A Healthy Public

To keep my brain moving at a happy pace (it gets sad when bored & unchallenged), last semester I overloaded it with two classes as a non degree seeking graduate student in USF's College of Public Health.

I'm still unsure of which flavor MPH I'd like to earn. There's the policy track, which could turn me into the C-SPAN nerd of my dreams while giving me the tools to help improve health care & access to care for all Americans.


Then there's the behavioral track, which I'm drawn towards more each day I drive through the city and see panhandlers, disabled vets and other homeless folks, not to mention people with obvious mental & drug issues.


We wouldn't allow someone with a bleeding stump to sit on the sidewalk and bleed to death (I'm assuming, but refer to my aforementioned access to care comment).

So why has our society turned their collective noses up at mental issues, especially drug and alcohol addiction, for so long?