Monongalia County Health Department
  • HOME
  • SERVICES
  • News
    • Press Releases
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • MCHD Blog >
      • blog highlights
    • Video Library
    • Health Statistics
    • Education and Training
    • Posters
  • Dentistry
    • SMILE Express >
      • Portable SMILE Express Location Contact Form
      • SMILE Express Location Contact Form
      • Smile Express Referral Partner
    • Dental Services
    • Make an Appointment
    • Patients >
      • Child First Visit
      • Adult First Visit
      • Payment Options
    • Our Team
    • Contact
    • MCHD Dentistry Blog
  • Environmental
    • Contact Environmental
    • Food
    • Food Safety Training
    • Septic & Wells
    • Housing & Institutions
    • Recreation
    • Pools
    • Tattoo & Body Piercing
    • Rabies Control
    • Clean Indoor Air
    • Radon
    • Disaster Sanitation
    • Tanning
    • Fee Schedule
    • Online Permit Renewal
    • About Environmental Health
  • Clinics
    • Reproductive Health >
      • Family Planning
      • Adolescent Health
    • STD and HIV >
      • Syphilis
    • Immunizations >
      • Travel Clinic
      • School Immunizations
    • Communicable Disease >
      • TB Program
      • Influenza
      • Pertussis
    • Providers
  • Preparedness
    • COVID Dashboard
    • COVID-19
    • Testing & Vaccines
    • COVID-19 Links
    • COVID-19 Guidance
    • Mon Co. COVID-19 Stats
    • COVID-19 Press Releases
    • Recent Events
  • WIC
    • WIC Services
    • WIC Eligibilty Guidelines
    • WIC News
    • Doddridge County WIC
    • Harrison County WIC
    • Marion County WIC
    • Monongalia County WIC
    • Preston County WIC
    • Taylor County WIC
    • Breastfeeding
  • Mon QRT
    • QRT Press Releases
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Our Location
    • Board of Health >
      • BOH Meeting Agenda
    • Meeting Rooms
    • Job Opportunities
    • Notice of Privacy Practices

How do you plan to celebrate National Public Health Week?

3/28/2018

 
Picture
How do you plan to celebrate National Public Health Week?
By Mary Wade Triplett
The film industry has the Oscars and musicians are honored by the Grammys. Public health’s big event is coming up: National Public Health Week, which runs from April 2-8.

Of course, NPHW is not so much about giving ourselves a pat on the back as much as highlighting the work done by Monongalia County Health Department and all the other public health organizations in the United States.

That’s pretty easy, because it’s fairly simple to look around and discover ways in which public health has improved the lives of not only Americans, but also people all over the world.

For instance, no case of polio has originated in the U.S. since 1979. In the 1950s, people who got the disease sometimes experienced paralysis or had to use a cumbersome and life-limiting iron lung to help them breathe. But the polio vaccine has practically eradicated the disease around the world and dramatically reduced the numbers of cases in the places where it still exists.

That’s just one example of how vaccines have saved lives. There are so many diseases that have been eliminated, such as smallpox, or greatly reduced, such as measles, pertussis and diphtheria, because of vaccines.

And then there is the public water system, which provides treated water at a low cost to most places in the nation. What’s more, it even contains fluoride, which helps protect teeth against cavities.

Enacted nearly 45 years ago, the Safe Drinking Water Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to set standards for drinking water quality and oversee all states and water suppliers. Fluoride was first added to an American water system in 1945 in test city Grand Rapids, Michigan, after the National Institutes of Health published several studies suggesting that it would help fight tooth decay.

Those are just a few examples on the importance of public health, which has been bestowed with the duties of preventing illness, protecting the public and promoting this vital information to people.

Monongalia County Health Department has five programs to accomplish this mission:

•    Environmental Health, which protects the public in many ways, including through inspections of restaurants, pools, hotels and motels, tattoo studios, farmers markets, food trucks and more.

•    Clinical Services, which provides immunizations for infants, children, teens, adults and travelers—i.e., everybody—as well as free and low-cost birth control, free sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, and breast and cervical exams for women.

•    Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, aka WIC, which provides breastfeeding support to new mothers as well as nutritional education and supplements to pregnant and breastfeeding women and children up to age 5.

•    MCHD Dentistry, a full-service dental office where visits can be covered by private insurance, CHIP, Medicaid, a sliding-fee discount, CareCredit financing, and, of course, cash, check or credit card.

•    Threat Preparedness, which holds drills, conducts classes for first responders and helps keep the community safe during crises caused by everything from bad weather to bad people. Next week, for instance, the founder of the I Love You Guys Foundation, whose daughter was killed in a school shooting, will be leading a class on how to facilitate family reunification after events like those take place.

MCHD even has a regional epidemiologist on staff to help track diseases such as influenza, hepatitis B and C, food-borne illnesses and more.

We also utilize a website, monchd.org, as well as Facebook, Twitter, and, coming soon, an Instagram page, to get our message out, in addition to this weekly blog and periodic press releases that are sent out to the media.

So, to paraphrase the immortal Jerry Maguire—the lead character in an eponymous film that was nominated for some Academy Awards, by the way—help us help you. Follow us on social media, check out all the information available on our website so you don’t miss important news that can impact your health. We’re here to serve.

Mary Wade Triplett is the public information officer at Monongalia County Health Department.

Comments are closed.
    MCHD logo

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
Lee B. Smith, MD, JD
Health Officer
Monongalia County
Health Department

453 Van Voorhis Road
Morgantown, WV 26505
Hours M-F 8:30-4:30
(304) 598-5100


Home Page
MCHD Services
Public Health Nursing
Environmental Health
WIC Program
MCHD Dentistry
Threat Preparedness
Food Safety Training

Provider Information
Health Statistics

Contact Us
Location/Directions
Training Opportunities
Job Opportunities
Privacy Practices
Website Notices

Contact Us
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter