One of the most important roles of a county health department is to share important and locally relevant health information with people who live in the community. That’s how the team at the Van Buren/Cass District Health Department view their work and following some of the challenges experienced during the pandemic, they are redoubling their efforts to connect with the community.
Holly Young, Community Health Coordinator at the Van Buren/Cass District Health Department (VBCDHD) said it’s about opening conversations with people, hearing their questions and concerns, and guiding communities to trusted information.
“One of our primary goals is to share information, share what events are going on in the community, make sure that we are hearing from our community members and making sure that you know what’s going on with the health department. We want people to view the health department as a trusted source of information that’s always accessible.”
The pandemic was a tough time for public health officials. The National Institutes of Health found that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health issues were stigmatized, politicized, and weakened. VBCDHD is aware of the challenges unsurfaced during that time and launched an effort to reconnect with their core mission.
“In 2023, we went through a really big strategic planning process within our health department, and part of that was to review – and update where we need to – our mission, our values, and our goals for how we want to serve the community. Part of our values as a health department is to be accessible, approachable, and authentic. So as we move forward, everything we do must be true to our values.”
Part of that effort is to engage community members is to be more visible, help people better understand some of the ‘whys’ behind health policies, and tell people about all the various services we are empowered to offer.
“A lot of people don’t know we offer dental services. We have a large dental clinic in both our Lawrence and Dowagiac locations, and we have amazing staff. We also offer a full immunization clinic, so we’re able to provide treatment, testing resources, and referrals for anyone over the age of 13, completely anonymously and confidentially. We also offer environmental health guidance. If you need a septic system or a well inspected, we can help. We also test area beaches for E. coli to make sure swimming is safe. There are a lot of things we do in the name of public health,” said Young.
Thinking back about some of the challenges that came about during the pandemic, Young said that period exposed a lot of learnings for people, including people whose day-to-day focus is public health.
“During that whole process, starting from 2020, we learned a lot. Because we hadn’t seen anything like it in recent times, we found we were getting information from the Federal government at the same time as everyone else. Same for the State. Looking back, it revealed a lot of the gaps in communication that needed closing – between local, state, and federal governments. It revealed that we need stronger lines of communication with our communities, reinforcing the importance of an ongoing dialogue between health departments and the communities we serve. And it also emboldened a lot of us to be better advocates for our communities when questions arise. Let’s hope that there’s not a ‘next time’ in our lifetimes, but when it happens, we have learnings to guide us.”
Young said having public health at the center of so many conversations these days is a good thing.
“As the public becomes more aware of the issues, public health departments have a bigger opportunity to serve. Ultimately, that’s what we are here to do – do what’s necessary to best serve our communities.”
This just in – Van Buren Cass District Health Department is a 2024 winner of Best Places to Work. This prestigious award is used to identify local entities with the best morale making a difference in our community. Congratulations to the team!
