Michelle Morse
0:25:59
Thank you for that question, council member, and chair.
0:26:02
It has been a very powerful learning experience over the past year, as we both are even more transparent with data and trends, and as we hone in even more on the 7 main drivers of lowered life expectancy in New York City.
0:26:18
So far, there are challenges, but we also have a long history of working on exactly these 7 drivers in the New York City Health Department.
0:26:27
We have over 7,000 staff, and much of their work is related to those 7 main drivers of shortening life expectancy, areas that shorten life expectancy.
0:26:39
So although we are still learning, I do feel like we're on the right track, and we've learned already how to engage stakeholders, both our sister agencies across government, and those external to government in, really rallying around this campaign.
0:26:52
I would say that the areas that we need to continue to focus on are what I mentioned.
0:26:56
It's very, very powerful to see an a near, elimination of racial inequities in COVID 19 related deaths with our multiyear whole of government response, and that is a model that we can use to address other areas of concern, like the increase in overdose deaths.
0:27:13
So we do have our work cut out for us, but I expect that with our track record in public health of really extending life expectancy in leaps over many decades, that we'll be able to get on track.
