Thank you to our

Public Health Heroes!

The American Public Health Association, Research!America, and public health organizations across the country are kicking off the week of Thanksgiving by saying “thank you” to the public health workforce.Monday, November 21, 2022, marks National Public Health Thank You Day, and the Indiana Public Health Association would like to take the time to publicly acknowledge our public health heroes across our great Hoosier state.

While we are in a different place in the COVID pandemic than we were last Public Health Thank You Day, we continue to see lasting impacts in our community. The bulk of resources has shifted over the past two and half years from figuring out the best ways to prevent the spread of COVID to vaccine dissemination to determining how to address COVID’s negative impact on social determinants of health and health inequities enlarged by the pandemic. Public health remains at the forefront of addressing these critical issues. Thank you for your perseverance through the unprecedented challenges COVID has brought to our workforce and our communities.

In addition to the impacts on the health and wellbeing of the community, COVID has also exacerbated public health workforce stressors, including attrition from the field, funding constraints, and a general strain on the time and mental health of personnel. Thank you for showing up for the public’s health through each test of our workforce’s strength.

The Governor’s Public Health Commission was engaged over the past year to try to address some of these issues in Indiana. The Commission’s report named many of the public health challenges and offered recommendations that support the public health workforce. Thank you to the time and effort that the Commission members spent on developing this plan; IPHA looks forward to seeing the potential changes in our public health infrastructure that may result from the Commission’s recommendations.

The public health workforce is not always acknowledged for its work. So today, IPHA wants to say thank you to all of our public health heroes. Thank you for your resilience. Thank you for your dedication to serving Hoosiers.

Ellie Hansotte, MPH                                                    Joan Trendell, MS, RDN, LD

President, Indiana Public Health Association          President Elect, Indiana Public Health Association