Political Quotes

“in the last few years, our Nation's public health has been threatened repeatedly. We have faced natural disasters like the horrific damage done by Hurricane Katrina. We have endured human-led catastrophes like the tragic September 11 attacks. Only a couple of months ago, a man infected with a potentially lethal strain of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis was able to travel from his home in Atlanta to France, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Canada, before ending up at a center in Denver for treatment. These emergencies have made it clear that our public health system must be prepared for the unexpected. Our ability to prevent, respond to, and recover from incidents like these depends upon an adequately staffed and well trained public health workforce. But if we look at our public health workforce today, what we see is alarming: an aging staff nearing retirement with no clear pipeline of trained employees to fill the void. The average age of lab technicians, epidemiologists, environmental health experts, microbiologists, IT specialists, administrators, and other public health workers is 47. That is 7 years older than the average age of the Nation's workforce. Retirement rates are as high as 20 percent in some State public health agencies. Nearly half of the Federal employees in positions critical to our biodefense will be eligible to retire by 2012. The average age of a public health nurse is near 50 years. These statistics are sobering.…”