About Us

Public health agencies are a lot like fire departments. They teach and practice prevention. At the same time, they maintain readiness to take on emergencies. They are most appreciated when they respond to emergencies. They are most successful - and least noticed - when their prevention measures work the best.

In another respect, the two are different. We all know what the fire department does; however, few know what the Putnam County Health Department does. The very existence of health departments is testament to the fact that, when legislators, county commissioners, mayors, township trustees, and other policy makers understand what those departments do, they support them. It is a rare person who, once familiar with the day-to-day activities of a public health department, would want to live in a community without a good one.

The Heart of Public Health: Population-Based Prevention

The goal of the Putnam County Health Department is prevention of disease, injury, disability, and premature death. Public health is not simply medical care funded or provided through public means. The services of our health department are less visible and more difficult to understand than medical services. Public health prevention protects entire communities or populations from such threats as communicable diseases, epidemics, and environmental contaminants. It does so through a highly collaborative approach, which most often affects citizens as members of the general public rather than as patients.

The most common and effective public health activities are in the area of primary prevention, which has two main components: health promotion and health protection.

Health promotion includes health education and the fostering of healthy living conditions and life-styles. Activities are directed toward individuals, families, groups, or entire communities, helping people identify needs, get useful information and resources, and take action to achieve change.

Health protection services and programs control and reduce the exposure of the population to environmental or personal hazards, conditions, or factors that may cause health problems. Health protection includes immunization, infectious disease surveillance and outbreak investigations, water purification, sewage treatment, control of infectious wastes, inspection of restaurant food services, and numerous other activities.