Happy National Public Health Week!
April 6, 2026. — It’s national public health week – public health’s time to shine!
It’s also been a long six years. I see you! I celebrate you!
My favorite saying is “if I’m doing my job right, you won’t know I’m doing it.” But how do we shine a light on all the work that we do as public health practitioners if most of it is in the background? Public health acts as a shield, and we need to make people more aware of what we do. Things like common-sense gun control; safe drinking water and air quality; seatbelts and properly installed car seats; safety equipment like harnesses, hard hats, and eye protection; vaccines; mosquito prevention… public health is all of these things and more.
Public health is
- A child walking away from a car crash because their carseat was properly installed;
- A person in crisis living through it because their partner locked their gun away;
- Children staying in school through a measles outbreak because it was stopped in its tracks by community immunity;
- A new mom putting together bottles of formula for her newborn and not thinking twice about the safety of the tap water she’s using
None of this is headline material. But it’s also a challenge: if we’re in the background, how can we get people to support it? How can we sustain it?
I hope you find a way to celebrate public health this week! Write your local health department or representatives a letter, support someone promoting grassroots public health programs, or just give everyone some extra support. Public health, after all, needs you, the public!
Hugs and (air) kisses,
Kate