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Making public health better

Dominion Post - 4/30/2017

April 30--Back when Dr. Jeff Coben was an emergency room physician he rescued a lot of people -- but he couldn't always save them from themselves.

That is, a patient trundled in on an ambulance stretcher who was suffering from diabetic complications might be in for a medical replay, if he went back to mismanaging his insulin and dinnertime menu.

Same for the patient who presented with alcohol poisoning, or a drug overdose, who wasn't ready to give up the vice.

Or, the patient with the smoking-related heart and lung issue who still tried to get his family to sneak him a cigarette in between tests.

Then, there's patient with all the complications of obesity: The one whose family delivers fast food -- after the heart-healthy evening meal was delivered by dining services.

The ER is immediate, but it isn't about the underlying cause -- because it's not set up that way.

"That's when I started thinking about public health," Coben said.

These days, Coben is interim dean of WVU's sprawling School of Public Health.

And he's been long ready to put that hard-won awareness and empathy to a state not known for healthy living.

"We've obviously got some challenges here," he said, "but we're doing some things."

For one, the School of Public Health now offers an undergraduate degree, so health care professionals -- who, by the nature of their degrees are also advocates -- can get out in the field that much faster.

"This is our first year for undergrads," he said.

"We've already got 80 students in the program. And they want to make a difference."

Emphasis on "making a difference," he said.

The School of Public Health is also linking with the state Department of Health to cast a wider net so patients don't get lost.

Think, bedside manner, magnified by 100 or 1,000.

"It's one thing for a doctor to give a pamphlet," he said.

It's entirely different, though, Coben said, if that patient instead receives a follow-up call -- and follow-ups after that -- for continuing direction as he works to get well from an onset of disease or manage a chronic condition.

Working with the state Department of Health in Charleston, the School of Public Health has also set up a "health navigator" program to help patients do just that through the ever-changing myriad of health care.

A third component, Coben said, just might be most important: It is the ongoing distribution of naloxone rescue kits by the WVU Injury Control Research Center, which is housed within the School of Public Health.

Naloxone has a proven record of preventing opioid overdose deaths.

Which hearkens back to Coben's days as an ER doc.

While naloxone isn't about the underlying cause of drug addiction in the Mountain State -- it does save lives.

"Public health is about getting out there and being in the community," he said.

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(c)2017 The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.)

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