PINEVILLE -- Everyone deserves to live a healthy life, but some people aren't doing as well as others. Barriers like a lack of access to healthy foods, transportation, and quality, affordable health care prevent some people from living healthily. Public health is what we do together to create an environment where everyone can live their healthiest life and thrive.
The McDonald County Health Department works every day to protect our community by preventing the spread of disease, ensuring access to safe, nutritious food, and creating healthy spaces to live, work and play.
Health is more than just the absence of disease. It includes mental, physical, financial and social health. The McDonald County Health Department depends on its partners in transportation, schools, business and healthcare to help address these factors. It also depends on community members to be actively engaged -- to contribute their ideas and energy -- to making our community a healthier place for everyone to live.
"Public health isn't just about giving shots and providing WIC," says McDonald County Health Department administrator Michael Hall. "Those are certainly important services that help people thrive and save lives. But public health does so much more. Together, with our partners, we influence every person's life every day through policies, programs and services."
Foundational public health services are essential in every community. People depend on programs and services that address injury prevention, chronic disease, communicable disease, environmental public health, and family health. We offer car seats and safe sleep programs for new parents or grandparents and have car seat technicians check to make sure that car seats are installed correctly. We also offer women's health programs for uninsured or underinsured women and include, but are not limited to, well-woman exams, gynecological exams, cervical and breast cancer screening, and birth control methods.
Public health works best when it moves upstream to identify policies and actions that can be implemented to address the root causes of an issue rather than responding to individual outcomes downstream. For example, putting sidewalks throughout a community allows people to safely walk to school, work and play. This prevents injuries and increases the opportunity for physical activity.
"We are constantly monitoring health in our community and asking what more can be done to ensure everyone has the opportunity to live their healthiest life," added Hall. "As our community and culture shift, public health has to be nimble enough to adapt. We must have strong partnerships in place and be listening to our community in order to be ready to address emerging issues and identify new policies, programs and services that will ensure an environment where everyone can live healthy and thrive."
The Health Department invites participation from community members who are interested in contributing their ideas and energy to creating an environment where everyone can be healthy. Contact the McDonald County Health Department at 417-223-4351 or via the web at www.mcdonaldcountyhealth.com to learn how you can get involved.
Our mission is to serve McDonald County with services and education that prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life for a healthier and safer community.