Celebrating National Public Health Week

Public Health employees celebrated a weeklong spotlight of their work on April 1 - 7. Each day of the week focused on a different aspect of service related to public health.  

“Our work is of course 365 days a year, but during National Public Health Week, we along with public health teams across the country spotlight our work through engagement opportunities and uplifting our teams,” said Dr. Raynard Washington, Mecklenburg County Public Health director. “We are always here to promote and protect the public’s health and during this annual event, we show appreciation to our dedicated workforce.”  

On Monday, employees were given opportunities for Civic Engagement including a voter registration drive and an opportunity to serve the homeless in uptown. Tuesday’s focus was on Healthy Neighborhoods where the Office of Violence Prevention held a gun lock distribution, Case Management Health Partnerships division held a Resource Fair, and an Edible Landscape garden was built. Wednesday’s focus was Climate Change, and the Sustainability team held a Try and Drive event with electric vehicles.  

Thursday’s theme was Tools and Innovation where employees learned about Public Health’s Infomatics Program to learn more about storytelling with data. Friday focuses on Reproductive and Sexual Health with education sessions about rapid HIV and STI testing and sexual health information. Saturday covers Emergency Preparedness with learning more about FEMA’s Incident Command System. Sunday’s topic is Future of Public Health where the focus is to be more focused on teaming with others to end racism and advocate for community well-being.

“We have some 900 employees on the Public Health team. Our work is a calling and passion for many of us. This week’s focus on Public Health energizes us and we plan to spotlight, celebrate and appreciate the team all month,” Washington added.