Jefferson County Public Health
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
Covered? We’ve got you covered. Jefferson County Public Health
Letter from the Executive Director Last year was a big year for public health, not only in Jefferson County, Colorado, but across the United States. In 2014, Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) took action on a wide range of health threats, including monitoring travelers from Ebola affected countries in West Africa in response to the largest outbreak in history; fighting heart disease, the County’s leading cause of death, by educating about the leading risk factors, tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and inability to access quality healthcare; improving the condition and security of our food and drinking water resources; and, protecting our communities from animal-borne diseases. Additionally, our public health clinics continued to educate and provide services to prevent unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections as well as immunizations to protect against vaccine preventable diseases. We also took action moving forward with our community health improvement plan (CHIP) by building and strengthening partnerships and developing shared strategies for creating conditions in which everyone in our County can be healthier through better access to healthy foods and active living. Last year was also the year the Affordable Care Act’s major provisions went into effect and in Colorado alone, according to Connect for Health Colorado, over 150,000 people acquired health insurance for the first time. JCPH continues to help people with accessing health insurance and now accepts many forms of health insurance in our preventive health clinics. In addition, we completed the move of most of our programs and services to our new location at 645 Parfet St. in Lakewood, and rewrote our mission and vision statements to more accurately reflect the work we do:
Mission: “To promote and protect health across the lifespan through prevention, education, and partnerships.” Vision: Healthy People, Healthy Places” With all of these changes and improvements, we want everyone to know, that when it comes to public health services, JCPH HAS YOU COVERED. Whether it’s a kit to test for radon gas in your home, a home visit from a public health nurse, help with enrollment in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program, birth control resources, immunizations, planning for emergencies, support for municipalities to become more walkable and bikeable, creating more community gardens, encouraging mass transit, or getting a birth or death certificate, We’ve got you covered! Public health is the foundation of our nation’s health system, and as the Institue of Medicine said in 1988, “Public Health is what we as a society do collectively through organized actions to assure the conditions in which all people can be healthy!” JCPH will continue to work to improve the quality of life and health of our individuals, communities, and health systems, both in our natural and built environments. Please visit our web site at jeffco.us/public-health to learn more about JCPH and the services we provide to keep you covered across the lifespan.
Healthy People Healthy Places
Mark B. Johnson, MD, MPH Executive Director, Jefferson County Public Health