Protecting The Community’s Health
Public health affects all of us, all the time. Indeed, public health efforts have increased our life span by nearly 30 years during the past century. While public health’s work focuses primarily on the community-wide prevention of illness and injury, certain health services for individuals are critical to safeguarding the community’s health. In order to ensure this protection, GCHD provides assistance in the following areas.
- Communicable Disease Prevention, Investigation & Control
- Immunizations
- Parent-Child Health
- Sexual Health Education
- Prevention
- Communications and information sharing
COVID-19 Overview
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Visit our COVID-19 page for guidance, symptoms and prevention tips.
Communicable Disease Prevention, Investigation and Control
The Communicable Disease Division focuses on prevention and control through monitoring, outbreak response, education, vaccination and preparedness activities.
Sexual Health Information
GCHD works to educate the community on ways to prevent STIs. Additionally GCHD facilitates the Grant County Sexual Health And Prevention Education Coalition (SHAPE), a coalition made up of medical providers, school personnel, and members of youth serving organizations that work to reduce the burden of STIs in Grant County.
Immunizations
Immunizations are one of the most cost-effective and safe preventative measures that can be taken to protect children and adults from life-threatening diseases. The Grant County Immunization Program works closely with the medical providers throughout the county to provide training, ongoing education, resources for parents, and assist with obtaining vaccines for children.
Parent-Child Health
GCHD offers support and education to families who have children with special healthcare needs by partnering with early childhood intervention organizations, so that all Grant County children get off to a good start and can thrive in a safe, healthy, and nurturing environment.
Prevention
We work with state, regional, and county community partners, agencies, and coalitions to improve the health and safety of Grant County residents and the entire North Central Washington Region (Grant, Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan Counties) by focusing on: injury prevention; emergency preparedness; nutrition & food safety; physical activity; youth marijuana & tobacco prevention among many other focuses.
Information for healthcare providers
GCHD operates as a partners with the full range of our community’s medical and veterinary care providers, hospitals and other care facilities, pharmacies, and school nurses. This partnership is essential in protecting our community’s health.
- Continued contact with our healthcare partners through provider alerts from our Grant County Health Officer. Annual Healthcare coalition meets are held to increase partnerships and communication.
GCHD also partners with other agencies, including Washington State Department of Health (DOH), Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other local health jurisdictions (Chelan Douglas County Health District, Okanogan County Health Department, Kittitas County Public Health, etc.). These local and state agencies provide valuable resources and technical advice to GCHD.
If you have questions or concerns about the community public health where you live, learn, work or play, GCHD staff will be happy to speak with you, whether it involves a program at GCHD or one of our healthcare partners.