For Immediate Release

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Andover Health Division to Celebrate National Public Health Week

ANDOVER— The Andover Health Division announces that it will join the American Public Health Association (APHA) in April to celebrate National Public Health Week.

This year, Public Health Week runs from April 3-9.

Inspired by a quote from Dr. Leana Wen, Health Commissioner for the City of Baltimore, the Andover Health Division will be focusing on how public health influences us in many aspects of our daily routine. Dr. Wen said, “Public health saved your life today. You just didn’t know it.”

“The main goal of public health agencies is to prevent illness, and when we do our job, we are out of sight and out of mind,” said Andover Director of Public Health Thomas Carbone. “It can be hard to measure a lack of illness, but preventing health problems is at the core of what we strive to do.”

National Public Health Week aims to strengthen the profession of public health, foster understanding, engagement and support for key public health issues, and directly influence public policy to improve global health.

The field of public health ranges from physicians, nurses, and first responders to health educators, restaurant inspectors, social workers and sanitarians. This also includes board of health members who volunteer their time, as well as residents who serve on advisory committees and task forces that play an important role in public health.

The Andover Health Division would like to highlight the many duties that the department and its public health practitioners routinely oversee. These include:

• Inspecting local swimming pools at hotels, athletic clubs and apartment condominium complexes to ensure proper chemical levels and adequate safety measures are in place. Inspections and water quality testing occur at local beaches as well.
• Licensing residential, day or sports camps and to ensure they meet state and local regulations.
• Ensuring landlords are in compliance with the state sanitary code relating to rental property.
• Ensuring a suspect animal is tested for rabies if there is an exposure to either a human or domestic pet. Follow up for a human exposure is conducted by the public health nurse.
• Providing child and adult immunizations, blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, surveillance and follow-up on communicable diseases, including Tb. Public Health Nurses provide education and information on new emerging diseases such as Zika virus, Ebola and MRSA. They also conduct routine outreach and educational programs promoting healthy lifestyles like exercise, balanced meals, cancer prevention and ensuring good health care for all.
• Reviewing subdivisions and housing proposals for compliance with septic and sewer regulations as well as other environmental concerns but also with health-related opportunities in mind. For example, encouraging developers to plan for walking opportunities to local destinations, ensuring there are safe spaces for children to play outside and making sure that sources of pollution nearby will not compromise residents’ health or safety.

Residents who would like to get involved in National Public Health Week can:

• Become a NPHW partner by signing up at nphw.org.
• Organize, promote and attend NPHW events in your community.
• Use NPHW to support strong public health systems and raise awareness about their role in creating the healthiest nation.
• Become an advocate for public health at apha.org/advocacy.

To celebrate the field of public health, the Andover Health Division will be releasing informative articles and columns highlighting various issues around Dr. Wen’s theme each day during Public Health Week.

For more information about the Andover Health Division, visit its webpage, “Like” them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter by searching “Andover Health Division.”

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