What does One Health have to do with Toastmasters? More than you may think.
I was invited to attend the Playhouse Square Toastmasters event by member Doug Hastings of Dollar Bank (they sponsored our Kickoff event June 2010). Quite a neat experience. For those of you not familiar with Toastmasters, I highly recommend that you find out about it by asking to attend one of their meetings. It’s a great way to get used to public speaking, as well as meeting new people.
The theme was “Re-Imagining Cleveland” and the word of the day was “respect”- no one sang the famous Aretha Franklin song about getting a little respect, though we all were thinking about it.
As a guest, I kindly was invited to partake in a table topic. The question I was asked to answer on the fly had to do with my view on health in the Cleveland area. That’s where I was able to give my one minute speech on the value that Cleveland has to offer the One Health movement.
In essence, I believe Cleveland has strengths in the three key elements of One Health.
In human health, we have access to several fabulous health care facilities- University Hospitals, Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth, and several independent institutions. The van Bakeren Foundation understands that YOPI’s are especially susceptible to zoonotic diseases.
In environmental health, we have a fabulous network of land preservationists in the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and related organizations. The van Bakeren Foundation understands that wildlife depends on a healthy environment, yet knows that people living in homes in the inner city and suburbs can be just as close to wildlife, like raccoons, as they might if they lived in the country.
In animal health, we have a large population of animal lovers, animal shelters, and several veterinary medical institutions. While we do have the right components in animal health, improvements can be made to serve more animals in the Cleveland area. The van Bakeren Foundation plans on increasing the number of dogs and cats that see a veterinarian.
Now we need to put One Health approaches to work in the Cleveland area. The van Bakeren Foundation will work to create the relationships required for preventing the spread of zoonotic diseases. If we can figure that out here, then we can make it work anywhere.
Want to be a part of the One Health movement? Contact us today!
