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Avia Mason:
At this time, I would like to call Dr. Joe Kanter, former health official from the state of Louisiana and ASTHO, Chief Executive Officer, to the stage, Joe.

Joe Kanter:
Afternoon, thank you, Avia. Welcome to the Annual Recipient Convening for PHIG, on behalf of ASTHO and also on behalf of our two other national partners, NNPHI and PHAB. I second Avia in wholeheartedly welcoming you to this convening. Really happy that you’re here.

Before I move on to other topics, I want to take two minutes and address the shooting at the CDC a week and a half ago. For folks who are not there, like myself, who were following the news that Friday evening and then also Saturday morning. The initial reports that came out did not directly implicate the CDC. It sounded like maybe there was a shooter on Emory’s campus, and CDC was inadvertently involved.

We learned a couple of days later that the terrifying news was that the CDC was a very deliberate target of an individual with deranged and misshapen views about vaccines and public health. What has not been adequately reported is information that came out after that, which was the extent of this attack and attempted mass murder.

We have learned since those initial reports came out that almost 500 bullets were fired at the CDC on that Friday afternoon, and I hear gasps because that’s news to you. It was news to me when I heard that about 160 to 170 of those bullets hit the CDC and caused damage, knocking out windows, and causing damage in the building. These are not details that have been widely reported, and I think that’s a shame. I have a hard time imagining 500 bullets being fired at a federal building in other times, and that not being a little bit more prominent even in the crazy news cycle today.

The reason why I’m saying this is because I want our colleagues, friends at the CDC, to know number one that we saw what happened, that we recognize it for what it is, which is an attack on all of public health, and most importantly, that we support them, that we acknowledge and appreciate the really great work that they do. And that we stand with them shoulder to shoulder, and I want them to hear that message loud and clear today.

Somehow, miraculously, there were only two lives lost in the attack. One was the shooter, believed to be self-inflicted, and the other was an officer of the DeKalb County Police Department named David Rose. I want to take a second to acknowledge his sacrifice. He lost his life trying to protect the CDC, trying to protect an institution that we all care deeply about, whose mission we all connect deeply with.

He left behind a wife, two kids, and, I believe, a third on the way. His sacrifice is not in vain, and I want to take a minute to acknowledge his life. I will also see many people in this room, who I know have contributed to a fund that supports his family. Our good friends at the CDC Foundation were nice enough to set up a donation page that goes directly to his family. So if you’ve not yet and you would feel compelled to donate to support this officer’s family, if you Google CDC Foundation Officer David Rose, you’ll find the page that would make that donation possible. And I thank you for doing that.

Let me move on. I’m so happy you’re here. I’m so genuinely, genuinely happy that you are here. As Avia mentioned, this is a good big crowd. We have close to 600 people in person. We have close to 300 people online joining us.

When we were deciding, deliberating, whether or not to go forward with this convening in person when we were going through that decision process 10 years ago. Hang on a second, I’m being told it was actually only three months ago we decided. That it was a roll of the dice, to be honest with you, somewhat of a gamble. We didn’t know if the funding would be there, etc. I’m really, really happy that this is taking place in person right now.

Why do we invest in infrastructure of any type? It’s not, it’s not to serve us just today. The point of investing in infrastructure across the board, across sectors, is to build something that is going to provide value in the days, the months, the years, the generations, going forward. It’s to build something that can survive stress and survive trauma, whether that’s weather, whether that’s funding challenges, whether that’s misinformation, or whether that’s actual attacks.

What I’ve thought about in the week and a half since the CDC shooting is how very important it is for us to be doubling down our efforts to build public health infrastructure that can withstand an attack like that and threats across the board. And the reason why is that it’s worth it. It’s because the work that we do is important. It’s because the work that we do improves people’s lives, it saves people’s lives, whether they know it that day or not.

It is highly impactful work, and it deserves a strong and resilient infrastructure to support it, and that’s what we’re here to do. I’ll tell you, at my core, I’m an ER doctor, and if you ask my wife about my attention span, she’ll confirm that for you. You know, I get asked a lot of questions sometimes, you know, at parties and stuff. Sometimes they involve, you know, objects that shouldn’t be in certain places, etc.

Every now and then, I get asked, you know, what’s the hardest thing you’ve done in the ER, what’s the hardest thing? I can think of a lot of really hard things. You know, I can think of a number of times where I had to tell parents that their young child was probably not going to make it. I can count on two hands the number of times I’ve had to do that. That’s really hard, but for me, at least, what’s even harder than that is walking out of that room and going into the next room and giving that next patient whose ailment is not of the same magnitude, but giving that next patient, the attention, care, compassion and empathy that they deserve because they have no idea what just happened before that, nor should they, nor does it matter, because they’re there to see a doctor and get care, and it’s my responsibility to do that.

To me, that’s been the hardest thing in thinking about where we sit right now in public health. I’m not going to tell you everything’s fine. We’ve got a ton of challenges, a ton of challenges, and I said so in jest, but the past few months have been really hard, and I’ve added a lot of gray hair and wrinkles, and I’m sure many of you have too, although you all look great, let me tell you that.

What I’m here to tell you is that the reason why coming together and working on infrastructure and investing in infrastructure is important is that tomorrow’s issue matters too, and the issue that we’re going to deal with next week matters too, and the people in your communities that rely upon your agency’s services. They matter.

And as tough as it is, I could not be happier to be here together to talk about how we make the most of this investment. This was a once-in-a-generation investment in public health infrastructure. Let’s make the absolute most of it, because people’s lives depend on it.

So I thank you sincerely for being here. I thank our two national partners, NNPHI and PHAB. I want to thank a few more close partnering organizations that do great work: Big Cities Health Coalition, the Beaumont Foundation, CSTE, CDC Foundation, and the Public Health Foundation.

We’ve got great partners in public health, and I’m so proud to stand with everyone and do this important work. So thank you for being here. Thank you for working on behalf of your communities, and let’s make the most of this investment.