The McLean County Health Department Observes Public Health Week

Image courtesy of the McLean County Health Department Facebook page

NORMAL, Ill. – The first week of April has come and gone, and with it went National Public Health Week.

The McLean County Health Department seized the opportunity this week gave them and used it to promote public health in the community. Marianne Manko is the Public Affairs Coordinator of the McLean County Health Department. She outlined the various ways the department promoted public health during week, and why weeks like these are important.  

“Public Health Week is really to make people aware of what it is that public health does,” Manko said. “Ironically, that just happens to be the theme for 2024.” 

In order to cover the wide array of topics that fall under the public health umbrella, every day of public health week had a different theme. Monday was civic engagement, Tuesday was healthy neighborhoods, Wednesday was climate change, Thursday was new tools and innovation, Friday was reproductive and sexual health, Saturday was emergency preparedness and Sunday was the future of public health. 

The future of public health is a widely applicable topic. According to Manko, Sunday’s theme was about the accessibility of public health for citizens of varying socio-economic groups.  

“We need to make sure we are diverse and equal so that everyone has equal access to the mental and physical health needs that they need to attend to,” Manko said. “Something as simple as you’re living in a neighborhood and there isn’t a local neighborhood that sells healthy food, or people have to go to the other side of town just to get healthy food and maybe they can’t afford their own transportation. That’s a pretty big deal, and that affects our health.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed public health to the forefront of everyone’s daily lives, with social distancing and mask-wearing being practiced to protect the health of the individual as well as the community. Manko believes this hyper-attention to health safety protocols proved to be beneficial in the long run.  

“I think every time you have a storm cloud above you, there’s always a silver lining,” Manko said. “I think that the positives that came from the pandemic were that many of us now really understand what respiratory viruses are about.”