Weathering the Public Health Storm with YLE

I have to admit: I am feeling more than a little out-of-sorts with the current political situation and what could happen to public health, medicine and medical research (among other things) in the next few years ...  Life as we know it will change.

One of the leaders / writers who gives me some hope is Dr. Katelyn Jetelina 

at Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE).  She started writing during the pandemic to help explain 

some of the science, statistics and public health proclamations as they were released 

-- Sort of "public health for the rest of us" in plain terms that was easy to understand.  

Communication is her thing.

It seems absolutely bonkers that a vaccine denier would ever be in charge of the NIH and CDC.
Here is some advice from YLE about how to get through the coming storm for public health ...
I've pulled out some of the salient points, but please see her full article for more details about how we might weather the storm.

RFK Jr. is now HHS Secretary. What comes next?

What to look out for and tips to navigate the storm

• Half of Americans get their health information from social media.
• Social media rewards sensational content, not accuracy.
• Falsehoods spread 6x faster than the truth.
• Bad actors fuel this landscape for a profit, like through supplements or services.
• These messages are now coming from the highest health office in the country.

 Navigating through the storm:

1. Recognize top-down information doesn't work anymore.
2. Meet people where they are.
3. Tell more stories.
4. Recognize trust isn't declared -- it's demonstrated.
5. Don't turn your anger into shaming others.
6. Keep telling the truth.