[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 92 (Wednesday, July 7, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S7752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HAGEL (for himself and Mr. Durbin):
  S. 2613. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a 
scholarship and loan repayment program for public health preparedness 
workforce development to eliminate critical public health preparedness 
workforce shortages in Federal, State, and local public health 
agencies; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing, along with my 
colleague Senator Hagel, legislation that will help to address the 
severe workforce shortages within public health agencies throughout the 
United States. This bill, known as the Public Health Preparedness 
Workforce Development Act of 2004, provides financial help to both full 
and part-time students who are interested in pursuing a career in 
public health at Federal, State and local public health agencies.
  Our Nation faces myriad public health threats and challenges, ranging 
from emerging diseases such as West Nile virus and SARS to the special 
needs of an aging population, from bio-terrorism to obesity, tobacco 
use and environmental hazards. The ability of the public health system 
to prevent, respond to, and recover from these challenges depends on 
adequate numbers of well-trained public health professionals in 
Federal, State, and local public health departments.
  However, our public health system has an aging staff nearing 
retirement and there are not enough students graduating with training 
in public health disciplines to provide a consistent source of skilled 
employees to fill the void. The average age of the public health 
workforce is 47, 7 years older than the average age of the Nation's 
workforce. The ratio of public health workers to overall population has 
dropped from 219/100,000 in 1980 to 158/100,000 in 2000. There are 
already shortages of public health nurses, epidemiologists, 
environmental health workers, health educators and other public health 
professionals at Federal, State and local public health agencies. In my 
home State of Illinois, the Illinois Department of Public Health 
estimates that they are in need of at least 15 epidemiologists and are 
having trouble filling those positions.
  Further evidence suggests that as much as 50 percent of the current 
public health workforce at the State level will be retiring in the next 
5 years. Losing so many experienced public health workers at a time 
when the public health workforce should be expanding to meet increased 
needs presents a clear argument in favor of encouraging more students 
to enter the many academic fields related to public health such as 
epidemiology, health education, nursing and environmental health.
  To continue to improve the health of our people, we must have a well-
trained and dedicated public health workforce. But developing and 
maintaining the necessary human capital is already a challenge and 
promises to continue to be a challenge in the future. Our bill would 
help alleviate this dangerous shortfall of public health professionals 
by providing scholarships or loan repayments for full and part-time 
students in public health and for workers with previous public health 
training who agree to serve at the Federal, State and local level.
  The scholarship program will provide scholarships to eligible 
graduate, undergraduate and community college students to pursue a 
course of study to prepare to serve in the public health workforce.
  The loan repayment program is designed to help pay for education 
loans incurred by individuals currently employed or about to be 
employed in a Federal, State or local public health agency.
  The grants for the loan repayment program to political jurisdictions 
at the State and local level will provide funds to the appropriate 
agencies to operate the loan repayment program.
  The bill is supported by the Association of State and Territorial 
Health Officials, the National Association of City and County Health 
Officials, the American Public Health Association, and the Council of 
State and Territorial Epidemiologists.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in this effort to strengthen the 
capacity of our Nation to respond to public health threats now and in 
the years to come. The Public Health Preparedness Workforce Development 
Act of 2004 will help provide the public with the educated and well-
trained public health workforce to meet the health challenges of the 
future.
                                 ______