Public Invited to Thurs Oct 25 Community Voices Pgm on Moving from Healthcare to Health

From the Institute for Policy and Governance:

"Moving from Healthcare to Health: Back to the Future with Primary Prevention

On Thursday, October 25, Community Voices will present Dr. John Dreyzehner, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health and Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Virginia Tech-Carilion School of Medicine’s Master of Public Health Degree Program.  The Community Voices talk will be from 7-8 p.m. in Historic Lyric Theatre in downtown Blacksburg, Virginia.  Admission is free and all are welcome.  Dr. Dreyzehner, former director of Virginia’s Cumberland Plateau Health District, and founding faculty of the Healthy Appalachia Institute at the University of Virginia, will speak on effective prevention practices and policies. 

Dr. Dreyzehner’s talk focuses on the importance of effective prevention.  He challenges policy makers, health care practitioners, and citizens to consider how nearly forty percent of the factors that shorten our lives are behaviors that we can modify.  Building on this reality, he argues for a radical increase in emphasis on primary prevention.  He urges widespread education, involvement and advocacy around these concerns since the health care sector cannot, and in some cases will not, make these changes alone.  Instead he calls for widespread systemic change, grounded in broader social and cultural support. 

The Community Voices speakers are engaged in fostering work that strengthens community.  Their leadership includes the capacity to speak cogently and concisely about their experiences, to tell stories that are revealing of their work, and to present ideas for change, ideas that matter.

Sponsors and Partners:

·       Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance

·       Virginia Tech Center for the Arts

·       Virginia Tech Department of Religion and Culture

·       Virginia Cooperative Extension

·       Virginia Tech Department of English

·       Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs

·       Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies

·       The Women and Minority Artists and Scholars Lecture Series"