Host intro:
With all the news about the eclipse … you might have missed National Public Health Week … April first through the seventh. WNIN’s Tim Jagielo spoke with /Merritt Bates-Thomas with the Green River District Health Department, and Lynn Herr with the Vanderburgh County health Department about the importance of public health.
Timothy Jagielo
It's National Public Health Week — with such a general topic, how can tri state folks relate or maybe participate?
Merritt Bates-Thomas
I think if you were to ask us, we'd say every day is public health day. Because we're all connected, we all play a vital role in it. Most people became more familiar with this during the COVID 19 pandemic.
And as we've emerged out of the pandemic, I think the public's understanding of the services we provide as grown, it's also still an opportunity for us to reconnect them, remind them of the services we offer, and ways they can become involved in the community if they choose to do so.
Lynn Herr
And just another way is to also let the community know, the disparities in health within our community, and making them aware that certain populations of vulnerable populations have fewer resources, and we're there to help provide and bridge that gap. So that we can prove out health outcomes for everyone.
TJ
Are there other programs that you find people kind of jump on to during this time?
LH
You might see smoking, or you may see diabetes prevention, (for example) you've just been to your provider, and he or she said something about, you know, 'you may be a candidate for type two diabetes, Hey, maybe I can reach out to the Health Department, and maybe this is a time for me to start thinking about my health.' And we're there to provide those information to provide the education, the coaching, the support, and things that it takes to provide better health.
TJ
What are some health challenges you want to just mention, while we're talking about National Public Health Week that people might want to tackle or be aware of.
LH
So of course, you know, one of the things that that I can't say that we're extremely proud about here in southern Indiana, but Vanderburgh county is has now the third highest black infant mortality rate in the state of Indiana.
So again, infant mortality is always going to be something that we're going to talk about, but our obesity rates are smoking rates, those don't stay on one side of the river, or one side of the state line. I think that's something that we all as a community try to really to focus on.
MBT
And I think the other key thing to remember is, we can't change as individuals or as communities are as a society, we can't change what we don't know. And we try to impart this body of knowledge around public health, whether we're talking health disparities, increasing access to care, narrowing gaps, and many times people need to hear these messages repeatedly.
You know, they're at the doctor, they get some news, maybe they didn't want to get, but at the same time, they've heard through our messaging, that their programs that we offer, their services that we provide, that can help connect them to something that now resonates with them.
TJ
Well, is there anything else you want to add about National Public Health Week and why it's important?
MBT
We don't really tend to think about it this way. But health is our number one biggest asset within a community. It drives an economy. It keeps workers safe, and healthy and productive. It it provides students that are more active, better learners. So when we look at the overall public health system, it's important to remember that really our number one asset, whether we realize it or not, is the health of the people living within the community.
LH
And public health is kind of a team sport. It does really take it's just not the health department, that physical building. It is all the partnerships and everyone that's invested and making our community better