The presidential election drove a huge wedge between people of differing political ideologies. Now that  it is over, the new administration is seeking a $1.6 billion funding increase for the CDC and to improve core services at the federal and state level. There is also an increase in funding for preparedness of roughly $900 million.

If you’ve served in public health for a few years, this may all sound familiar. We all know that public health has suffered for decades from staff and funding cuts. Many agencies are a mere shell of what they once were, even more so since Covid arrived.

It has been said to never miss a good crisis to open the floodgates of awareness and funding. The same thing happened after H1N1 as well as other missteps along the way.

What is different this time?

Local health departments have become largely invisible with some becoming less relevant than ever. Many have lost clinical services (a longtime core) to pharmacies, physicians and even big box stores like Walmart (flu shots with a gift card).

Now that the bell has been rung and money is on the way, this represents a watershed moment like never before. It used to be if you ask random citizens what their health department does, you would get a confused look and an open mouth. Thanks to the pandemic, everyone knows who you are. Don’t miss this chance to get back to business.

There has never been a better time to rebuild your marketing and brand. I have been saying this to my clients for 20 years…..is this thing working??