Public Health Nursing

PHN Mission Statement

As leaders of holistic wellness, we empower communities with preventative education and skills to promote healthy individuals.

Public Health Nursing’s main focus is to promote health and prevent disease, disability, and injury to the surrounding population and communities. Our public health efforts focus on preventing problems. We think of prevention in three ways:

Primary Prevention:
This stops a problem before it ever starts.
Example: A TDAP shot prevents whooping cough.

Secondary Prevention:
This identifies a problem early. Everything is done to stop it from getting worse.
Example: A patient has routine blood work done. It shows high cholesterol. They begin taking a baby aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Tertiary Prevention:
This slows down complications of a chronic health condition.
Example: Teaching a diabetic patient how to take medications regularly. This controls blood sugar and avoids long-term damage to the body.

Services

Public Health Nursing conducts visits to homes, communities, schools, and clinics to:

• Provide patient care, counseling, and instruction in preventative, curative, and rehabilitative health matters
• Monitor health status to identify, diagnose, and investigate community health problems and hazards
• Participate with interdisciplinary teams to plan health-related activities
• Analyze the collected assessment data for communities/populations
• Prioritize school health, flu clinics, and emergency preparedness
• Offer a Car Seat program
• Provide elder care and fall prevention
• Provide postpartum visits
• Facilitate the Precious Child Program
• Facilitate the Tiger Tot Program

Public Health Nursing’s goal is to work collaboratively with other internal departments/programs, external facilities/organizations, and patients to provide the best care plan while respecting their cultural needs and beliefs.