The Policy Committee will begin 2009 looking for opportunities to respond to APHA policies related to health care reform to be sure the disability viewpoint is addressed. We hope many members will be active in this process through participation in conference calls with the committee or through suggestions about issues on which we  need to focus. We need experts in health policy to become active members of the Policy Committee so please contact Suzanne McDermott at Suzanne.mcdermott@sc.edu with your contact information if you are interested in serving on the committee.  

For all members who are interested in the policy process, we encourage you to get familiar with the way APHA works to develop new policies, revise old ones, and respond to national initiatives. Please sign into the APHA Web site, using your APHA identification number, then go to the drop-down for Advocacy and Policy.  It pays to send a little time searching around the policy sections so you can see the timetable for activity, the APHA staff priorities, the proposed and the existing policies. Many policies have implications for us, over and above the policies that directly address disability issues. Two disability specific policies we hope you will review are:

1. Policy 2000-25 Eliminating Access Barriers in Public Health Meetings
2. Policy 2004-02 Reducing Health Disparities in People with Disabilities through Improved Environmental Programmatic and Service Access

 A lot of effort went into the creation of these policies, and they have implications in all the states. We encourage you to print them out and find ways your health department, university or work site can benefit from a well-documented policy.