10: Chronic Disease Day- https://chronicdiseaseday.org/
- July 14: International Non-Binary People’s Day- https://www.hrc.org
- July 15: National Leiomyosarcoma Day- https://nlmsf.org/
- July 19: Glioblastoma Awareness Day- https://www.gbmresearch.org
- July 23: World Sjogren’s Day- https://sjogrens.org
- July 28: World Hepatitis Day- http://www.worldhepatitisday.org/
- July 29: World Heart Day- https://world-heart-federation.org/world-heart-day/
- July 30: Gastroschisis Awareness Day- https://averysangels.org
Need more to celebrate? Check out the National Day Holidays and Awareness Days.com
2024 Hoopes Medical Dental Lecture
The Academy/DPHA, ChristianaCare, and the Delaware State Dental Society are pleased to welcome you to the 2024 Hoopes Medical/Dental Lecture! When: Thursday, February 22, 2024, from 6:00 – 9:00 pm Where: Ammon Auditorium, Christiana Hospital Register Here!