By JENNIFER ELLEDGE
The Utah Public Health Association held its annual convention Thursday and Friday at the Provo Marriott.
The conference, usually held in Park City, had a different location this year because of scheduling problems.
Joyce Gauffin, president of the Utah Public Health Association, said the organization has been in existence since 1936. Other than a 10 year lapse during WWII, annual meetings have been held.
“About 250 people participate in the meetings,” Gauffin said. “The conference is professional development for members of the association and a chance for them to hear state of the art information on diseases and the status of health issues. Really it is a conference for people to be able to improve themselves.”
The president of the National Public Health Association, Dr. Quentin Young, said the public health field is important.
“Every public health success has been a fight. We have a spectacular amount of heroes. We find the causes and do what is necessary to solve them,” he said.
Young, in his keynote address, used the deflowering of the tobacco industry as an example of the aggressive actions of public health officials.
“This was the most fantastic battle of the public health field. Tobacco company’s had lied to congress and the world for many years. We were able to uncover the lies,” Young said.
In addition, the conference hosted many other public health non-profit groups such as the AIDS Foundation of Utah.
Kim Segall, vice president of the board of Utah AIDS Foundation said the conference was a good opportunity for public health workers to gather up-to-date information about AIDS awareness and treatment.
“There are about 1,000 to 2,000 cases of AIDS in Utah. Our major concern is that we have seen an increse in the number of children and women with AIDS,” she said.
Young said a scientific study found that by distributing needles to individuals, the number of incidents of AIDS would be reduced by thousands.
“Facts about public health come out daily. I like to read daily about what the people in areas that I visit are dealing with. Sometimes statements like the distribution of needles make it hard to believe the validity of their statements,” Young said.
The association is trying to implement a new program, “Health 2000,” that will have a national public health standard by the new millennium.
“Some of these goals we will be able to meet and some of them we will not, but we are working on them,” Young said.
