Can you

imagine what life would be like without clean drinking

water; without paved roads, street lamps, seatbelts and

speed limits; with no protection against the ravages of

potentially lethal diseases like polio, yellow fever,

diphtheria, tetanus, etc.?

What would

it be like to have no limits on the amount of toxic

chemicals in our streams and rivers, and raw sewage above

ground around our homes and schools? These are

frightening images that thankfully most of us will never

encounter here in present day Fayetteville.

But in

other areas of the world and the U.S., poverty, lack of

health education, and lack of access to health care make

those images a fact of everyday life for some.

The goal of

public health is to promote and support "healthy

people in healthy communities." Toward this end,

much of our work involves prevention (i.e. prevention of

epidemics and the spread of disease, injury prevention),

protection (i.e. environmental hazard protection),

promotion of healthy lifestyle choices (i.e. diet and

exercise information, screenings for diabetes, cancer,

hypertension, etc), disaster response and identification

of threats on the health of the community.

Though we

have come very far, there is still much work to be done.

Nevertheless, PH is up to the task!

The Fayette

County Health Department would like to invite you to join

us as we celebrate the evolution and great

accomplishments of public health during National Public

Health Week, April 3 - 7.

We will be

offering free blood pressure screenings all week, and

there will be several drawings for prizes as well.

Hours of

operation are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 8:30

a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday until 5:15 p.m.

Come and

see what your Health Department is doing to make good

health for Fayette countians a reality.