Carson City Health and Human Services had a good year

This column appears in the Nevada Appeal Wednesday health pages. It addresses topics related to the health of our community.

Today is Dec. 31, the last day of 2014. While we look ahead with anticipation to everything 2015 holds, this, the last day of the year, represents a perfect time to reflect on everything that happened in 2014 and recall the successes we’ve celebrated over the last 12 months here at Carson City Health and Human Services. We want to share a few highlights with you now, and express our appreciation to you, our community.

In 2014, Carson City Health and Human Services became the first and only Nevada Health Department to apply for accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board. This means we are leading the way and working hard to make sure our programs and services are effectively and efficiently meeting the needs of our community.

Also in 2014, the Health Department became Northern Nevada’s first Bicycle Friendly Business, a designation from the league of American Bicyclists. CCHHS decided to try for this designation after including bicycle and pedestrian safety and access as one of the focus areas of the Community Health Improvement Plan, and it was awarded in the spring.

Also in bicycle and pedestrian safety, the Western Nevada Safe Routes to Schools program partnered with the Carson City School District and local nonprofit Muscle Powered to take part in Bike Month in May and to coordinate our community’s first ever Ride for Reading to encourage students to ride safely and also to promote literacy.

This year marked our 10th point-of-dispensing clinic. This event, which has become locally famous as the drive-through flu clinic, was held on a Friday instead of Saturday for the first time this year. Since this serves as a practice for a real health emergency for our Public Health Preparedness Division, the day was changed to see if we could accommodate people in the evening hours. The event was a success: 1,420 people got flu vaccines that day. In addition to those who received vaccines at the drive through clinic, nearly 3,000 Carson City school children were inoculated as part of the school-located vaccine project, and our outreach nurses were kept busy as well, providing 1,800 vaccines at 40 different community events.

As the economy strengthened in 2014, our Workforce program was hard at work trying to place local residents with employment opportunities. The workforce program hosted two job fairs, which resulted in 96 people finding work. Sixty additional workforce program clients found employment, and 478 people attended the weekly Wednesday Workforce Strategies class to prepare them for employment through assistance with interviewing, resume development, and more.

A first for the workforce program this year was the special time for veterans to enter early at the September job fair. People found jobs in many sectors through the program, including retail, gaming, and health care. Another job fair will be held in February. Keep an eye on this column for the dates and times.

2014 was a big year for CCHHS, and we couldn’t have done this without you, Carson City, so thank you. We wish everyone in our community the best for the coming year. Happy New Year.

For more information about Health Department services, check out our website at www.gethealthycarsoncity.org, or visit us at www.facebook.com/cchhs.