He deserves a medal for his pioneering actions in protecting the health of all New Yorkers.
Thomas Frieden, 49, has set a standard for health commissioners everywhere. His anti-smoking initiatives have changed the life style and the habits of millions of New Yorkers. Some day, when the history of lung cancer in New York is written, Frieden may be credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
The impact of his stringent anti-smoking policy can be seen in front of nearly every office building during every day. Tiny groups of smokers huddle outside the front door. These people are catching a quick smoke, outside, because city policy prohibits smoking in many private buildings and in restaurants and bars. The sidewalk smokers are almost furtive, pathetic refugees from an anti-smoking crusade launched by Frieden and backed to the hilt by the man who appointed him, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Frieden is a powerhouse and it’s not surprising he is being considered for a top job in the Obama administration.
The city’s Health Department has always blazed new trails in fighting and preventing disease. I remember Dr. Leona Baumgartner, the first woman health commissioner. She led this agency during the 50s and 60s. Notably, she set the policy for a vigorous struggle against polio through use of the Salk vaccine. She also took on fierce critics and fluoridated New York’s water supply.
Recently, the Health Department gave the city an examination and decided the health of New Yorkers was good, or at least improved. The number of smokers has declined; there have been fewer deaths from HIV, alcohol and drugs. And the incidence of lead poisoning among children has declined.
“New York City is healthier than ever,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “If that isn't the purpose of government, I don't know what is the purpose of government.”
Perhaps what the Mayor didn't emphasize enough was the amazing work of this one man. Frieden, an epidemiologist, has been a teacher and a researcher. He fought tuberculosis for five years in India. That battle, it's estimated, saved more than a million lives. Before his service there, he helped stop a tuberculosis epidemic in New York.
Frieden has clamped down on restaurants for health violations. He led a campaign in newspaper ads and TV public service announcements to dramatize the horrors of smoking. He's a tough guy. Thus, when the City Council overrode the mayor's veto of a bill providing stricter rules for removing lead paint in apartment buildings, the commissioner called the action “misguided and dangerous.” He said the bill was so complicated it was “meaningless.”
So far, he has failed in one public health area -- conquering childhood obesity. Indeed that is a growing problem. The mayor, commenting on that, was his usual blunt self.
“Government,” he said, “is not going to force you to not eat something or to not do something that is detrimental to your health. You have the freedom to destroy yourself if you want.”
One of the mayor's aides told the New York Times, in praise of Frieden: “The smoking ban would never have happened without him.”
As for Frieden, he believes his aggressive attitude toward public health issues is justified.
“It as been said that public health programs are inherently unpopular because they improve the health of a large number of people, but many of them disturb a small number of very vocal people,” Frieden told the Times. “We have done a terrific thing by improving the way we inspect restaurants. We now have cleaner food, but the restaurants that are getting fined are angry.”
Frieden is in a long tradition of feisty New York health commissioners. May he continue to make angry the people who menace public health.
