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Episode 620: Prepping for a Wave of Seniors, Listeria Response Relies on Communication website yes

This podcast highlights ongoing federal discussions around regulating AI in healthcare and public health.

Dr. David Newman-Toker of Johns Hopkins discusses talks with House members on AI bias and privacy concerns.

Episode 495: Power Outage Toolkit, Alpha-Gal Syndrome Explained website yes

Dr. Kris Mork, Director of Public Health Informatics at Guidehouse, talks about how the development of AI needs to be inclusive.

Dr. Brian Castrucci, President and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, says workforce data indicates public health agencies could lose nearly 130,000 employees by 2025; J.T. Lane, ASTHO’s Senior Vice President for Population Health and Innovation, says agencies can learn about the latest technology innovations at ASTHO’s Public Health TechXpo; and an ASTHO blog article discusses how the organization partnered with the Ohio Department of Health to include people living with disabilities in preparedness planning.

Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, writes about problems impacting public health, such as underfunding, bureaucracy, and inadequate administrative support, in an article for Health Affairs; Omar Khalid, ASTHO’s Director of Workforce Development, says ASTHO has a new online resource hub to help agencies build resilience among members of their workforce; and five years ago today, ASTHO delivered the first episode of the Public Health Review podcast.

Dr. Christine Bean, Chief Learning Officer at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, talks about recruiting candidates into laboratory positions on ASTHO’s new jobs website, publichealthcareers.org; Dr. Nirav Shah, ASTHO Immediate Past President and Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control, gives his take on the FDA proposing a once-a-year COVID-19 regimen for immunizations; and Mike Fraser, ASTHO CEO, announces ASTHO has new funding from the FDA to advance retail food safety initiatives and reduce foodborne illness.

In this newscast, Rachael Banks, Public Health Director for the Oregon Health Authority Division of Public Health, discusses the results of a new study exploring the connections between climate change and youth mental health; Rebecca Fronberg, Program Manager at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, talks about how ASTHO has provided $75,000 in grants to help create lactation spaces in 52 businesses around the state; and an ASTHO blog article reminds members that it’s always a good time to work on building relationships with federal elected officials.

Dr. Brian Castrucci, de Beaumont Foundation President and CEO, discusses the concerning results of the latest PH WINS Survey of nearly 45,000 public health workers across the nation; ASTHO is teaming with the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs to educate public health professionals about the 9-8-8 suicide prevention hotline and the Help-4-Moms hotline in a webinar on August 17th; the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center’s Crisis Hotline has experienced high call volumes since the start of the pandemic; and ASTHO and the New York University School of Global Public Health have created a new resource for teams working to prevent adverse childhood experiences.

In this newscast, Dr. John Balbus, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, explains the connection between weather and population health as part of our celebration of National Public Health Week; ASTHO’s Caroline Brazeel says work starts today on the 2022 Profile of State and Territorial Public Health; ASTHO publishes a new blog article offering an update on federal and state guidelines for delivery of behavioral health via telehealth technology; and Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris discusses the future of telehealth on a new episode of the Public Health Review podcast now online.

Dr. Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, says the results of a national survey of public health workers indicate a workforce under attack; Morning Edition shares plans to cover National Public Health Week starting next Monday; Dr. Jewell Mullen, a former state health official in Connecticut and Massachusetts, is thinking about a pilot project that helped two Georgia agencies find new ways to work together; and registration is open for ASTHO’s second annual Public Health Tech Xpo.

Joanne Pearsol, ASTHO’s Director of Workforce Development, explains how states and territories are working to help a weary public health workforce survive the pandemic; and we share details about the 11th annual African American Conference on Disabilities happening now through February 17, 2022.

