Preventing problems, not fanning flames

To the Editor:

I have worked at the Oneida County Health Department as the Community Health Educator in the Reproductive Health/Women’s Clinic/Family Planning Program from 1982 until 2022. During this time I saw firsthand how the health department works with people and policies to protect the health of the entire community. The relationship between all the county health departments and the Wisconsin State Department of Health is exceptional. Everything is “evidence-based” by proven science and there are systems designed to measure the effectiveness of all the programs.

As an example, while working in the Reproductive Health Program, we were able to use formulas developed by the Guttmacher Institute that determined:

• how many cervical cancers we prevented by the number of pap exams we preformed,

• how many abortions we prevented by providing affordable contraceptive services to those consumers who wanted to avoid an unintended pregnancy,

• how many people protected their fertility to have future children by providing early testing and treating sexually transmitted infections,

• we were able to connect low income people to Medicaid services for their health care,

• and finally, we were able to show how much money we saved the county each year by providing these preventative services.

Other programs at the Health Department also provide preventative services. The WIC (Women’s, Infant & Children) program educates pregnant women about how good nutrition during pregnancy and during the first five years of life can enhance the health of their children. They also provide families with food vouchers to get those healthy foods on their family’s table. The immunization program at the health department is vital for healthy children and, as we learned during COVID, to everyone in the community who breathes. The proof that wearing masks prevents disease was evident that first year of the COVID epidemic when no one got the flu because they were practicing safe distancing from one another. The Sanitarian Program staff at the Health Department also ensures that our water and food are safe to consume.

There are federal grants that the health department administers (that may be cut by this current administration) that help teenagers avoid harmful behaviors; like smoking cigarettes, underage drinking and using illegal drugs, as well as teaching healthy relationships. These special projects get community coalitions to work together to prevent social problems in our community, such as mental health and suicide.

All these activities are conducted under the supervision of the health department director, Linda Conlon, who has received many accolades and awards for her work she has done at the community and state level. She has maintained the health department’s national accreditation status since 2014. It is very disheartening to read articles in the newspaper that puts down the good work the health department does just to create controversy to sell a few more newspapers. People don’t see “the good” the health department does because most of it is about preventing the problems ... not putting out the fires. I’m asking The Northwoods River News to stop creating political fires for the health department; they have enough to deal with.

Anne Cirilli, retired certified health education specialist

Rhinelander