"THE
HEART OF THE MATTER"
a special program of
the National Emergency Medicine Association
(NEMA)
Week: 594.1
Guest: Dr. David Satcher, nominee, U.S. Surgeon General
Topic: Surgeon General post
Reporter: Aaron Cohen
Host/Producer: Steve Girard
NEMA: Talking with the next Surgeon General...coming up...
SPOT: IN A FLASH... a video with structured curriculum tells kids the truth about gunshot injuries. For schools, churches, community groups... Call 800-332-6362.
NEMA: A 3 year old vacancy could be filled with the nomination of CDC chief David Satcher for Surgeon General...Aaron Cohen says Satcher has the support of the public health community, and the Senate....in his Health on the Hill...
COHEN: President Clinton has found a family doctor with no political baggage who can tell a rags to riches story to Senators...some of whom he already knows. Dr. Satcher, who ran Nashville’s Meharry Medical College will be, among other things, the President’s lead anti-smoking advocate...
SATCHER: I want to be the Surgeon General who reaches our citizens with cutting edge technology and plain old fashioned straight talk...whether we’re talking about smoking or poor diet, I want to send messages of good health to our cities and our suburbs, our barrios and reservations, and even our prisons.
COHEN: Predictably, the anti-smoking lobby loves the nomination, as does the AIDS community. Satcher built contacts on Capitol Hill with four years in Atlanta running the CDC and should be easily confirmed. The only doctor in the Senate, Bill Frist of Tennessee, says he enthusiastically supports David Satcher’s nomination to become the next Surgeon General. For Health on the Hill, I’m Aaron Cohen.