RD188 - Annual Report of the Virginia Board of Health


Executive Summary:
As State Health Commissioner, I know the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) serves as a leader and coordinator of Virginia’s public health system. But as we prepared the 2005 Annual Report for your review, I was again reminded of the wide range of services provided through the Virginia state public health system.

Our local health departments and field offices provide health care services to low-income families and at-risk populations in need of immunizations, family planning and women’s and infants' care. They also reach out to their communities to promote healthy lifestyle decisions, protect drinking water and food supplies and respond to disease outbreaks and other public health problems. The local nurses, epidemiologists, environmental health specialist and administrative staff are the faces of this agency that directly interact with the citizens of the Commonwealth. They impact the lives of thousands of individual Virginians in countless ways every day. From the statewide perspective, VDH public health programs work to protect the entire population of the Commonwealth.

Our Emergency Preparedness and Response Programs continued to develop and revise response plans to address man-made and natural public health threats including pandemic influenza, bioterrorism and hurricanes. Virginia is ranked among the top six states in the country for readiness to respond to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.

Protecting public health is about more than just emergencies, it’s about promoting healthy lifestyles from conception to old age. Various VDH offices, divisions and programs have worked this year to provide dynamic campaigns to address health issues for all Virginians. VDH’s Office of Family Health Services implemented breast and cervical cancer screenings, obesity prevention programs, and a program to loan hearing aids to hearing-impaired children. The Office of Epidemiology established a statewide immunization registry pilot program to prevent the spread of communicable disease and to ensure that patients served by public and private health care providers receive the appropriate and immunizations. The Office of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) found new ways improve its recruitment and retention of quality EMS providers, including a recruitment campaign featuring the late Christopher Reeve that won two international awards.

Responding to natural disasters, bioterrorism and disease outbreaks requires extensive planning and preparedness. Preventable diseases and accidents, along with a lack of adequate insurance coverage and access to health care for many of our citizens, create the potential for increased health care costs. Through continued collaboration with our partners in government, health care, communities and individual citizens, VDH will strive to meet these challenges head on.

In the following pages, you’ll read about a few examples of VDH programs. To learn more about VDH or any of our programs and activities, I invite you to visit http://www.vdh.virginia.gov.

Robert B. Stroube, M.D., M.P.H.
State Health Commissioner