Public Health on the Front Lines

The accomplishments of public health are usually invisible to the general public: emergencies are averted, restaurant food is kept sanitary, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses don’t occur. Yet today, public health professionals face unprecedented challenges. Current and future changes affecting public health include an aging population, changes in health care delivery systems, changing needs in the public health work force and more. Especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, public health departments are in the thick of it, and their services are more important than ever.

Tyler Shaw, Public Health Director for the Allegany County Department of Health and Paul Pettit, Public Health Director of the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments both serve what might appear to be quiet rural communities in Western New York. However, their specific challenges prove otherwise. According to the National Council of State Legislators (NCSL), residents in rural counties often face difficulty accessing health care services, are more likely to be uninsured, live in areas with a shortage of health professionals and have experienced a local hospital closure. In addition to the scarcity of primary care providers and services in rural areas, the people who live there also often lack access to mental health and other behavioral health services, long-term care options for seniors, emergency medical services, and other essential services. Thus--Tyler and Paul have never been busier.

Join us as they answer questions about leading rural public health departments through some of the most difficult times in their history. They will discuss how they address emergency preparedness and environmental health issues, work with large diverse populations (both work with large Amish communities) , and of course  manage the ever-changing pandemic.

This session will also feature guest moderator and co-host Kate Ebersole of the WNY Public Health Alliance.  

About Tyler Shaw and Paul Pettit
Tyler Shaw is the Public Health Director for the Allegany County Department of Health. He has worked in public health for over 12 years in various public health programs including emergency preparedness, environmental health and health education.  He served as the deputy public health director throughout most of the pandemic and took over as the public health director in January 2021.

Paul Pettit is the Public Health Director of the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments (GO Health).  He has worked in public health for over 22 years, starting as an environmental health technician, moving up through the division to environmental health director in 2007.  He became public health director in January 2008.  In 2012, Paul also became the director of health for Genesee County through a collaborative cross jurisdictional sharing project focusing on the integration of public health through shared services.  In addition to serving on many local, regional and state boards of directors, Paul is a past president of the New York State Association of County Health Officials, recently appointed to the New York State Rural Health Council and very active in statewide public health issues.