NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin U.S. Surgeon General
David Satcher speaks to a large crowd on campus
Monday about improving health and lengthening life.
By Shauna Mecartea
Daily Bruin Contributor
U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher accepted the 2001
Distinguished Professor Award from UCLA’s Academic Geriatric
Resource Center on Monday.
After receiving the award, Satcher spoke on his agenda for the
health of the country over the next ten years.
Satcher has titled his plan “Healthy People 2010,”
which is intended to increase longevity and quality of life, and
eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care.
With a rising number of Americans over the age of 85, Satcher
said he aims at making the aging process successful ““
physically and mentally.
“Successful aging is maximizing one’s potential
while aging,” Satcher said.
An increasingly diverse population also requires a focus on the
ethnic disparities in health care, Satcher said.
“The issue of access is a national problem. We need a
system that gives access to everyone,” he said.
While Satcher poses new public health policies, he emphasizes
community responsibility to make Americans’ lifestyles
healthier.
“When it comes to lifestyles it’s not just an
individual responsibility, it is a community responsibility,”
Satcher said.
Enforcing K-12 physical education, teaching sex education and
having places for the elderly to be active are all necessary and
part of the community responsibility, he said.
Satcher’s prescription for a healthy lifestyle is moderate
physical activity at least five days a week for 30 minutes, eating
at least five servings of vegetables and fruit a day, avoiding
toxins, and taking part in responsible sexual behavior. Physical
activity lowers the chance of heart disease, prevents and lowers
high blood pressure and influences psychological well-being.
Satcher served as Director of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry from 1993 to 1998.
A former UCLA professor in the School of Medicine and Public
Health, Satcher received a distinguished service award from the
National Association of Mental Illness in 2000.