National Public Health Week

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 07, 2009

This week, April 6 – 12, is National Public Health Week. Washington County Department of Health and Human Services is celebrating with Public Health Awards, a career day for high school students and a hands-on event for elementary students.

A career exploration event for 120 high school students from across Washington County will be offered on April 9th, at the Cameron Public Service Building in Hillsboro. Students will explore a variety of public health professionals, including a medical officer, an epidemiologist, a health educator, a public health nurse and several others.

Event organizer, Kelly Jurman, Health Promotion Supervisor, notes that, "The number of young people who are choosing public health as a career option is not enough to keep up with future needs. By offering a career day, we're opening vistas to students to see how many options there are in public health professions."

Public health works to protect the community's health by promoting healthy behaviors such as physical activity and healthy eating, immunizations, inspecting restaurants, pools and private sewer systems, preventing the spread of communicable diseases and preparing for emergency events that range from pandemic flu to bio-terrorism.

Students will hear from the panel of public health professionals, participate in interactive demonstrations with the panelists and meet with representatives from five area colleges that provide public health career tracks.

The Career Day will begin at 9:00 a.m. with the awarding of the annual Public Health Awards. Each year members of the community nominate a person or an organization that has contributed to the health of the community. This year's awardees are Community Action's Opening Doors program in the organization category and Lisa Vincent in the individual category.

The Awards Ceremony is open to the public.

A third activity will be held on April 15 at Barnes Elementary School. The "Body and Mind" event (or BAM Zone!) will provide interactive exhibits for all of the 5th grade students. Students will have a chance to look at their diet, Internet use, emergency preparedness, personal health practices, and other topics through interactive games, demonstrations and quizzes.

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