\The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) has gotten a facelift, of sorts. New faces Lora Branch and Dr. Will Wong were introduced at a gathering held at DePaul University, 333 S. State, on Oct. 28. Branch is the department's new STD/HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Program Director while Wong is CDPH's new STD/HIV/AIDS Medical Director. Branch was previously the Director of the Office of LGBT Health at CDPH. Wong, who actually completed his residency at Cook County Hospital, was Medical Director at San Francisco's Department of Public Health STD clinic, and at Magnet, San Francisco's Gay Men's Health Center.
Branch and Wong each took a few minutes to talk with Windy City Times. While they acknowledge the huge scopes of their responsibilities, they do it with upbeat attitudes that are undeniable. If optimism could cure illnesses, Chicago would be disease-free in no time.
On what they'll be doing: Branch will be in charge of everything from counseling to working with adolescent services. Wong will be directing the city's STD clinics as well as its prevention and care programs. The latter will include various epidemiology and surveillance programs. Wong and Branch will form the department's administrative team and will oversee all activities of the city's STD/HIV/AIDS program.
Branch emphasized that a large part of the departmental duties will involve surveillance. 'We have to track different diseases and collect information from all over the city. This data eventually makes its way to the CDC.' Branch adds that '[t]he scope includes treating the people who come in and finding folks who haven't made it to us.'
On what brought Wong back to Chicago: Wong saw nothing but positives when he thought about working in the Windy City again: 'There were many things that brought me back here. It's a great opportunity to work with great people, there's such enormous potential with the health department, and a city like Chicago presents its own unique challenges and possibilities.'
On marketing: Branch hopes to continue doing innovative things she did in her previous position, which included bringing the movies Kevin's Room and Kevin's Room 2 to the public. 'We're going to be doing more than that. That's something that's dear to me because my background is in media. Part of the communication strategy involves the ability to do social marketing campaigns. We'll be doing campaigns with adults and adolescents. We'll establish priorities with all populations.' Mike Jackson, the department's Director of Communication and Policy adds that they want to get the '[r]ight message to the right people at the right time.'
On what they think the most pressing issues are: Branch feels that one of the biggest issues involves the staff itself. 'A lot of people have retired early because of budget cuts at local, state, and federal levels,' she notes. 'We've lost staff members—and that forces us to get creative regarding how we solve problems.'
Wong, a careful thinker, is still assessing the situation to determine what should be handled first. However, he shows his optimism when he calls the challenges that he'll soon face 'opportunities.' 'Chicago has wonderful things going on,' Wong says. 'I'm looking to build on [the department's] success and strengthen relationships with all the different communities of the city.'
On the complacency about AIDS: Branch acknowledges the complacency. 'The longer we deal with this epidemic, the more weary people get. There's complacency among everyone from service providers to those people who are just sick of hearing of it.'
For Wong, solving this problem involves the community. 'We need to identify the needs of people by listening to them, and hearing their stories. Our response will be guided by what we hear and our mission to promote the health of all Chicagoans. It's all about working with the community to develop effective prevention messages to reach populations at-risk. We must continue to build on our prevention work during this new phase of the HIV epidemic.'
