The Department of Public Health (DPH) works in partnership to promote and improve health, wellness, safety and quality of life in San Bernardino County. DPH works with its partners to prevent disease and protect our communities, respond to emerging public health issues, promote healthy behaviors and access to healthier choices, and deliver equitable, high quality health services.

Accomplishments:

• Partnered with the Family Assistance Program to expand domestic violence support and healthcare services and also partnered with the March of Dimes to increase education around the risks of pre-term birth.
• Built a successful partnership with the Build Health Challenge in the City of Ontario to prevent obesity and reduce the incidence of chronic disease by creating health hubs in impoverished neighborhoods.
• Expanded and integrated behavioral health services in the department’s four Federally Qualified Health Centers.
• Created Communities of Excellence in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention (CX3) working closely with the residents of six unique communities. These efforts engaged residents to develop local ideas to improve their health and empowered them to strive for solutions through policy, systems and environmental changes.
• Monitored and coordinated Zika Virus testing for 150 persons, tracked 35 travelers from Ebola affected countries, and provided case-management to an increased number of newly diagnosed Tuberculosis cases in the county.

Goals:

• Continue to develop and cultivate partnerships within communities, celebrate the diversity of our county’s residents, and look to innovative and creative solutions to address emerging issues in support of the Countywide Vision.
• Continue to work closely with city partners through implementation of a Healthy Communities Strategic Plan, which will provide policy and systems solutions to address current public health and health inequity issues.
• Maintain focus on quality, performance improvement, transparency and accountability. Sixty-five measurable objectives are being developed to track and monitor the department’s progress towards achieving its 2015-2020 Strategic Plan. An open performance site will be developed to share those goals, connect with stakeholders, track progress and achieve better results.

Trudy Raymundo
Director, Public Health