My Poem to Public Health
Let it feed your bucket.
If it doesn’t, you release it.
Let it bring you joy.
You feel accomplished.
You feel seen.
You feel validated—
Validated in a space that constantly challenges what we stand for.
We want the world to be healthy.
But the world doesn’t always trust us.
Politicians weaponize us.
Federal funding forgets us.
Yet we are always here when people call on us.
When the world was in turmoil,
we showed up. We held the line.
We taught communities how to wash their hands.
We prevented illness through vaccines.
We promoted the basics—hygiene, oral health, dignity.
We partner with organizations.
We build coalitions with pennies and passion.
We stretch limited funding into impact.
We create better systems when the system wasn’t built for us.
Public health has been saving lives for centuries.
Our vision:
To ensure everyone has
Resources,
Skills,
And knowledge
To live the healthiest lives possible—
Knowing that some people
Need
More
Support
Than others.
That’s the public health in me.
— Nakia, MPH, CHES®