2026 Videos article

Public Health Communications for Impact: Approaches to Strengthening Infrastructure Effective communication is not just about messaging. It depends on strong systems, resourcing, and coordination behind the scenes. As health departments face increasing demands to demonstrate impact, communicate value, and navigate complex environments, communications stands as a foundational public health capability. This webinar explores how public health agencies can strengthen their communications infrastructure to improve reach, effectiveness, and sustainability. The Public Health Communications Collaborative's newly published Overcoming Challenges & Leveraging Strengths: Action Guide for Communicators at Public Health Agencies, which outlines evidence‑based strategies for organizing and operating effective public health communications functions. Health department panelists share real‑world examples of how these approaches show up in practice by highlighting systems, roles, and processes that support clear communication about public health programs and investments. Together, the session will reinforce communications as intentional, resourced work that underpins successful public health practice. Speakers Amanda Kwong, MPH: Director, Public Health Communications Collaborative, de Beaumont Foundation Christina Floyd, MPH: Deputy Director of Public Health, Detroit Health Department Maura Fitzgerald, MPA, MSOL: Chief Marketing Officer, Connecticut Department of Health Luisa Hansen, MPH: Public Information Officer, Utah Department of Health and Human Services Resources Slide Deck (PDF) Overcoming Challenges & Leveraging Strengths | Public Health Communications Collaborative Transcript - Video - Public Health Communications for Impact: Approaches to Strengthening Infrastructure OE22-2203 PHIG article yes

Basic PDF Accessibility Remediation Demonstration How to Remediate a PDF for Accessibility This video is a demonstration of basic PDF remediation techniques using Adobe Acrobat Pro. The methods in the video address some of the most common fixes needed to make a PDF converted from Microsoft Word accessible. This includes: How to access document properties, and which fields you should fill out. How to run the accessibility checker and why it is always necessary to check the checker’s results. The difference between tag structure and logical reading order. How to create new sections in a PDF. How to move and change tags. Speaker Emily Lapayowker, Assistant Director, Web Content, ASTHO Transcript - Video - Basic PDF Remediation Demonstration   Adobe Remediation Cheat Sheet This section serves as a quick reference for the skills included in the demonstration. Note that both the demonstration and this resource use a mouse to navigate Adobe Acrobat Pro. The processes will be different for those using keyboard navigation. Document Properties Menu Document Properties (toward the bottom of the Menu) Description Tab: Title Author (optional) Subject & Keywords – These fields make it easier for screen reader users to search for and identify your document. Advanced Tab: Language (in the Reading Options section) - Make sure the language selected matches the language in which your document is written. This is how screen readers know what language to use. Save changes by selecting the OK button on the Document Properties dialog box. Accessibility Checker The Adobe Acrobat Pro version used in this demonstration is 2026.001.21529. Other versions may have a different layout, but the functionality for all recent versions should be roughly the same. Click on All Tools in the header menu. From the All Tools menu pane, choose “Prepare for Accessibility.” Note that it may be necessary to select “View More” on the menu pane if Prepare for Accessibility is not immediately visible. In the Prepare for Accessibility menu, choose “Check for Accessibility.” A dialog box of Accessibility Checker Options will open. Set the desired parameters and click the “Start Checking” button. An Accessibility Checker pane will appear on the opposite side of the window. It will catalog all of the accessibility issues it detects. Open each item to get more information. Some items must be manually approved. These include Logical Reading Order and Color Contrast. The checker cannot check these for you. To manually pass something, right-click on the item and choose “Pass” from the context menu (i.e., the right-click menu). It is vital to check the checker. All checkers start with the assumption that the document or page in question has been created already using best practices and cannot check some elements as thoroughly as a human can. They are a great starting place, but should not be considered the final word. Tags Tags are the structure of a PDF. They should be the first stop when remediating a document. To open the tags, check the far side of the Accessibility Checker pane. There will be a button with an icon shaped like a gift tag. Click on the icon and the Accessibility Tags will replace the checker results in the pane. All tags should be listed under a top-level Tags item with the