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Our commitment is to preserve health and protect people from disease. |
Public health works with families and individuals to provide:
- Immunizing infants, school-age children and adult populations
- In-home visits, child care information, and teaching parenting skills to low-income parents of new infants
- Support and services for children with special needs
- Family-planning examinations and education
- STD prevention education and counseling, screening and treatment of affected clients
- Tuberculosis testing, prevention education, case management, and continuing education training for health care providers
Child Health
Programs work primarily with pregnant women and new parents to
- Assure healthy pregnancies and births
- Support new families with children who may have extra needs
- Work with high-risk parents and refer to needed community resources for child abuse prevention, parenting skills, and job skills development
Clinic Services
Include direct treatment to individuals needing
- Immunizations
- Family planning appointments
- Refugee health screenings
- STD treatment
HIV/AIDS
Staff uses principles of health education and social marketing to address critical public health issues. This work includes:
- Providing outreach programs and services for at-risk individuals
- HIV and AIDS prevention education
- Promoting healthy behaviors
Infectious Disease
Staff works with community providers and laboratories to
- Identify potentially dangerous transmittable human illnesses
- Prevent transmission of illness to other vulnerable populations in the community
- Provide direct services, consultation, and communicable disease case management
The unit is critical to the prevention of potentially life-threatening illnesses such as tuberculosis, hepatitis, meningococcal disease and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
Health Statistics (Assessment and Research)
Monitors public health through surveillance of health behaviors, risks, and outcomes. This work includes
- Conducting epidemiological investigations
- Measuring effectiveness of planned interventions on the community's health
- Evaluating Health Department programs
- Providing information on the health status of communities
- Conducting community-based surveys and activities to identify health risks and trends
- Publishing reports and documents for community use
- Providing public presentations for community groups Prescription discounts
- For all county residents
- For medicine not covered by insurance
- Many pharmacies participating
- Average savings of 20 percent
- No fee up front
Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
Serves a caseload of approximately 8,500 individuals in Clark and Skamania counties. The US Department of Agriculture provides the major source of funding for WIC services. Three major components of the program are
- Group and individual nutrition education
- Food supplements (specific food items purchased through local grocers)
- Health referrals to other Health Department or community programs
The major WIC goal is to ensure a healthy start for all newborns through good prenatal care and early childhood nutrition.
Tobacco Prevention
Programs inform residents about healthy choices relating to tobacco use, to benefit themselves and their families. Activities include
- Providing tobacco prevention information to young people
- Annually producing and distributing a public guide to smoke-free dining in Clark County
- Promoting tobacco prevention and cessation publicity
- Promoting tobacco-free events and smoking cessation programs
- Preparing, sponsoring and/or distributing tobacco education, cessation and prevention publications
