News: Chatham County Hosts Delegation from China

March 26, 2008
SAVANNAH, GA— The Chatham County Health Department will host a group of about 30 government officials from China next week, here to learn more about our country’s public health system. “Our cultures may be very different and our languages unfamiliar, but when it comes to keeping people healthy, there is a lot we can learn from each other,” says Dr. Kathryn Martin, Administrator of the Chatham County Health Department. “We’re pleased to welcome these delegates to our city.”

The delegates won’t be strangers to Coastal Health District Director Dr. W. Douglas Skelton. He visited these same officials in their home in China’s Sichuan province in September as part of a Chinese health education program. He taught classes on the US medical education and healthcare systems. “I enjoyed teaching in China,” says Skelton. “The Chinese health officials were very interested in hearing about the strengths and weaknesses of the US health system. It is an honor to have them visit Savannah and learn about some of the excellent health services available in our community."

Now, in the second part of this health education program, the delegates are touring our country. They’ll visit federal health offices in Washington, D.C., Grady Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta before arriving in Savannah. Their public health tour of Savannah will begin Monday, March 31st with a focus on environmental health issues. The group will have an opportunity to follow environmental health specialists as they inspect a restaurant, a hotel, a pool and a body art parlor. Later that day, the group will visit the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and learn about several environmental research projects underway, including a collaborative study of bacteria sources of the Vernon River basin. The delegates will end the day with a presentation on emergency preparedness, focusing on our plans for a hurricane evacuation.

Tuesday, Dr. Diane Weems of the Chatham County Health Department will take the delegates on a tour of Memorial University Medical Center, the J.C. Lewis Health Center, the Community Health Mission and the Curtis V. Cooper Primary HealthCare Center. Weems is chair of the Safety Net Planning Council, a collaboration of local organizations working to improve access to healthcare, and she’ll talk about barriers to healthcare for the uninsured and underinsured in our community. She’ll also discuss steps the Safety Net Planning Council has taken to help people get the healthcare they need.

This health education program is sponsored by the International Center for Democratic Governance of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government of the University of Georgia.

WWW Address: http://www.gachd.org/news/chatham_county_hosts_delegatio.php