BB&T

ATLANTA – Headlines trumpeting the work of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta) usually focus on the outbreak of some new infection that produces a worldwide scare. Sifted into the mass media, the organization’s primary image is of white-suited figures sealing off potential victims behind glass or plastic sheeting in some foreign locale.

But at the opening session of the CDC’s National Health Promotion Conference last month — its very first on the topic — Director Julie Gerberding, MD, emphasized that the real disasters are less headline-producing but more immediate and closer to home. And she told the 1,500 or so attendees at the conference that they were “a very, very powerful” sign of the willingness to emphasize day-to-day disease prevention and health maintenance.

In a nod to the reorganization that the CDC is undergoing under her leadership – and one drawing considerable internal criticism, according to a recent article in Atlanta’s primary newspaper, the Journal-Constitution — Gerberding reported on her two weeks working at a hospital in San Francisco, and that the diseases facing the patients there were AIDS, liver disease, undiagnosed cancer, not one the victim of a hurricane, terrorism or an anthrax episode. Getting to the heart of the subject at hand, she said these were problems that the CDC increasingly will give more focus to, diseases that affect individuals and families every day, and not requiring heroic measures but simply calling for healthier lifestyle choices.

“If we all focused on a few things, we could really make a difference,” she said, adding that the CDC’s strategy for preventing disease is to be a “good partner” to other organizations with that mission.

Gerberding was joined by Janet Collins, PhD, director, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion – CDC; Lynn Nicholas, CEO of the American Diabetes Association (ADA; Alexandria, Virginia); Rose Marie Robertson, MD, chief science officer, American Heart Association (AHA; Dallas); and John Seffrin, CEO, American Cancer Society (Atlanta).

The ADA, AHA and ACS representatives all emphasized their joint efforts to collaborate, saying they were needed to set aside competition for members and donated dollars in order to come together in a united front against disease.

Chronic illnesses, Collins said, are not always the hottest topics, but they impact length of life, quality of life and healthcare costs, and she called them the “urgent realities of our day.”

Seffrin said that when representatives of the three groups met, they found a common agreement that 80% of all deaths in the U.S. are a result of cancer, stroke, heart attack or diabetes. And as he pointed out, such diseases are all interrelated and almost always brought on by poor lifestyle choices. She categorized them as highly preventable and that the organizations, working together, “could make an impact we couldn’t make alone.”

Nichols said the groups will collaborate on a Preventative Health Partnership Plan, with the goal of increasing people’s awareness of healthy lifestyles; increasing awareness of providers’ attention on healthy lifestyles; and buttressing these two goals with legislation. The partnership’s theme is “Everyday Choices for Healthier Lives” and features a “multi-faceted strategy” include a toll-free number, brochure and web site (www.everydaychoices.org). The plan includes the “four basic pillars” that our parents have often told us, according to a partnership brochure: Eat Right; Don’t Smoke; Get Active; and See Your Doctor.

To make the same point, Robertson relayed a story from the days after 9/11 during the anthrax scares, when Larry King asked a guest on his CNN interview show what people should do to protect themselves, if they were worried about dying. The guest, Robertson said, replied simply: “Stop smoking and fasten their seatbelts.” “We obviously have to be concerned with global threats,” she said, but one in four Americans has high blood pressure, which will prove more important than any other factor in determining the length and quality of life. “We need to find ways to present information [to the public] that is not alarmist” and that organizations such as the AHA are “absolutely dependent on the media” to get out the desired messages.

Earlier in the morning, speaking on the topic of “Health Promotion is Everyone’s Business,” Edward Hill, MD, past president of the American Medical Association (Chicago), said that the media is probably has the “single most influence” of any group regarding behavior. As illustration, he said a 16-month old child can act out what they see on TV. And he suggested that any health education program should be local in nature and determined at the local school district level. “Just like all politics is local, all health education is local,” he said.