By the Southeast Utah Health Department
The Southeast Utah Health Department would like to make you aware that it is National Public Health Week (NPHW) April 1st through the 7th. Each day of NPHW is themed dedicated to a different topic, with Monday focusing on healthy communities. Urge leaders to make health a priority in all policymaking. SEUHD is willing to work with your employers to organize flu shot clinics and to partner with city planners to expand safe biking and walking opportunities.
Tuesday is Violence Prevention. Call on lawmakers to pass commonsense measures that reduce the risk of gun deaths and injuries. Work with community leaders to help create stable environments to help prevent sexual violence, child abuse, and neglect.
Wednesday-Rural Health Rural Americans face a greater risk of death from the five leading causes of death-heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease and stroke. Suicide rates are also higher. Opioid addiction and the overdose crisis have hit rural communities especially hard. Complicating matters, rural residents face social determinants that negatively impact health such as poverty, transportation barriers, and lack of jobs that pay well. In the most recent county health rankings, Carbon, Emery and Grand Counties have all shown progress, but still rank near the bottom of Utah’s counties.
Thursday-Technology. Technology can be a potent public health tool. Phone apps help pregnant women learn about staying healthy during pregnancy and also provide new moms with valuable information. Activity-tracking apps encourage healthy behavior changes. The WIC program can help new and expectant mothers navigate some of these challenges and properly utilize this technology. Additionally, the WIC program is working to implement a credit card style system instead of using paper vouchers.
Friday-Climate Change. Climate change is one of the greatest threats to public health and is expected to have serious impacts on people’s health and well-being. We often feel like our rural communities are exempt from these problems but we often feel the fallout (water, air, fire) from the habits and demands of urban areas.
Saturday/Sunday- Global Health. American’s health and world health are fundamentally connected. Consider that during the H1N1 flu pandemic, the virus quickly travelled around the world. Across the world, communities still struggle with preventable and often neglected diseases. We live in an area that is frequented by people from around the world and must be aware of what is happening everywhere. Try to participate in World Health Day on April 7th, the last day of this year’s National Public Health Week observance.
For more information, go to: www.seuhealth.com or https://www.nphw.org/nphw-2019/global-health.