2004 ELECTION RESULTS, THE IMPACT ON HEALTH PROMOTION LEGISLATION: STICK TO THE ISSUE

George Bush will be the president for four more years. The Republicans gained four seats in the U.S. Senate and four in the House of Representatives. Some of our advocates are elated by these results and others are devastated. So. . . .What is the impact of the election on our health promotion advocacy efforts and how should we express our reactions to the election?

In reality, the election results and imminent changes in the Congress will have very little impact on our efforts. There will be a handful of new senators and representatives, and some changes in committee leadership and membership. For example, the Democrats will lose about 8% of their committee seats in the Senate and 2% in the House. Senator Cochran of Mississippi is likely to replace Senator Stevens of Alaska as chair of the Appropriations Committee and Senator Enzi of Wyoming is likely to replace Senator Gregg of New Hampshire as chair of the Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. Senator Reid of Nevada will probably replace Senator Daschle of South Dakota as Minority Leader. There will be other changes in the Senate and House leadership. These are significant changes to the Congress, but they are likely to have little impact on our advocacy efforts because health promotion is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. Health promotion is a bipartisan issue that enjoys broad support. Republicans tend to be more interested in educational efforts to help people take responsibility for their own health and Democrats tend to be more interested in creating environments that support good health for underserved populations, but both are interested in the potential of health promotion to improve health and quality of life and control medical costs.

So, our strategy remains much the same. We stick to the issue. We talk about the importance of health promotion in improving health and controlling costs. We don’t talk about our position on taxes, the deficit, terrorism, the war or any other issue. We don’t identify ourselves as Republicans or Democrats. We are health promotion professionals and we stick to the issue of health promotion.

With the introduction of S2798 Health Promotion FIRST (Funding Integrated Research Synthesis and Training) by Senator Lugar and S2558 HeLP (Healthy Lifestyle and Prevention) America Act by Senator Harkin, we will be stepping up our advocacy efforts significantly. See The Art of Health Promotion in this issue and our advocacy web site (http://www.HealthPromotionAdvocates.org) for more details.

ART AND SCIENCE OF HEALTH PROMOTION CONFERENCE, MARCH 14–19, 2005, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: TIME TO REGISTER

We have confirmed over 40 of the leading health promotion experts in the nation to serve as presenters in keynote, breakout, panel discussion, and intensive training seminar sessions for our March 14–19, 2005 Art and Science of Health Promotion Conference at the Marriott Hotel and Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. Our theme is “Building Skills to Serve a Growing Field” and sessions are organized into five tracks: Financial Impact of Health Promotion, Program Management Skills, Behavior Change Strategies, Combating Obesity, and National Health Policy and Advocacy. We will be staging the conference in conjunction with the International Health Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA). This collaborative effort will allow our participants access to over 100 additional IHRSA conference sessions, meal functions, a gala party, a trade show with hundreds of exhibitors with the largest indoor fitness center in the nation, and the opportunity to spread the health promotion message to over 5000 health club managers. I hope to see you there.

For details and to register, see our web site (http://www.HealthPromotionConference.org).

Michael P. O'Donnell, PhD, MBA, MPH
Editor in Chief, American Journal of Health Promotion