PDF icon next to it. Under that will be a Document tag — in almost every instance, the rest of a PDF’s tags will live under the Document tag as well. Tips Clicking on a tag in the structure will highlight the corresponding section in the document. The relevant area will be enclosed in a purple box. Make sure the document structure is correct. This means: Headings are used in order, none are skipped. In almost every case, there will be only one H1 per PDF. H2s should be used as section headings, H3s as subsections, and so on, down to H6. Empty tags can and should be deleted. Right-click on an empty tag and select Delete Tag from the context menu. The context menu has an option to Delete Empty Tags. This is faster, but it is important to check the results. Creating New Tags in the Tags Pane All page content should have a corresponding tag. If a tag is missing, create a new one. Click on a tag near where the new one should go. Click the three dots in the upper right corner of the Tags pane. Select “New Tag” from the context menu. Set the correct tag type by using the dropdown field. In the demonstration video, it is Section. The empty Sect tag will appear in the Tags pane. If it is not in the right place, click on the tag and drag it to the correct location. Add content to the new tag by clicking on the relevant content and dragging it into the new tag. If this is done correctly, the content will appear under and slightly to the right of the new tag (much like a subitem in a list). Nested Tags: Lists Lists are an example of when to use nested tags. The top-level tag in a list should be List, which shows up in the tag order as an L. Under that, each list item should be labeled LI. Within each LI should be two sub-tags: Lbl (or label — a bullet or a number) and LBody, which will contain the text for that list item. Create new tags, change tag type, and/or drag-and-drop content to correct any tagging errors. Nested Tags: Tables Tables are another common type of nested tag. When evaluating tables: Make sure everything is nested under a Table tag. The top row of content should always be nested under a heading tag (THead). Though the sub-tag for the row will be a normal TR, the individual header cells in the row should be tagged as TH. The rest of the table content should be nested under a TBody tag. These will be split up by row (TR). Individual cells should be tagged as TD. Note that if the first column should also be treated as a heading, the tags will still be nested under TBody and inside a TR tag, but the first cell in the row will be a TH. Only use tables for data, not for styling. Try to avoid empty and merged cells. Screen readers go through tables top-to-bottom, left-to-right, one cell at a time. Changing Tag Types Incorrectly categorized tags can be changed (e.g., the title is tagged as a regular paragraph when it should be an H1). Right-click on the existing tag and choose Properties from the context menu to open the Object Properties dialog box. Use the dropdown menu in the Type field to select the correct tag type. Note that tag types are listed alphabetically. Select the “Close” button to save the changes. Reading Order Reading order should be adjusted after the Tags. Typically, it will mirror what you see in the Tag pane, but not always. As the name implies, it is the order in which a screen reader will read the document. To access the Reading Order pane, look at the far end of the Tags pane and there should be an icon that looks a bit like a Z — that is the Reading Order button. Click on it and Reading Order will replace the Tags. The Reading Order content is divided up by page, which makes it easier to stay on track. Removing Items from the Reading Order In the demonstration example, there are three decorative lines inserted in the content to help visually break up the content. Each is marked as a Figure and each generated a flag from the accessibility checker because there was no associated alt text. No alt text is needed for these lines because they are decorative (meaning they do not give the reader any additional information). The best way to remove them from the reading order is to mark them as “background/artifact.” Right-click the decorative item in the Reading Order pane. Choose “tag as background/artifact” from the context menu. The item will disappear from the reading order, but the decorative line will remain visible on the page. Note that sometimes this does not work and you end up with empty or erroneous items in the reading order. Known Conversion Errors It is possible to create a completely accessible document in Microsoft Word and still have errors when it is converted to a PDF. Some of these problem areas may be the result of known conversion errors, such as: Images (or figures) moving to the bottom of the reading order, regardless of where they are placed on the page. Empty P tags where the author has used the Enter/Return key to move to a new line. Unfortunately, these are not preventable issues. Any fixes have to be done by Adobe, so it is important to watch out for them when remediating a document. article yes

