The Public Health Nursing Division provides important services to the residents of Highland County. Each of these programs is designed specifically to improve the health of our community. The Public Health Nursing Division prides itself in continuing to be an active and influential part of the community health care system. The Infectious Disease Program monitors various infectious diseases that are reported to our agency by health care providers, laboratories, and the community. Almost 100 infectious diseases are mandated by law to be reported to the health department. Our Public Health Nursing department monitors and analyzes data of these infectious diseases to identify trends such as increased incidence of disease “clusters" or "outbreaks", changes in medication-resistance disease patterns, and disseminating information derived from data analysis. Prevention, control, and providing education of infectious diseases is one of the most important aspects of the health department. Another program, sponsored by the Ohio Department of Health, is The Bureau for Children with Medical Handicaps (BCMH). The BCMH program is devoted to providing assistance to eligible parents/guardians of children with special needs. A nurse at the health department is available to assist families with the application process, home visits to the child and/or family, and coordinating services. The Health Department provides immunizations for both children and adults. Check our clinic schedule for dates, times, locations and cost for immunizations. The Care-A-Van (CAV) is a unique service provided by the Health Department. The CAV is a mobile unit, providing preventative services to many areas in the community. Immunizations, laboratory services, blood pressure screenings, and diabetes screenings are just some of the services offered on the Care-A-Van. The Highland County Health Department is proud to be have been one of the first jurisdictions in the state to offer this type of mobile clinic to our community. These are just a few of the services the Public Health Nursing Division offers to the community.

Protects the public (pets and people) from the threat of rabies through the investigation of animal bites and rabies exposures. Provides guidance on what to do after an animal bite or scratch.

Monitors certain communicable diseases in Fairfield County, and provides alerts if there is a potential outbreak to control their spread in populations of people. Provide guidance and direction to controlling the spread of possible communicable disease by giving counsel, such as educational information as to what they can do to avoid contracting the disease.

Conducts a rabies prevention program. The department will place cats and dogs that bite on quarantine for 10 days and verify the animal has its current rabies vaccination. IF YOU ARE BITTEN BY AN ANIMAL YOU SHOULD: *Wash the wound with lots of soap and water right away. *Call your doctor. *Capture the animal, if you can do it safely, or get the name and address of the animal’s owner TO REPORT AN ANIMAL BITE: CALL FAIRFIELD COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT PLEASE HAVE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AVAILABLE: *Date of bite *Name, address, and age of person bitten *Type of animal, breed and description of the animal (color, markings, long or short hair). *If it was a pet, name and address of owner. *If the owner is unknown, was the animal wearing a collar or tags.

Environmental Health works to protect the public from the spread of rabies and educates the public of the dangers of rabies through monitoring of a nationwide immunization program, quarantine isolation and observance during bite cases (human and animal) and head submission for testing to the Ohio Department of Health. A Rabies Bite Form is available on the website www.miamicountyhealth.net/environmental-health-rabies-monitoring.

Provide Pack N Play portable cribs and Safe Sleep Survival Kits to families and caregivers that are unable to provide a safe sleep environment due to financial hardship. Survival Kit contains a sheet for the Pack N Play, a sleep sack for the infant, a bedtime storybook and educational materials for the parents. Family must come to Board of Health office to pick up Pack N Play and receive instruction on proper assembly and use before taking Pack N Play home.

Licenses restaurants, retail food establishments, mobile and temporary food vendors, and vending machines which dispense perishable items, and conducts periodic inspections of these facilities. Assists those who are planning to open businesses of these types in applying for the proper licensing. Responds to consumer complaints about these establishments. Reports and investigates food-borne illnesses. Answers questions about food recalls.

Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio (PPSWO) strengthens our community by preventing unintended pregnancy and empowering individuals with the knowledge, opportunity, and freedom to make private decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. PPSWO provides family planning services, this includes services for birth control, STD testing and treatment, annual and breast exams, pregnancy test and options counseling, UTI, Trich, yeast and bacterial vaginosis testing and treatment, PEP and PREP testing and prescriptions as well as comprehensive sex education training.

Provides limited public health services for the Village of North Randall. Services include licensing of food facilities, enforcement of restaurant/food handling regulations, food poisoning investigations and home sanitation.

Provides free pap tests and pelvic exams, skin cancer screening, PSA screenings for prostate cancer, mammography.

Provides a variety of services to assist with the identification and control of communicable diseases. Surveillance and follow-up is conducted by public health nurses on all communicable diseases reported to the health department by private physicians and hospitals.

Environmental services include septic, water, well, plumbing and food services inspections.

Provides services that are directed toward IV drug users, crack users, and their sexual partners. Services provided through this program include: HIV and AIDS education, counseling, and testing; Hepatitis B testing; syphilis screenings; and blood pressure screenings. Every patient will also receive case management services.

Disease reporting, questions and concerns regarding infectious diseases and other public health emergencies.

Provide Pack N Play portable cribs and Safe Sleep Survival Kits to families and caregivers that are unable to provide a safe sleep environment due to financial hardship. Survival Kit contains a sheet for the Pack N Play, a sleep sack for the infant, a bedtime storybook and educational materials for the parents. Family must come to Board of Health office to pick up Pack N Play and receive instruction on proper assembly and use before taking Pack N Play home.

Responsible for restaurant and food sanitation inspections, plumbing inspections, tap water testing, and rabies control.

Provide Pack N Play portable cribs and Safe Sleep Survival Kits to families and caregivers that are unable to provide a safe sleep environment due to financial hardship. Survival Kit contains a sheet for the Pack N Play, a sleep sack for the infant, a bedtime storybook and educational materials for the parents. Family must come to Board of Health office to pick up Pack N Play and receive instruction on proper assembly and use before taking Pack N Play home.

Provide Pack N Play portable cribs and Safe Sleep Survival Kits to families and caregivers that are unable to provide a safe sleep environment due to financial hardship. Survival Kit contains a sheet for the Pack N Play, a sleep sack for the infant, a bedtime storybook and educational materials for the parents. Family must come to Board of Health office to pick up Pack N Play and receive instruction on proper assembly and use before taking Pack N Play home.

Provides infectious disease investigation, including outbreaks, infection control consultation, education and sexually transmitted disease information and referral.

Provides Community Health and Environmental service, accepting complaints and requests regarding building inspections, community health, recyling, sewer maintenance and environmental for city services and public health issues, such as West Nile Virus, or food safety information such as salmonella i

Identify, report, and prevent the spread of infectious diseases through disease investigation, surveillance, and patient and community education.

Provides protection of the public health by preventing the spread of rabies from wildlife to people, pets and other animals. Assists physicians in determining proper treatment for exposure victims.

Provides health and prevention by providing health education programs, alcohol abuse education/prevention, communicable disease control, drug abuse education/prevention, food safety education, smoking education /prevention, general health education programs, for Springdale residents

Disease reporting, questions and concerns regarding infectious diseases and other public health emergencies.