iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Ivy’s story is a stark reminder of why public health infrastructure and clear, actionable health communication are not just policy goals—they are matters of life and death.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

When Ivy discovered bats in her newly purchased home, she called local Animal Control. This was the first step with a public health communication system that simply failed. Tragically, Ivy lost her life to rabies—a disease that is 100% preventable with proper post-exposure treatment.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Public health is ultimately about protecting our community. But what happens when the system fails? In our latest piece, @ob-sidianblue.bsky.social —a former CDC professional—shares her sister Ivy's story on the fifteenth anniversary of her death.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Our latest at SAPHL looks at the hidden costs of preventable health crises—from lost productivity to the erosion of community trust. In the South, these costs are compounding. Let’s stop funding fires and start funding the fireproofing. Read the full piece: open.substack.com/pub/saphl/p/...

open.substack.com

The Hidden Cost of a Preventable Crisis in South Carolina

We often talk about “community health” as an abstract goal.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

In my latest Substack, I’m digging into: Why complexity is a choice we make to avoid the cost of simplicity. My experience with "We The Patients" in Chapel Hill. Why SAPHL is committed to working backwards from human needs, not budget hurdles.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Why do we settle for technocratic "nibbles" when our communities deserve everything they need?

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

The result? They offered care when no one else would. They were so successful that patients from 8 surrounding states began traveling to their clinic. It’s a masterclass in pairing loud public advocacy with quiet, effective background work.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

We interviewed Dr. Fredia Wadley, former Nashville Health Director, about this moment. She stepped into a political mess and partnered with Vanderbilt's Dr. Steven Raffanti to build a "Center of Excellence" from scratch.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

In Nashville in 1987, when the first HIV treatment (AZT) arrived, you’d think there was a rush to treat patients. There wasn’t. Medical centers feared the stigma. Primary care providers wanted nothing to do with it. So the Nashville Health Dept decided to do it themselves. 🧵

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

I wrote a little bit about why I loathe mobile units with the fire of a thousand suns. saphl.substack.com/p/please-for...

saphl.substack.com

Please, For the Love of God, Stop Buying Mobile Units

and hire some staff!

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

If you're reading this - you probably know that we launched SAPHL this past year. I want to invite you to support our mission to strengthen an alliance of trusted voices in public health to improve health outcomes in Southern communities. www.saphl.org/donate2?blm_...

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

How do we build lasting change in public health? It's not about short-term wins. It’s about “laying tracks of trust.” At SAPHL, we strive to honor the memory of public health champions by embedding these practices into our work every day. saphl.substack.com/p/the-road-g...

saphl.substack.com

The Road Goes On Forever

I had the pleasure of hearing from friend of SAPHL Heather Lanthorn last week on effective communication on vaccines and it really gave me the language I needed to adequately frame how we think about ...

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

It feels a bit strange to talk about something like SDP's while we're in the midst of a shutdown. But this tells an important story about how quiet, complicated programs find ways to prop up our broken health care. It also tells us what we can expect in the future. open.substack.com/pub/saphl/p/...

open.substack.com

Way, Way Down in the Weeds

A little bit about State Directed Payments

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

I wrote this before the news broke yesterday about Monarez's firing and the leadership resignations. It still remains true today and in case it isn't obvious, we're headed towards catastrophe. saphl.substack.com/p/foodborne-...

saphl.substack.com

Foodborne Illness, the CDC, and a lack of Coordination and Leadership

The Value of a Team and an Organizational Team

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

This can and should be a priority for everyone - if you haven't, you should be asking your school district about what they're doing to make sure they're both following state law and protecting the health of our children and our community.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Despite having 6 cases of Measles so far this year - we have more than 9000 kindergartners who we're letting fall between the cracks despite it being mandatory for school.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

But one really, really important point to draw out from this data is that while exemptions are climbing - that's not the whole story. 4.8% of kindergartners in Georgia have an exemption while only 86.8% are up-to-date on their MMR. The other 8.4% just aren't meeting the vaccine requirements.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

The CDC published their annual numbers on vaccination rates and unsurprisingly they've continued to decline across the South. Georgia now also has the lowest vaccination rate of any state in the South. www.cdc.gov/schoolvaxvie...

cdc.gov

Vaccination Coverage and Exemptions among Kindergartners

View national and state-level school vaccination coverage and exemption estimates.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

What Medicaid cuts and the ACA subsidy act lapse will look like in Tennessee: open.substack.com/pub/saphl/p/...

open.substack.com

TennCare and the ACA Subsidies

A health care lifeline for Tennesseans

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Read the first in our series on what Medicaid cuts and the ACA subsidy lapse will look like in the South: open.substack.com/pub/saphl/p/...

open.substack.com

Unraveling Our Safety Net

Millions across the Southeast are about to lose their health insurance.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Just the perfect example of why we need more advocacy to lawmakers around public health. Public health professionals have spent far too much time avoiding "political" topics until our entire profession became one.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

A big part of my family hails from Hazard, Kentucky. Hazard tells us how far we’ve come—and where we’re losing ground. This public health week, I'll be thinking a lot about how we can do better by communities like Hazard. open.substack.com/pub/saphl/p/...

open.substack.com

Where We've Come From

How Public Health Changes Lives

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Absolutely reprehensible and will be particularly devastating for small, rural health departments who have no other ways to absorb these new costs now that the federal government isn't covering it.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

In most cases, these staff are specifically supporting programs that Congress specifically appropriated money for and that there aren't folks waiting in the wings to back fill this work. Cuts in everything from miner safety to TB prevention are going to make us a less healthy, less safe society.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

On friday, the legislative session will wrap up in Georgia. There are *still* no plans to deal with the massive cuts and costs being passed down to state government. Guess we're just going to wing it till they come back next year?

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

If RFK Jr. really follows through on narrowing the scope of the CDC to preparing and preventing infectious disease outbreaks, states better be ready to pick up an enormous amount of work in their place. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/u...

nytimes.com

10,000 Federal Health Dept. Workers to Be Laid Off

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a major restructuring of the department, which now employs about 82,000 people.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

State legislatures are walking into a disaster if they don't start making plans now.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

We’ve seen firsthand the importance and dedication of public health professionals, leaders, and advocates who work to improve their communities, often within systems that are underfunded and understaffed. We hope to be the support they need.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Together, we can change this. With your help, SAPHL will build the infrastructure needed to safeguard communities from preventable disease and worsening health disparities.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

We’re excited to announce the launch of the Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership (SAPHL.org), an organization tackling some of the South’s most pressing public health challenges: declining vaccination rates, rising infant and maternal mortality, and inadequate access to quality care.

saphl.org

Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership | Support Public Health

Join the Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership in advancing health outcomes across the South. Advocate, donate, or get involved today.

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Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership @saphl.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Half of the new cases in the US in 2024 were in the South. Acros the south - even when there was funding - there were thousands of newly diagnosed cases of HIV. These cuts will make Americans less healthy and less safe.

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Reposted by Southern Alliance for Public Health Leadership

Defend Public Health @defendpublichealth.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

They won’t stop until they’ve destroyed the entire US Public Health infrastructure. Please call your representatives.

Screenshot of a poster that reads ADVOCACY ALERT
CDC HIV Prevention Funding is at Risk!
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Division of HIV Prevention is facing severe funding cuts within the next 48-72 hours. These cuts threaten essential programs that provide HIV prevention, treatment, and education to our community-putting countless lives at risk.
Call your U.S. Senators and Representatives and urge them to say
NO to CDC HIV funding cuts!
& U.S. Capitol Switchboard
Senate: 202-224-3121
House:
202-225-3121

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