Earlier this month, the Pitt County Health Department celebrated National Public Health Week. The county Board of Commissioners also proclaimed April 1-7 as Public Health Week.
All across America, health departments recognize and promote the work they do around several themes each year. This year, National Public Health Week highlighted the following areas:
Civic engagement. These are the actions that we and our communities take to identify and address problems, especially those actions that promote healthy activities. Health departments engage with community partners, health care organizations, schools, and residents to gauge what health problems exist in the community and to identify ways to solve those problems.Healthy neighborhoods. Where we eat, sleep, live, play and learn has a huge impact on our health. We can use civic engagement strategies to promote sidewalks and greenways, regional bike plans, neighborhood farmers markets and better street lights. We can also use data to determine which areas have the most pedestrian accidents, which areas of the county have chronic disease hot spots, or find ways to better address transportation problems for patients.Climate change. Gradual changes in weather patterns can impact health in many ways, from increased heat stress to mosquito populations and algal blooms in our waterways. The ECU College of Nursing recently highlighted the climate research of two faculty members. Dr. Elizabeth Mizelle’s research includes climate change and how increased heat levels affect farmworkers, and Dr. Alexis Hodges has done important work around the effect of climate change and primary care. The N.C. Agromedicine Institute is another public health partner that promotes health and safety in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, with recent research projects focusing on farm stresses related to climate.New tools and innovations. This is one of the most exciting times in health care, with the rise in telehealth options, wearable and new data systems that can help health care organizations improve efficiency and patient care.Reproductive and sexual health. Health departments work with many patients on family planning, prenatal and maternal services. Public health also focuses heavily on preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) through services like our new rapid clinic, where we get patients tested and treated quickly so we can reduce the spread of disease in the community.Emergency preparedness. Power outages, gas shortages, unexpected disasters like train derailments, and natural disasters like hurricanes and tornados are all examples of events where things happen with little notice. We encourage everyone to have a disaster plan in place and have basic emergency kits to help get you through short and long-term emergencies. Public health departments also coordinate with county emergency management staff and other partners to protect the public during disasters.Future of public health. Looking forward, we want to develop better pandemic plans, prevent rising rates of chronic diseases, reduce the spread of STIs and other communicable diseases, encourage residents to get immunized to protect themselves and others from preventable diseases, and make better care available for all residents.
This year’s theme is “Protecting, Connecting and Thriving: We Are All Public Health.” To do this, our health department works with valuable partners like ECU Health, Pitt Community College, East Carolina University, and with community groups like Pitt Partners for Health to improve all aspects of the health care system. We encourage you to join us in helping to protect, promote, and assure the health of all people in Pitt County.
Pitt Partners for Health (PPH) is a community health improvement partnership with representatives from local churches, businesses, communities, the hospital, health department and other human service agencies.
The partnership’s mission is to improve the population health of Pitt County through coalition building and partnership. PPH meets on the second Thursday of each month. For more information, contact Mary Hall at mphall@ecuhealth.org.
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