Massachusetts Health Officers Association and EDC Develop Opioid Toolkit

Local Massachusetts health departments are cracking down on substance abuse, with staff playing a leadership role in addressing the opioid crisis.

Education Development Center (EDC) and the Massachusetts Health Officers Association developed an opioid toolkit to better equip local health departments on their response to the epidemic and to provide a reference guide of best practices.

The Institute of Medicine’s 1988 report, The Future of Public Health, outlined three core functions of public health, which led to the creation of the “10 Essential Public Health Services (ES).” The three core functions included assessment, policy development and assurance.

“Assessment functions include the accurate, periodic assessment of the community’s health status,” said EDC. “Policy Development refers to the development of policies and plans that protect health and guide public health practice. Assurance in public health refers to a broad range of activities to ensure that people live in healthy conditions, including the delivery and evaluation of quality and accessible health services, and the effective implementation of laws and regulations needed to protect and promote health.”

The “10 Essential Public Health Services” (ES) include:

1. ES 1: Monitor health status to identify and solve community health problems
2. ES 2: Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community
3. ES 3: Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues
4. ES 4: Mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems
5. ES 5: Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts
6. ES 6: Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety
7. ES 7: Link people to needed personal health services, and assure the provision of healthcare when otherwise unavailable
8. ES 8: Assure a competent public and personal healthcare workforce
9. ES 9: Evaluate the effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services
10. ES 10: Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems

Read more at EDC

Hira Qureshi

Hira Qureshi is a summer intern at Homeland Security Today. She attends the University of Memphis. She is majoring in journalism and minoring in political science and French. She has lived in Memphis, Tennessee for 19 years. She has previously interned at Congressman Steve Cohen's office, a Muslim non-profit, Teen Appeal, Islamwich and Islamic Horizon Newspaper. She currently works for the Daily Helmsman and Pleasant View School.

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