National Public Health Week (NPHW) takes place April 1-7 this year, and this year’s theme is “Protecting, Connecting and Thriving: We Are All Public Health.”

Public health is more than just health care. It includes building communities free from pollution, with safe food and water and strong personal relationships.

This observance also provides an opportunity to recognize the many public health professionals and the work they do daily to make a difference in our communities. This includes our own members of Team DHEC who, along with our community partners, help us work toward our vision of healthy people living in healthy communities.

Here at DHEC, our agency is not only dedicated to helping its communities, but it also allocates resources to support opportunities for better, healthier lives and helps people actively participate in building and strengthening South Carolina communities. Our various divisions, regions and bureaus within DHEC work and strive to help communities understand concepts like how where we live, work and play can affect our health.

DHEC Activities During NPHW 
In celebration of NPHW, our staff will be participating in several activities and sharing information with team members, partners and the public.

Dr. Karla Buru, Chief of Staff, will be participating in a national panel sponsored by the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health at 12 p.m. on Thursday April 4. To learn more or register, you can visit the event website. 

Healthcare Quality is promoting emergency preparedness among South Carolina health care facilities. Many health care facility regulations require emergency preparedness preparations, so HQ is using this observance as an opportunity to highlight how facilities can maintain compliance.

Our Health Promotion and Services regions:

Lowcountry 
The Lowcountry team plans to host a virtual information session for stafffocused on the transportation plans for the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments. Transportation can be a barrier for people trying to access health care.

The Lowcountry’s Community Engagement team also plans to share information with partners and the public about upcoming mammograms, cervical cancer screening, HPV vaccination events and STI testing.

Midlands
The Midlands team intends to host WIC cooking demos for staff and WIC participants.

The team will share an email about local walking trails with staff. April 1 is when the team kicks off its Million Steps Challenge, where it encourages employees, as a team, to take a million steps in a month.

The Midlands team also plans to host two virtual lunch and learns for staff, one on congenital syphilis and one on public health preparedness.

Later in the week, the team will take a look at the future of public health with a video from Dr. Buck Wilson, Midlands Public Health Director, and a video presentation from the South Carolina Public Health Association shared via email. The team will highlight some interns who have transitioned to full-time DHEC employees in the region’s newsletter, too.

Pee Dee 
In the Pee Dee, our Health Promotion and Services team plans to distribute information about:

• Farmers markets and encourage staff to stop by one
• Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority and encourage employees to use public transportation to reduce pollution
• Overdose initiative
• Free online training to become Climate for Health Ambassadors offered through the American Public Health Association’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity
• Encourage teams to participate in NPHW’s Keep it Moving Challenge
• The CDC’s Hear Her campaign
• Condom distribution and pickup locations
• Flyer for DHEC’s STI testing

The team also plans to encourage employees in the region to donate menstruation products to local shelters.

Upstate 
In the Upstate, the Health Promotion and Services team will be sharing valuable health-related information with the team and community partners. They will also be promoting other observances and activities in April such as:

• Don’t Waste Food SC Week (April 1-7)
• National Walking Day (April 3)
• Free STD testing day (April 11)
• Community Point of Dispensing Exercise (April 15)

The exercise is a practice emergency medical response activity, and the team will also use this as an opportunity to collect canned food items and pet supplies for local shelters.

We celebrate and recognize all DHEC areas and regions for their hard work and accomplishments to make our communities better. We applaud the daily efforts to provide resources to the communities and stay engaged within these communities to see effective changes..