David Satcher Quotations

I'm convinced that we can shape a different future for this country as it relates to mental health and as it relates to suicide.

The same things that lead to disparities in health in this country on a day-to-day basis led to disparities in the impact of Hurricane Katrina.

Seventy-five percent of women who smoke would like to quit, and yet only two to three percent quit every year... It's significant because we can help women quit smoking.

Our nation's blood supply is safer than it's ever been, and it's getting safer as we speak

We believe that more than 4 percent of the children in this country suffer ADHD... We want to know how to better identify and refer children for treatment.

One of the major concerns we have about the AIDS epidemic is that increasingly it is affecting communities that tend to be left out of the health care and public health system, ... We know that in order to be successful we have to find a new way to reach these communities.

We made progress, ... But clearly we have much to do and we have much further to go.

We have to be more strategic in the distribution,

We must critically analyze risk factors and causes of the problem, ... We must introduce and evaluate strategies of intervening for preventing suicide, and then we must implement the programs widely and continue to evaluate them.

Many experts think hopelessness is common to suicide and homicide and violence in general,

I think the history is such that we underestimate the mental health problems, ... As people see what they consider sort of a hopeless situation - bodies floating on the water, the scene like they saw in the Superdome - people are not ready for that. They are not prepared to deal with it.

I think we're ready to move from an environment of blame and stigmatization when it comes to mental health problems,

The problem now is that often, mental health problems are not recognized until late, ... We want to make sure that we bring the best treatment to bear in this system. We want to make sure that we continue to research.

We believe the treatment is to really discuss this issue with (patients) and to try them make them understand that we are able to respond, but to also understand the harm that can be done if people hoard antibiotics, use them inappropriately so that we develop more resistant strains

We don't have a lot of time with inhalation anthrax,

While mental disorders may touch all Americans, either directly or indirectly, all do not have equal access to treatment and services. The revolution in science that has led to effective treatments for mental illnesses needs to benefit every American of every race, ethnicity and culture.

The challenge is to become part of the struggle, to make a positive difference.

Many people believe that dealing with overweight and obesity is a personal responsibility. To some degree they are right, but it is also a community responsibility. When there are no safe, accessible places for children to play or adults to walk, jog, or ride a bike, that is a community responsibility.

There is no health without mental health.

This is no time to let down our guard on youth violence. Research demonstrates that appropriate interventions made during or prior to adolescence can direct young people away from violence toward healthy and constructive lives.

People tend to think of overweight and obesity as strictly a personal matter, but there is much that communities can and should do to address these problems.

Otis Brawley is one of America's truly outstanding physician scientists. In How We Do Harm, he challenges all of us-- physicians, patients, and communities-- to recommit ourselves to the pledge to 'do no harm.'

The people of this country desperately need to engage in an open and honest debate about mental health.

The window of opportunity for effective interventions opens early and rarely, if ever, closes,

We're talking about creating an environment of support and caring where a person not only feels comfortable coming forward but would be encouraged to come forward,

Failure to effectively use every intervention strategy available to help our young people would be a tragic mistake,

Fifteen years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, prevention remains the most effective way of addressing this disease, ... Business and labor have a crucial role to play in HIV/AIDS prevention, and I applaud these organizations for taking a leadership role.

The good news is that we can prevent many deaths from colorectal cancer through screening, ... If you've celebrated your 50th birthday and have never been screened for colorectal cancer, start now.

The results released in today's American Journal of Public Health should lead any medical professional to realize a prescription for change needs to be written. For the American taxpayer, its time to ask for increased accountability and expect a better return on a $60 billion investment,

I'm sure that many of the deaths that have occurred (after the hurricane) have resulted from people with chronic diseases either suffering from dehydration or (the) inability to access their medications, ... All of these risks of suffering from chronic diseases and dying from them were greatest for the poor and the other people who could not get out of there.

By taking us beyond the issues of race and income, these findings tell us that if we want to help our children avoid dangerous behaviors, we need to find out what's going on in their lives.

It's hard to believe that more people have died from suicide than homicide, but it's a sad fact,

The current trend in the '90's has not been good, ... We have a lot of work to do.

The girls who are now teenagers, who are now smoking, will be victims of these smoking related diseases in the future,

The underlying premise of Healthy People 2010 is that the health of the individual is inseparable from the health of the larger community,

Everyone in need must have access to high-quality, effective and affordable mental health services, ... Too often, our mental health problems are left to play themselves out in the nation's streets, homeless centers ... and prisons.

There's clearly a difference in the ease of access to guns and the use of guns in violent behavior,

We are urging, through the month of November, that health care providers focus first on immunizing the elderly and the chronically ill and women who will be in their second or third trimester of pregnancy during the flu season ? those groups who are most at risk,

Hepatitis A, among the various hepatitis diseases that we have, is a very mild disease, generally causing fever, malaise, nausea and jaundice. But in general, it is a very mild disease.