Advanced Accessibility Training Advanced Digital Accessibility Training Take a deeper dive into digital accessibility with members of ASTHO's Graphic Design and Web teams. This session will build on skills from the October 2025 training by covering the legal requirements and landscape, basic document remediation strategies, and the overlap between web and document accessibility. After this session, attendees should be able to: Understand the ADA Title II Web Rule requirements. How to communicate the importance of embracing accessibility. Be familiar with common document remediation strategies. Understand the commonalities between website and document accessibility. Speakers Emily Lapayowker, Assistant Director, Web Content, ASTHO Christopher Preheim, Manager, Graphic Design, ASTHO Heidi Satter, Director, Web & Data Solutions, ASTHO Resources Slide Deck (PDF) Fact Sheet: New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments Transcript - Video - Advanced Accessibility Training article yes

Sustaining Accreditation Through Smart Documentation Systems Webinar Effective documentation and progress tracking is a cornerstone of sustaining public health accreditation. As health departments navigate reaccreditation, having a reliable system to engage staff in the organizing, monitoring, and updating of accreditation documentation is important for maintaining readiness and institutional knowledge. In this webinar, participants explore strategies for developing and implementing documentation tracking systems that support long-term accreditation success. The ASTHO team will provide learnings from the Building Accreditation Sustainability Learning Community and considerations that support agency-wide engagement. Additionally, the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) will share the tools available to support health departments in organizing and managing their accreditation initiatives. The session also features 2 PHIG recipients who will share their experiences designing and using documentation tracking systems to streamline processes, improve staff coordination, and ensure sustainability across accreditation cycles. Whether you're starting from scratch or refining an existing system, this webinar will offer practical insights and peer-driven examples to help your agency stay organized, efficient, and accreditation-ready. Learning Objectives Explore real-world examples from health departments that have developed and implemented documentation systems to streamline accreditation processes and maintain institutional knowledge. Speakers Leah Moser; Senior Specialist, Public Health Systems and Services, PHAB Jason Howes; Director of Business Intelligence, Quality and Performance Management, Tennessee Department of Health Mary Beth Davis, EM-CQSL, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC; Deputy Director of Quality and Performance Management, Tennessee Department of Health Latefa Duhart; Strategic Initiatives Program Manager, Business Operations Division, Pima County Health Department Sara Rojas; Accreditation Coordinator, Pima County Health Department Resources Slide Deck (PDF) Transcript - Video - Sustaining Accreditation Through Smart Documentation Systems OE22-2203 PHIG article yes

Collaboration in Action: One Health & Wastewater Surveillance As part of the INSPIRE: Readiness portfolio, this video features conversations around the role of coordination and communication across sectors in the growing role of wastewater surveillance for infectious diseases. In these interviews, five experts from four jurisdictions share how they have implemented the One Health approach into their wastewater surveillance work, showcasing how other jurisdictions can do the same.  Key Topics Using the One Health approach in wastewater surveillance Coordination and communication across sectors Collaborative messaging Benefits and challenges of using the One Health approach Speakers Joli R Weiss, PhD, Office Chief, Infectious Disease Control (TB; Food/Waterborne; VPD/Respiratory and Vector/Zoonotic Disease Programs), Arizona Department of Health Services Annabelle de St. Maurice, MD, MPH, Unit Chief Syndromic Surveillance and Community Outbreak Team, Division of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Jamie Middleton, DVM, MPH, Director, Veterinary Public Health, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Chantelle Batton, REHS, Wastewater Epidemiologist, CDC Foundation, Division of Public and Behavioral Health, Office of State Epidemiology, Nevada Department of Health and Human Services Hanna Oltean, PhD, MPH, Zoonotic and Vector-borne Disease Program, Office of Communicable Disease Epidemiology, Disease Control and Health Statistics, Washington State Department of Health and Science Transcript - Video - Collaboration in Action: One Health and Wastewater Surveillance article yes

Tools and Strategies for Building a Sustainable Accreditation Infrastructure Webinar Padding Block - Medium Sustaining public health accreditation is essential for health departments to uphold consistent quality, accountability, and performance over time. Yet many agencies face challenges that can disrupt progress—such as staff turnover, shifting agency priorities, and changes in funding. This webinar explores how accreditation teams can proactively address these challenges by using ASTHO’s Guide for Sustainable Public Health Accreditation to develop tailored sustainability plans. The ASTHO team walks through the guide and shares practical strategies for embedding sustainability into agency operations.  The session also highlights two PHIG recipients that have developed plans to strengthen their accreditation infrastructure and maintain momentum beyond each accreditation cycle.  Whether you're preparing for reaccreditation or looking to build long-term capacity, this webinar offers actionable insights and peer-driven examples to support your journey.  Learning Objectives Explore ASTHO’s Guide for Sustainable Public Health Accreditation and learn how it can be used to develop tailored sustainability plans. Identify practical strategies for building and maintaining accreditation infrastructure. Learn from peer health departments as they share their experiences developing plans to support long-term accreditation success. Speakers Rich Hazeltine, MBA, LSSGB, CPLP, SPHR, Quality Improvement & Accreditation Manager, Southern Nevada Health District Marilyn M. Trevino, CPM, Performance Excellence Coordinator (PM/QI + Informatics), Montana Department of Health and Human Services  Richard Knecht, MPH, Accreditation Coordinator, Montana Department of Health and Human Services‌ Resources Slide Deck (PDF) Transcript - Tools and Strategies for Building a Sustainable Accreditation Infrastructure OE22-2203 PHIG article yes