Public Health is the art, practice and science of protecting and improving the health of the community. Public health is about what makes us healthy, what makes us sick, and what we can do together about it. When we think about health, what often comes to mind is the individual ways he or she can stay healthy. Overall, public health is concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire county or region of the world. Public health professionals try to prevent problems from happening or recurring through implementing educational programs, recommending policies, administering services and conducting research – in contrast to clinical professionals like doctors and nurses, who focus primarily on treating individuals after they become sick or injured. Public health also works to limit health disparities. A large part of public health is promoting healthcare equity, quality and accessibility. Benton County Public Health has three public health nurses, four health educators, two WIC (women, infants and children) staff, one public health case aide, and one support staff. We promote, protect and improve the health of the Benton County community through advocacy, education and collaboration. Benton County Public Health offers a variety of services and programs including:
• WIC
• Pregnancy Information/Home Visits
• Postpartum Information/New Mom & Baby Home Visits
• Family Home Visiting
• Early Intervention for Young Children
• Immunization Clinics
• Follow Along Program (FAP)
• C&TC (Child & Teen Checkups)
• Lead Screening
• Child Passenger Safety (CPS)
• Senior Services
• SHIP (Statewide Health Improvement Program)
• Community Education on Various Health and Safety Issues (eg. breastfeeding, healthy eating, physical activity, mental health and
wellbeing, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), substance use
prevention, etc.) For more information about the services we offer please visit the Benton County Public Health webpage at: https://www.co.benton.mn.us/323/Public-Health or call 320-968-5087.
