Friday flip : Think greater good when talking public health

Public health = greater good

By now, we all know someone who has had COVID. Most likely, you also know someone who has died from complications of the virus, too. Certain that you also know plenty of people who have other illnesses, long-term diseases, and setbacks.

We’re all in this together, right?

That’s what public health is. Public. Greater good. Bigger than us. More than just our health.

We succeed as individuals, we’re all selfish .. I get it, I am and you are. But, to truly grow as a society and world, we need to treat public health as truly public — truly greater good.

What we eat matters. Where we buy our food from matters. How we live, walk, and run matter. What we do in our communities matters. How we interact with others matters. How we manage our time and minds matter. Wearing a mask matters. Not going out when you are sick matters.

Your health is your health, but it is also the public’s health.

With vaccines and better treatments for all illnesses here and on constantly on the horizon, let’s all embrace the public in ourselves and move to make our communities grow in health by treating our health as public health.