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Welcome to ASHA Network News, a continuing series that highlights issues of interest to ASHA members.
Joe Cerquone: I am speaking today with the acting Surgeon General of the United States, Rear Admiral Kenneth Moritsugu. Dr. Moritsugu, thank you for being on ASHA Network News.
Dr. Moritsugu: Well, hello and thank you very much for inviting me to be with you.
Joe: Dr. Moritsugu has been acting Surgeon General for about a year. In his role Dr. Moritsugu serves as the nation's chief health educator and he also oversees the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Moritsugu you must get a lot of invitations to speak, this past spring you chose to speak at ASHA's Health Care 2007 Conference and Business Institute. Of course we were all thrilled to have you there but I'm curious as to why you chose to speak at that particular conference.
Dr. Moritsugu: Well, I'll tell you Joe it was a privilege to respond to the invitation to participate. One of the aspects of what I do is to recognize that health is not a unique role of one or another profession but really is the joining together of many professions all focused on improving the health and the quality of life of those individuals whom we serve. ASHA, given its unique area and focus in both speech and hearing, seem to be a very natural group to be meeting with, and particularly in the area that I have been focusing on which is to improve health literacy among the American people.
Joe: Well that was a topic that certainly resonated with our conference attendees. Could you amplify what you mean by health literacy?
Dr. Moritsugu: Well I think it's relatively straight forward. Health literacy is the ability of individuals to hear a message, then to understand that message, to embrace that message and ultimately to put that information into action that will help them and their health, so that they will be healthier and safer. Often times we as health professionals have a tendency to speak in language that those whom we serve don't fully appreciate or don't fully understand. And it's as important for us as the health professionals as it is for those whom we serve to be engaged in improving health literacy.
Joe: Dr. Moritsugu why do you think that this issue of health literacy is particularly timely?
Dr. Moritsugu: As we are moving through an evolution of our health system, years ago and for centuries we've been focused on medical care. Medical care for the most part being let's fix something after it's broken, let's repair something after it's broken, let's cure something after the disease has occurred. That has over the last couple of decades evolved into health care, which incorporates not only intervention but also prevention. I believe that we really are still in an evolution of our health system to the point where we as health professionals have a responsibility of providing the best science, the best data, the best evidence and information to others, to those whom we serve. So that in partnership we can help each other create the best possible choices to improve and to safe guard an individual's health and well being. That I think is really core to this all.
Joe: That's very interesting. I am wondering what it is you think that our members, our speech language pathologists and audiologists can do individually to promote health literacy?
Dr. Moritsugu: Speech and language professionals and hearing professionals are at a very, very unique position in our health system. When we speak about health literacy we really are literally talking about speech and hearing. How can an individual hear a message to understand and embrace that message, if they have difficulty with the physical aspects of hearing? How can an individual communicate with his or her health professional and vice-versa, unless they have the capability to speak appropriately and well? So at the heart of health literacy is the ability to communicate and to be heard. What better organization than ASHA to take this on.
Joe: Dr. Moritsugu would you please talk a bit about how the services of the professions that ASHA represents, speech language pathology and audiology, have had a positive impact on your personal life?
Dr. Moritsugu: Well I think that part of my mission is to be able also to communicate a message in such a way that it can be heard and understood. And over my thirty some odd years in public service I have become convinced that you can talk numbers until your blue in the face, but what is really effective is if you can put a human face to an issue. And when we speak about the mission of ASHA and the various professions incorporated within ASHA, that the individual professional are touching the lives of average Americans everywhere that includes myself and my immediate family. My wife has multiple sclerosis and a couple of years ago benefited immensely from a swallowing diagnostic examination that has helped her in understanding how she can prevent untoward consequences of her disease process. From my perspective just a month or so ago I underwent my routine preventive evaluation, my physical examination, at which point it was determined by an audiologist that I may very well have a high frequency hearing loss. Well you can imagine that for me public speaking and public listening is key to my being able to carry out my responsibilities, and as a result of that evaluation I am now fitted with and use high frequency hearing aids, which helps me get my mission accomplished. That's just two examples with a human face that shows how your professionals, the professionals within ASHA, are having a direct impact on people one at a time.
Joe: Well it's very good of you to say that. I guess lastly I'd like to ask this question. You've been in office now for a while and you've probably come to some conclusions about the nation's health. I'm wondering, what do you find encouraging and what are some of your biggest concerns?
Dr. Moritsugu: What I'm encouraged about is that increasingly we are taking on as a nation, as well as individuals, the whole concept of prevention. When you look at what we are suffering as a nation, from chronic diseases and what we are paying for as a nation, it is remarkable that we haven't spent more attention to prevention up to this point. Our Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt, mentioned a couple of months ago, right now we're spending 16% of our gross domestic product on health care. One generation ago we were spending 8%, and a generation before that we were spending 4% of our gross domestic product on health care. If the trend continues by the next generation we'd be spending 32% of our gross domestic product on health care. Well two things. One, it is unacceptable and two, it's unsustainable, spending one third of what we have as a resource on health care and most of that goes to chronic disease and end of life care. If we were able to make better choices during our lifetime, we would be able to reduce the impact of chronic diseases and the cost of chronic diseases to society, both in money but also in quality of life. And that's one of the areas that I am very enthusiastic about. What am I less enthusiastic about? I'm less enthusiastic that it's not moving faster because the longer we wait to really embrace prevention, the longer we are going to pay the cost, the social costs of what I just described. One of the areas that I think is so critical in embracing prevention is what I started off with, which is the area of health literacy. Because unless we as health professionals can appropriately communicate in ways that those whom we serve hear, and understand, and embrace, and ultimately put into action prevention, choices, good choices, choices that will result in benefits to individuals if they make good ones, or in consequences to individuals if they make bad health choices. Unless we are able to do that we are really missing the point. I would encourage everybody to find ways in your individual lives, in your professional lives to engage in health literacy.
Joe: ASHA members can read an extended interview with Dr. Moritsugu in the June 19, 2007 ASHA Leader. Dr. Moritsugu, thank you very much for being our guest today.
Dr. Moritsugu: Thank you very much Joe, I appreciate that very much, and best wishes to all of your listeners and to your members.
Be sure to check www.asha.org periodically for the latest from ASHA Network News.
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