At the Scott County Health Department, staff are responsible for the day-to-day safety and health of the public. Staff complete our work using a framework called the 10 Essential Public Health Services. This helps to promote and protect the health of all people in all communities (American Public Health Association/APHA, 2023). 

These services fall under three categories – Assessment, Policy Development, and Assurance – and include:

 

Assessment

1. Assess and monitor population health.
2. Investigate, diagnose, and address health hazards and root causes. 

 

An example of SCHD's assessment work is joining with community partners to complete a community health assessment. This helps with learning more about the health of our community and identifying ways that it can be made better. Staff also conduct restaurant and water well inspections. Additionally, they address emerging issues such as Ebola, Mpox, influenza, and COVID-19 variants. 

 

Policy Development

1. Communicate effectively to inform and educate.
2. Strengthen, support, and mobilize communities and partnerships.
3. Create, champion, and implement policies, plans, and laws.
4. Utilize legal and regulatory actions designed to improve and protect the public’s health.

 

One of the ways that staff address policy development is to offer health education on topics like tobacco prevention, sexual health, and hand washing. Additionally, staff actively participate in local coalitions, such as Tobacco-Free QC and Quad Cities HEARTSafe. They also enforce food, pool, tattoo, and other codes, and address related code violations.

 

Assurance

1. Assure an effective system that enables access to the individual services and care needed to be healthy.
2. Build and support a diverse and skilled public health workforce.
3. Improve and innovate public health functions through ongoing evaluations, research, and continuous quality improvement.
4. Build and maintain a strong organizational infrastructure for public health.

 

Some examples of assurance efforts include providing routine STI and HIV testing, as well as completing STI and HIV outreach and testing in the community. All of the team members also attend routine public health training sessions and set professional goals. Additionally, staff continually work to improve our services through customer service surveys and quality improvement projects. 
 

As noted in the 10 Essential Public Health Services graphic above from the APHA (2023), a focus on equity is at the heart of all these efforts. Equity is defined as "a fair and just opportunity for all to achieve good health and well-being" (de Beaumont Foundation, 2022). 

The Health Equity section details more about the importance of equity in public health work.

 

If you have questions or comments regarding SCHD's services or website, please feel free to email [email protected], or call 563-326-8618. You can also mail your correspondence to Scott County Health Department, 600 W. 4th St., Davenport, Iowa 52801.