Let Your Voice Be Heard!

The health of a community is not just the absence of illness or disease. Rather, the health of a community involves all aspects of life, including economic, recreational, environmental, cultural and spiritual aspects. Quinnipiack Valley Health District, serving Bethany, Hamden, North Haven and Woodbridge, is convening a collaborative community health assessment (CHA.).  Through this process, health issues, community conditions and resources that contribute to health will be identified. This information will be used to improve health in our communities. Your voice is an important! Please consider completing a Community Health Assessment survey. You can find it on line, www.qvhd.org, request a copy by email (dculligan@qvhd.org) or fax (203 248-6671) or you can call QVHD (203 248-4528) for a mailed copy. It is short and can be submitted anonymously. The more “voices” we hear from, the better our understanding of the community.  

The week of April 4-10, 2016 is National Public Health Week. So what exactly is public health and what does it mean for you? Public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work and play. (American Public Health Association website.) The following vignette illustrates how public health is part of your everyday life. You wake up and jump into the shower, taking for granted the safety of the water.  As you flush the toilet, public health is working there to provide proper sewage disposal. You enter the kitchen.  You reach for the milk with confidence that is a safe, healthy food for your healthy children, all of whom have been immunized against diseases, which were deadly in days gone-by.  You pack the kids in the car, remembering to buckle up seat belts and safety seats.  It’s a habit now, thanks to public health messages.  One child is dropped off at the day care center, and the other at school.  You know that their environment is safe and healthy, thanks to public health inspections and training. You go to work in a smoke-free environment, now commonly occurring thanks to those committed to public health.  For lunch break, you eat at a near-by restaurant.  You see their license on the wall, thanks to public health inspections of the facility.  At the end of the day, your family decides to go for a swim at the community pool.  Did you know that public health is working there too, to protect you by inspecting public pools? 

Get involved with us! Complete a community health assessment survey and “let your voice be heard.” To learn more about public health visit www.whatispublichealth.org.  For more information on the survey, Quinnipiack Valley Health District residents (Bethany, Hamden, North Haven and Woodbridge) can call 203 248-4528 or by email, dculligan@qvhd.org. You are also welcome to stop by our office, 1151 Hartford Turnpike, North Haven CT.