Show Me Health - Public Health Week

Every person plays an important role in improving the health of the nation because good personal health is connected to good public health. Each year, the first full week of April is recognized as National Public Health Week. This is a time to celebrate advances in public health and educate people that where they live, work and play directly influences their health.

The theme of this year’s Public Health Week is “Healthy Missouri 2030: Making Communities Stronger.” 

Americans are living 20 years longer than their grandparents’ generation, thanks largely to the work of public health. Still, people in many other high income countries live longer and suffer fewer health issues than we do.  This is the defining challenge of our generation – a challenge that we, the public health community, are uniquely positioned to help overcome.

Here are just a few statistics that reflect the status of our health in the United States:

·         More Americans age 65+ suffer at least two chronic conditions.

·         Our babies are 50 percent more likely to die before their first birthday

·         On  average, our lives are 3 years shorter than in many other countries.

We know good health depends on many things, such as environment, income, food and nutrition, healthy behavior choices, neighborhoods and access to health care.  Social, environmental and individual factors influence both our health and our ability to make healthy choices. Health care is only a small contributor to our health and wellness.

The goal of public health is to prevent, promote and protect the health of all people.  Public Health Week highlights several areas in which work is needed to improve our health status as a nation.  Here are a few ways in which your local health department strives for improvement.

Build a Nation of Healthy, Safe Communities

The Health Center is Livingston County’s local public health agency, and therefore responsible for many areas of health & safety in our communities.  For example, our office inspects restaurants, motels and taverns for food sanitation, to make sure the food you’re eating won’t make you sick.  We are the local provider of immunizations which keep our kids healthy and prevent disability and death.  By promoting the required immunizations and offering convenient clinics to receive them, we are helping to protect the community at large-even those who don’t participate in immunizations. 

Our office brought the “Livable Streets” philosophy to Chillicothe, to encourage city leaders to create policy change and improve the quality of our streets and sidewalks.  

We are also responsible for disease surveillance and investigation.  By tracking infectious diseases, we help stop outbreaks in their tracks, and get people the necessary information and prophylactics to get better and not infect anyone else.  Our communicable disease coordinator works with local law enforcement and the animal shelter to conduct dog bite investigations to prevent rabies infections.

Give everyone a choice of healthy food…

Our food system should provide affordable food with nutritious ingredients, free from harmful contaminants. For many families, eating healthy is a daily challenge.  The Health Center has been addressing this need for the past two years through our Maternal Child Health program.  We began by providing fun educational activities at our local Farmer’s Market and continued with a Healthy Eating, Active Living grant through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.   The grant provided funds to build a fully-functioning container Garden Classroom to the students of our local PowerUP! Afterschool Program at North Missouri Center for Youth & Families.  Our agency partnered with the Center, as well as our local University of Missouri Extension Office & 4-H program to provide comprehensive education and hands on experience for kids.  The project lets kids get real hands-on experience in growing their own food.  This year, we are continuing the project at the school with a new partnership with the Chilllicothe Garden Club, a member of Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri and National  Garden Clubs, Inc.   You will also see table tents in local restaurants this month encouraging families to garden with their kids for all kinds of benefits. 

Provide quality health care for everyone…

We need to shift the main focus of our health system from one that treats illness to one that equally emphasizes prevention.  Locally, the Health Center provides bi-monthly blood draw clinics to encourage residents to take charge of their health.  The clinics offer routine lab testing at an affordable rate to make catching a problem before it becomes a disability more achievable for our residents.  It is our hope that this will not only lower healthcare costs, but improve the quality of life for our people.

We also offer many routine preventive healthcare services through our Tuesday walk-in clinics, including TB testing, pregnancy testing, blood pressure checks, vaccinations, b12 injections and more. 

Strengthen public health infrastructure and capacity…

Strong and consistent funding levels are necessary for the public health system to respond to both everyday health threats and also unexpected health emergencies.   Missouri is ranked the lowest state in the nation as far as spending on public health programs.   Our local public health agencies staff wear many hats besides their job position, especially in the area of emergency preparedness.  Our small rural communities work together closely to prepare for threats to our residents’ health and safety.   Without this culture of cooperation and cost-sharing, our area of the state would be much more vulnerable to threats of all kinds.

These are just a few of the ways your local public health department is working for you, behind the scenes.  It is our mission to make Livingston County as healthy and safe as possible, every day of the year.